“Ha! ’Tis that miserable little slut Zarabeth he will reward, not you, not his only son! You know ’tis true, Keith, for he was willing to do anything to keep her here in York, to keep her with him. And she told the Viking she didn’t want him. She managed to convince him of it. I’ve heard it from a half-dozen women this day! So pleased they were, to let me hear how she told him at the well in the square that she didn’t want him for her husband, that he was naught but a buffoon and a heathen, that she had but played her games with him. Well, now, here she stays, and she’ll have Olav, and you’re a fool if you don’t see it.”
Keith mumbled something Zarabeth didn’t understand. He was very drunk, yet Toki was still ranting at him, her tongue more virulent with each word she spoke. “Fool, you blessed fool, you have no sense! You are pitiful!”
Well, Toki and Keith would be pleased soon enough, once Zarabeth had taken Lotti to Magnus. Then Olav would have to look to his son.
Zarabeth waited and waited. Her patience was wearing thin and her fear was growing. Still Toki ranted occasionally, her voice a whine now, and Keith seemed to be
in an ale-sodden sleep.
Then suddenly Zarabeth smiled. She walked to the front of the house and knocked on the door.
There was a snarl from Toki and the door slitted open.
“You!”
“Aye, ’tis I, Toki. Quickly, let me in. You and I have much to speak about, and you will like my words, I swear it to you.”
7
“I shan’t listen to you, Zarabeth! You lie to me, and I won’t hear you!”
Zarabeth fought for patience against Toki’s blatant distrust. “I do not lie. I want Lotti. Give her to me and I will leave York. You will never see me again. Olav will have to treat Keith more kindly. I’m not lying, Toki. For God’s sake, why would I?”
Toki was filled with dislike and uncertainty and bone-deep envy, in equal parts. Zarabeth, daughter of that foreign slut who had taken over Olav’s affections, stolen them from his only son, aye, she hated the slut’s daughter, wished she would leave, wished she would die. Toki shook her head.
“You want this Viking, then? ’Twas all a lie, your meeting with him this morning at the well?”
“Aye, to convince Olav that I was serious. I had to convince Magnus that I didn’t want him so that Olav would believe I’d done what he wanted. I succeeded very well, but I must make haste to search out Magnus to tell him the truth. Please, Toki, I must hurry! Give me Lotti!”
Still the woman hesitated. If she gave over the idiot child, she would lose all her leverage. She would have nothing at all with which to bargain. Still, if Zarabeth was telling the truth . . . Toki fretted and drank down the rest of Keith’s mug of ale. She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, feeling the froth from her upper lip. She looked down at her snoring husband with contempt.
“Toki, please, think! I have no reason to lie to you, no reason at all—”
“I don’t have a child, you know,” Toki said suddenly, and she looked toward her husband, who belched deeply, his face against the tabletop. “Oh, Keith comes inside me and humps about and spills his seed, yet nothing grows in my belly. Soon he’ll not care anymore. Soon I will have nothing to show for my hours and days with him. But I do have something now. I have Lotti and I’ve found that she isn’t an idiot or a freak, not really.”
Zarabeth wanted to wrap her fingers around Toki’s neck and squeeze the life out of her. She was breathing hard now, her heart pounding. She tried to keep her voice pitched low and calm. She didn’t want to risk waking Keith. She couldn’t begin to imagine what he would say to this. “She isn’t yours, Toki. Lotti’s mine and will always be mine. You must return her to me. I have no coin or jewelry to pay you with, or I would give it to you willingly.”
“Why should I give her up? I doubt Olav will let you escape to your Viking now. He’s proud and he’s insufferably vain, but he isn’t stupid. If only his son had but a bit of his trading ability, but he doesn’t, and he won’t listen to me even when he knows I am in the right. And the two of us must look to Olav, else we’d starve. I grow to hate him, Zarabeth.”
Zarabeth wondered if that meant the father or the son, but she said again, “Give me Lotti, Toki. You don’t want the daughter of a slut, do you? What makes you think Olav won’t come to prefer Lotti over Keith? He might, you know. She’s a beautiful child, just like her mother. But now, if you give her to me, when we both leave, perhaps Olav will want both of you to live with him. He’ll provide you with slaves, Toki, and you’ll smile and enjoy yourself. Just think, you’ll have fine materials from which to sew beautiful gowns and cloaks and perhaps new jewels.”
The avid gleam faded from Toki’s eyes as she said, “I don’t believe that. You have no slaves. He doesn’t adorn you or give you fine materials for new gowns. He fancies only himself and how he appears to the world. Look, even your brooch is merely of pounded bronze. You wear no rings, no armlets. Olav wears only the richest silver and gold. Why would he accord more to me than he accords to you, his beloved Zarabeth?”
“I don’t know. He’s always told me that there isn’t enough money for slaves. He’s always told me that he must look successful so foreign traders will notice him and believe he must be good so they will trade with him above all others. I don’t care, Toki. But you’ll ask him and he’ll be grateful that you’re there to look after him and his house. Give me Lotti.”
“Perhaps I shall,” Toki said. She turned away and pulled aside a bearskin that separated the sleeping space from the rest of the house. She came back carrying Lotti in her arms. The child was deeply asleep.
“Don’t worry, I just drugged her. She was making too much noise, even with her strange grunts and growls. She kept saying your name as well. I wanted to hit her but I didn’t. I drugged her to keep her quiet.”
Zarabeth wanted to kill the woman. Fury pounded through her, but she held herself calm. She’d nearly won. She couldn’t fail now. She took Lotti, and gently laid her over her shoulder. “I’m leaving now. Forget not what I said, Toki.”
“Aye, I’ll not forget.”
Not ten minutes later, Zarabeth gained York harbor. Dark clouds were strewn over the sky, obscuring the moon. Everyone was sleeping, even the outlaws that lurked in the darkness, even the stray dogs that burrowed about in piles of garbage. There was the gentle sound of lapping water against the wooden piles, nothing more. And there was vessel after vessel moored to the dock. She ran now, wanting only to find Magnus, to explain, to escape with him, and never see York again.
Lotti stirred on her shoulder, and she whispered softly to the child. She quieted again.
Zarabeth wanted to yell out Magnus’ name, but something held her back. Something wasn’t right, something . . .