The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec

Author:Genevieve Gornichec [Gornichec, Genevieve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

21

KING HARALD AT LEAST had the decency to berate his son in private, which was more than Gunnhild’s mother had ever done for her. She stood outside the door to his chamber and strained to listen above the noise that two more kings’ retinues had added to the hall.

She caught the words “bewitched” and “ensorcelled,” along with “Have you learned nothing?” and “How could you be so foolish?” and pressed her ear more firmly against the door. It seemed King Harald was pacing, for his voice faded in and out.

“A king should take as many wives and sire as many children as he pleases,” he said. “And she seeks to deny you this, and wishes to be seen as your peer? As the queen? That’s absurd. How could you have ever thought to agree to such madness? Marrying a witch. And for what? To protect against threats that don’t exist? She’s cast some sort of spell on you—”

Eirik cut in. “She hasn’t. I was the one who approached her about this, Father. My hird are sworn to protect me, and I must do the same for them. My brothers—”

“Have vowed to me that they are guilty of no wrongdoing.”

“They’re lying. You don’t believe what my men and I have witnessed with our own eyes? Ask Arinbjorn. He and Thorolf—”

“Do not speak to me of Skallagrim’s son,” said King Harald in disgust. “I’ve told you before that one day you’d regret your friendship with him. I should have never allowed it in the first place.”

“That you did is the reason I’m alive. He and Arinbjorn killed four of my other hirdsmen to save me. They were—it wasn’t natural. I watched them die, Father.”

“Men die,” King Harald said flippantly.

“Not like this.” Eirik’s voice was thick with emotion. “You won’t stop this. And I can’t prove anything to you without Gunnhild’s help. What else am I to do?”

“Put that woman aside and cease this nonsense immediately, or you’ll force me to find a new successor. You can’t be trusted to rule if your mind is under the sway of some paltry sorceress.”

“And you would know, wouldn’t you?” Eirik shot back.

The silence that followed was so fraught that it made the hairs on Gunnhild’s arms stand on end; she could feel the tension even on the other side of the door. Something told her that Eirik had never spoken to his father that way before.

“Get out of my sight, boy,” King Harald said at last, venom in every word. “We’ll speak on this again when you’ve come to your senses and apologized for your disrespect.”

The door swung open so abruptly that it very nearly smacked Gunnhild in the face, but she managed to step aside in time to avoid it. When Eirik halted in the doorway, pain and rage and frustration warred on his face.

She almost said something, almost reached for him, and then—

“See what happens, King,” said Queen Gyda to her husband, “when you let his leash slacken?”

Eirik’s countenance became a storm, and he fled as quickly as his dignity would allow.

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