Winter Solstice Winter - Book I in the Viking Blood Saga

After Geir left, Ailia felt like she could breathe again. Brander went outside to sharpen his knives while Ailia and Unni remained inside to clean the kitchen.

  “I thought he seemed very—” Unni seemed to struggle with the right words to say. “Honest.”

  Ailia rolled her eyes. “Callous.”

  Unni said nothing, but she gave Ailia a knowing smile. “Brander was that way in the beginning, too. Things will change once you’re married,” she said. “Just make sure you take good care of him in the lovemaking area.”

  Ailia shuddered in repulsion at the thought. Touch Geir? Allow him to touch her? Make love to Geir? They were hideous thoughts and more than she could stand. And she disagreed with Unni. Geir did not seem like a man who would change. However, she concluded that it wasn’t worth disagreeing with Unni right now. There was nothing Ailia could say or do that would make a difference or change their decision. Unni and Brander had tried their best to find a suitable husband, even though, in her eyes, they had picked a man who she’d never love or even like. Ailia had never wanted to dishonor her family in any way and she wasn’t going to start now.

  “I always knew there was something special about you, Ailia. Perhaps this is your God-given destiny? To marry a chieftain. Not many young women accomplish that. You’ll have a great life and many more opportunities than if you had just married a farmer or fisherman,” Unni said.

  Ailia nodded. She knew what Unni meant, but why did it feel so wrong?

  5

  Trust