Chapter 17

17

I n all Eben’s wildest fantasies about Tryggr , he had never once imagined the bizarre, surreal experience of sitting across from Tryggr in his family’s hellir , and listening intently to his Skai tale of woe.

It turned out that Alma , Drafli , and Baldr had bitterly quarrelled, to the point where Alma was now convalescing in the sickroom, and Baldr had run off above ground, alone. This had put Drafli in the highly unenviable position of needing to choose between them, and he had finally taken off after Baldr , after leaving detailed instructions with his clanmates about Alma — who, apparently, was now also pregnant with their son.

“ But now she ’s planning to run off again too!” Tryggr continued, his voice more agitated than Eben had ever heard it. “ An ’ all those meddling Ash - Kai are supporting it as some kinda grand scheme — ’cause her old fool boss is still rattling his swords at us, saying we kidnapped her, so if she goes back to him, he can’t blame us anymore! An ’ I ken I should follow her, keep an eye on her like I have been, but just before he left” — Tryggr dragged both hands against his hair — “ Boss told me to stay stuck here on my arse, again , and fix up the scullery! Make it real nice and new for her, he said!”

It was taking Eben’s full concentration to follow all this, a task made all the more difficult by the unsettling anxiety in Tryggr’s scent, and the pleading, beseeching look in his eyes. As if expecting Eben to solve all this for him at once, and Eben had to close his own eyes, draw in more of that sweet, reassuring scent, with still only him in it.

“ But would Drafli not have considered all this, before he left?” Eben asked, as steadily as he could. “ He has seemed to… come around on Alma , as you said he would, ach? He cares for her, does he not? Mayhap even” — his thoughts flicked back to that scent on Drafli’s mouth — “welcomed her? Longed for her?”

Tryggr gave a heavy exhale, and jerked a distracted nod. “ Ach , sure he does,” he said thickly. “ How could he not? She’s sweet, loyal, works hard, wishes to please. You ought to know this, ach?”

There was a strangely accusatory tone in his voice, his eyes suddenly dark on Eben’s face, and Eben blinked, and again fought to think. “ Well , it seems to me,” he began carefully, “that Drafli would not have failed to consider all this — most of all if Alma is now pregnant with their son. Would he not have spoken to the Ash - Kai of this? And you said he gave orders to your other Skai kin also, ach? You have many strong scouts and warriors amongst you, do you not?”

Tryggr grimaced, frowning at the floor, and again Eben felt a sudden surge of commiseration, of understanding. Tryggr clearly wanted to win his Boss’s approval, wanted to show himself a strong and capable Skai — and here he’d been left behind again, trapped in a scullery, doing dull, tedious work he didn’t feel was important.

“ I ken this work has not been easy for you,” Eben continued, steadier now, his eyes intent on Tryggr’s face. “ But amidst it, you have again and again shown Drafli he can trust you. You have kept his woman safe, you have granted her much help, you have offered her laughter and relief. You have been a good, faithful Skai . You have done much good work, sir.”

The sir had slipped out before Eben had caught it, and though he winced, he kept his gaze steady on Tryggr’s unreadable face. “ Drafli trusts you,” he said firmly. “ And if he again asked for your help in the scullery, I ken this means he trusts you in this, too. He knows you shall do this. He knows you shall do more good work with this.”

There was an instant’s silence from Tryggr , and then a slow, harsh exhale, his hand rubbing at his eyes. “ But I still know fuck all about that curst scullery,” he said heavily. “ How the hell am I s’posed to fix it up for her, and show Boss I can pull it off, if I can’t even…”

But his voice had slowly trailed off, his eyes narrowing toward Eben’s face. And Eben twitched a shy, sheepish smile back, even as a distant, disbelieving part of him wondered if Drafli hadn’t known how this would unfold. Surely the most fearsome orc in the mountain didn’t pay that much heed to what went on in the scullery… did he?

“ You can,” Eben told Tryggr , the conviction quiet but sure in his voice. “ For we shall fix the scullery, and help your Boss , and your kin. Together .”