New Shores ➳ The Last Kingdom | Finan the Agile (The Northman's Daughter 1)

HIDE & SEAK

With relish, Shaylee lounched. They sat on the floor of her consulting room in front of her open fireplace. Finan was leaning against a heavy box and had his arms around it. Smoothly, his warm breath stroked over her shoulder. Her head rested gently on his chest. She loved to lie in his arms like that. She felt so protected. It was as if nothing could harm her. As if there was nothing to fear out there. And for today, she allowed this feeling to happen, even though she knew it was just wishful thinking.

In fact, Shaylee felt so secure that for the first time since she had been freed, she asked, "What actually happened to the Danes at Ceaster?

Finan looked at her with surprise, "You don't know?"

"No. I ...", Shaylee looked for words to describe what she felt after her liberation, "It was like being in a bubble. I heard you talking, but I didn't understand you. Somehow the words didn't make any sense."

Slowly, Finan nodded and then began to say, "Do you remember the messenger that was sent to King Edward?" Shaylee nodded, and Finan continued, "Well, this one eventually arrived, and King Edward finally arrived a few days before your deliverance. He hid in the forest until he finally attacked the day of your liberation. We broke out of the city walls when we saw the king's men. The Danes were too surprised by the attackers from two directions to really fight back. Most of them we killed or captured." Shaylee bit her lips, she had already suspected that Aidan was not among the dead or captured, but Finan now confirmed it to her: "I saw him jump on one of the last ships that escaped us."

Gently, Finan stroked her cheek with his fingers and kissed her gently on the forehead: "But he is far away. He can't harm you here."

Shaylee pulled a face: " He's been far away before." She closed her eyes and muttered, "I'll never escape him."

"Ey. Ey." Finan embraced her cheeks and forced her to look him in the eye: "You escaped him. He can't hurt you here anymore. We'll protect you."

Shaylee smiled somewhat forced: "I would feel more comfortable if I could protect myself."

Wistfully, she thought of her bow. It had been left behind in the Danish camp. When Shaylee had asked her uncle about the bow, he had only looked at her pitifully and shook his head. Shaylee knew that Uhtred could understand her bond with the bow. He had a similar connection with his sword " Serpentbreath. She also knew it was irrational to mourn a weapon. After all, it was only a tool. But this bow had accompanied her for years, and now that she didn't have it anymore, it felt like she was missing a part of her body.

Finan smiled pitifully at her: "We'll find you a bow that suits you again."

Shaylee smiled back, though she was sure no bow and arrow suited her as well as her old one.

Finan moved a little behind her and stretched his back a bit. Shaylee slid forward so he could sit down more comfortably. But Finan immediately pulled her back: "Where are you going all of a sudden?"

Shaylee laughed: "Nowhere. I just didn't want you to get lumbago from sitting so uncomfortably."

"Oh, that's all right," smiled Finan and bent down to kiss her. It was a fleeting kiss. But it was enough to make Shaylee forget any worries and relax. She stretched her lips toward him and returned the kiss a little more forcefully. Finan pulled her closer for a moment, but then he broke away from her and brought some distance between them. He sighed slightly regretfully and said, "I would love to go into this in-depth, but we should make our way to the big hall. It is time."

Annoyed and groaning, Shaylee dropped her head against Finan's chest: "Do we really need to?"

"Do you want to get the talk going," asked Finan, slightly amused. Shaylee sighed; no, she didn't want that. Not yet. She needed some more time. She wasn't ready to reveal her innermost feelings to everyone and face the prejudices of others. She knew that she owed her «husband» absolutely nothing. But there were enough people who didn't think so, and she was honest enough with herself that she was not mentally strong enough to shrug it off. This also meant that she had to hide her feelings, and that was more difficult than Shaylee had expected. Fortunately, she was soon too busy to waste much thought on the butterflies in her stomach.