World of de Wolfe Pack: THE BASTARD OF BRITTANY (Kindle Worlds Novella) (THE WOLVES OF BRITTANY Book 3) by Victoria Vane

Author:Victoria Vane [VANE, VICTORIA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kindle Worlds
Published: 2018-01-21T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Avoiding Bjorn, Gwened confined herself to the solar where she applied herself to the distaff and spindle, spinning all of the baskets of wool into fine thread. The coarser thread she intended for weaving cloth, while the fine thread would be reserved for her embroidery. Though she endeavored to keep her mind occupied along with her hands, the Norsemen was never far from her thoughts.

What did he think to achieve by keeping her here? With no answer to that question, she then wondered how Bjorn’s wound was healing. And why had he not sent for her? Was he on the mend or had the wound putrefied?

“Mathilda,” she asked her maid. “How fares the Viking chief?” She couldn’t bring herself to speak his name.

“Milord seems well enough,” Mathilda answered. “He tends to business as usual.”

“What kind of business?” Gwened asked. “How does he spend his days?”

“He rides out each morn, milady, through his men’s encampment. He meets with the captains and then inspects crops or rides onward to the village. He speaks much with the farmers and merchants.”

“No doubt demanding a hefty share of the harvest and profits from the merchants,” Gwened said.

“No more than Duke Rudalt took,” Mathilda answered. “On the contrary, this one seems more intent on learning how we do things. He even speaks of planting more fields and improving trade with Neustria.”

The information took Gwened very much by surprise. As duke, her brother had delegated all of his responsibilities to others so that he could do nothing but drink, hunt, and whore. He gave no thought to planting fields or expanding trade. He cared only for his own pleasures.

“Does he? And what do his men do?” Gwened asked.

“Many of them have taken up the plow, milady.”

Gwened took it all in with increasing cynicism. Why did Bjorn and his brothers act with such uncharacteristic restraint? Could it be true that they wanted to settle peacefully in Brittany? She found it hard to believe. Although her father had finally freed Brittany of the terror, Vikings were still a plague all over Europe. They came every spring and left a path of death and destruction in their wake.

“Do you think this is just a charade, or do you believe they truly wish to become farmers and tradesmen?” Gwened asked. “How long will it be before they experience the overwhelming urge to return to raiding?”

“I think only time will tell, milady,” Mathilda said.

And time was passing all too slowly for Gwened. She been nearly a fortnight at Vannes with no word from anyone. She coiled the last skein of spun wool with a sigh.

“Mathilda, would you please bring me the chamber pots when you collect them each morn?”

Mathilda regarded her with a questioning look. “Whatever for, milady?”

“I need the urine to extract the dye from the lichens I collected. I only need a few cups.”

“Milady, the Norsemen do not use the chamber pots.”

“They don’t?”

“Nay.” Mathilda shook her head.

“Men, in general, prefer to relieve themselves out of doors,” answered a deep voice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.