Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
He barks something in the Norse language, and suddenly, every man there jumps into action, darting back into the woods and suddenly pulling out the hidden rowboats there.
“Wait!” I gasp as Tor holds me over his shoulder with one hand and helps shove one of the boats into the water with the other. He steps into the boat holding me firmly.
“Wait, where—!?”
He barks another order in the Norse tongue, and the men shove off, jumping into the boats and manning the oars as we start to move quickly away from the shore, off into the water towards the red-sailed warships.
I’m being stolen by the most fearsome, dangerous, wild Viking marauder in the world.
…And I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be this excited.
Chapter 3
Rhona
The rowboats move quick as lightning, skimming over the waves as we move further and further away from the shore. Tor never takes me from his shoulder—his hands never leaving me as he stands at the bow of the rowboat, wind whipping around him. There’s the sound of yelling, and I look up to realize we’re already at the biggest of the red-sailed ships.
I gasp as Tor grabs a rope ladder hanging over the side, hoisting his huge size with me along with him with one hand as he climbs onto the big ship. Up on the deck, he strides with purpose, holding me firmly, ignoring the stares of the other Vikings on the ship as he storms to a door at the back of the boat. He shoulders it open, my heart pounding as we step into darkness and down a flight of stairs to another door. He kicks this one open as well, and when we step into flickering candlelight, I realize we’re in some sort of sleeping quarters.
His sleeping quarters.
The room is sparse but for a rack of swords and other bladed weapons on one wall, a mounted bear’s head on another. And then, against one wall stands a huge bed draped with furs. Tor strides right for it, and my heart jumps into my throat as I realize where he’s headed.
“Wait!”
I scream—loudly, and without restraint, kicking and hitting him as I belt out cries for help. No one comes, obviously, and Tor ignores my strikes against his chest and back as if I were nothing more than a fly buzzing around him. At the bed, I gasp as he whisks me off his shoulder and tosses me down across it. I scramble and scrabble back from him, shoving myself away from him until my back comes up against the headboard.
“What do you want with me?!” I spit, panting as the spike of fear and adrenaline blazes through me.
Tor just grins, his eyes fierce and wild as the pierce into me.
“Do you speak English?” I blurt out, swallowing, my eyes darting between him and the door behind him. Right, as if I’m going to make a break for it. As if even if somehow, I did make it past the giant of a man blocking my path, the fact that we’re on a boat, sitting in the ocean, and full of fierce and wild Viking marauders wouldn’t be a problem for me.
And when I think about the rough, savage men who advanced on me on the beach, and the ones on this very boat, suddenly I wonder the insane thought that I may actually be safer in here, with him, than I would be out there.
“Is it money you want?” I say it louder, annunciating my words.
“Mon-ney!” I yell, rubbing two imaginary coins together with my fingers. Tor looks at me blankly and I shiver.
“Coin? Money? Gold?” I yell. I mime holding a bag of coins in my palm, hefting it. A slight smile crosses Tor’s face, but his blank look remains.
I huff, hugging myself.
“Well if you don’t even speak English, you big oaf, why in the seven hells are we even here—”
“I speak English just fine,” Tor suddenly says, in, well, perfect English, though tinged with a Norse accent.
My breath catches, my eyes going wide before I scowl at him.
“Well why would you not mention that?”
He smirks. “I was too amused watching you.”
I glare at him as he chuckles.
“What was that second motion you made? With your hand? Was that supposed to be the universal sign for cupping my balls?”
I blush violently, my jaw dropping at his crude crassness.
“Why you disgusting—” I purse my lips shaking my head. “And you didn’t bother to let on that you spoke English bef—”
I clamp my lips shut before I can finish the word.
“Before?” Tor rumbles, saying it for me anyways.
I blush, looking away, and I hear him chuckle.
“Perhaps I was too busy kissing you.”
I gasp as his hand shoots out, grabbing my ankle and yanking me towards where he stands at the foot of the bed. He growls, leaning down over me, locking those fierce eyes onto me.