“I’m growing weary.” Gunnar’s voice lacked conviction, which told me Sven was right. Gunnar was noble enough to make such a sacrifice. Just as he’d been noble enough to put his life in danger by coming after Frans.
“You are the true Earl of Romsdal,” Gunnar insisted.
“Not anymore—”
“You have more right to the land and title than my brother. If you’re free, you could rule with kindness instead of cruelty.”
What if Sven were given the opportunity to rule? Would he do as Gunnar suggested and make life better for the people in his land? Surely his assistance now in this deadly situation proved he would make a better leader than Bernhard.
Keen yearning shot through me. Oh for a time of peace and plenty for all of us, a time when we no longer had to live in constant fear and hunger and control over every detail of our lives.
“Would the jotunn accept such an exchange?” I asked.
“’Tis likely with one so young as Gunnar. Yes.”
Was that why Sven had given the task of carrying the litter to Gunnar? Perhaps Sven had guessed that as long as Gunnar was needed to save Frans, he wouldn’t allow himself to fall behind and get captured by the jotunn.
My chest constricted at the prospect that Gunnar would enslave himself to the jotunn and experience the rest of his life cursed and imprisoned here in Hardanger Forest.
I couldn’t let it happen. I loved him too much.
Yes, I loved Gunnar. Fully and completely. Without reservation. And I would do anything to save him. If the rumors about the jotunn with women were true, then I had a better chance of surviving captivity than Gunnar did.
With a shrug, I broke free of Sven and squeezed past Gunnar and Frans.
“Mikaela, no!” Gunnar’s shout filled the night air, and he lunged after me. “No!”
I hefted my skirt and began to run.
“Release me!” Gunnar yelled. And I knew that Sven had stopped Gunnar. I didn’t know how, but I prayed Sven would hold him long enough.
In the next instant, a giant-like man broke through the brush. Bald except for a tuft of white hair at the top of his scalp, he was swinging the trunk of a tree like a club, knocking down everything in his path. I thudded against his obese middle and fell to the ground in front of him. He raised the trunk above me, as if I were nothing but a bug he hoped to crush.
Chapter
21
Gunnar
“Let me go!” I wrestled against Sven, but after years of fighting for his survival, my great uncle was stronger than I’d anticipated. And with my leg injury, I was weaker than I’d realized. Within seconds, he shoved me ahead of himself and wrestled me to the ground, pressing against my injured leg and causing me more torment—in order to force me into compliance.
“Fie upon you!” My heart bucked inside me just as hard as my body, demanding that I free myself and run to Mikaela’s rescue. The thought of her facing the jotunn by herself drove me into a frenzy, so that all I could think about was getting to her.
Frans moaned softly but didn’t awaken. If only he would, so that he could help me convince Sven to let me save Mikaela.
Sven’s elbow dug into the middle of my back, keeping me down.
“Don’t do this.” With my face against the leaves and brush, I could hardly breathe. Had I misjudged Sven and taken him as an ally when he was my foe? Was he working in conjunction with the jotunn, hoping to win my favor so that I’d let down my guard?
“Be quiet and cease struggling.” Sven’s low voice resounded near my ear, and somehow he managed to bend my arm behind my back and wedge it upward sharply. “If the jotunn does not see you and link gazes, he cannot curse you.”
“I don’t care if he curses me. I’m not letting Mikaela put her life at risk.” I twisted with a strong jerk, but Sven yanked at my arm, the pain tearing through me and blinding me.
“The jotunn won’t harm a woman,” Sven said evenly, almost calmly. “Especially one as beautiful as yours.”
Blinking back a wave of nausea, I paused in my thrashing. “How can you be certain?”
“After these many years of watching him, I have learned his weakness is women.” Sven’s grip remained tight. “I would not have allowed the woman you love to present herself to the jotunn if I did not know it was so.”
I closed my eyes and tried to swallow my panic. But it was lodged in my throat and wouldn’t budge. We were in the darkness and no longer on the path I’d carved during the long journey into the forest. I feared moving to the left or right lest I find myself in another snare. Was that another one of Sven’s tactics to make me do his bidding?
I spat out the dirt and leaves I’d inhaled. Even if I was angry with Sven and wanted to lash out at him, I sensed deep inside that he hadn’t brought us this far only to betray us. He truly wanted me to leave the forest unharmed.
Somewhere behind me, I heard Mikaela again. And it was clear she was speaking with the jotunn.
“I have an offer for you,” she called.
“Who are you?” the jotunn demanded in a hollow, almost childlike voice.
“My name is Mikaela, and I want to make an exchange for Sven.”
I started to release a yell of protest, but Sven shoved my face back into the ground, cutting off the sound. I fought against him again, my pulse pounding with renewed urgency.
“Stop.” Sven spoke quietly in my ear. “I will never let her exchange herself for me. I vow it.”
The sincerity in my great uncle’s whisper brought my frantic protest to a halt.
“She is providing you with the much-needed time to get away. When I release you, I want you to take your servant and run.”
I shook my head. “I’ll never leave without her.”
“You cannot let her distraction be for naught.” More protest crowded for release, but Sven continued before I could speak it. “Once you have a fair start, I shall step in and force Mikaela to go.”
I didn’t know if I could make myself move forward without her.
“This is the only way.” Sven’s voice was harsh. “With your injury and with the weight of the servant, you will never escape from the jotunn without a sizeable lead.”
“I can’t.”
“You must.”
I could see the logic behind the plan. But could I truly trust that he would make sure Mikaela didn’t come to harm?
“Let me do this.” His tone was laced with a plea. “I have had to stand helplessly by and watch people suffer for too many years. I need to do this now. Please.”
I was wasting precious time fighting with Sven, time I could be using to make my getaway with Frans. The logical part of me knew I had to go. But my heart was ripping from my chest at the prospect of leaving Mikaela behind to an unknown fate.
“There have only been a few women who have come into the forest in the time I’ve lived here. The jotunn becomes addled at the merest sight of a fair maiden, even from afar, and cannot think clearly.”
“What if he curses her?” I had only to think about Queen Lis suffering from a bleeding curse and her mother dying from the same to know that curses were real and deadly. Was it possible the royal family curse had come from a jotunn?