Dream of Me/Believe in Me

had worked wonders.
    “Closer ties between our peoples,” Wolf went on, “would strengthen our mutual security.”
    Hawk nodded. This was good sense. “We should look to trade more. That would help.”
    “That's true,” Wolf agreed, “but I had something else in mind.” He paused deliberately, then said, “You're not married.”
    Hawk's broad back stiffened. He moved quickly to quash any thought Wolf might have along those lines. “I was married many years ago. She died. That was enough for me.”
    “I'm sorry,” Wolf said sincerely. “But even after such a loss, you must go on.”
    “You misunderstand. We were not close, on the contrary. The experience convinced me that marriage is not for me.”
    From a nearby bench where he was stretched out, letting the heat draw out the excesses of celebration that had followed news of his nephew's birth, Dragon raised his head briefly. “Don't let him persuade you otherwise,” he warned. “He used to have a perfectly sane, sensible attitude toward the whole thing but that's all changed. If we're not careful, he'll be looking to get everyone married off.”
    “Not everyone,” Wolf said. He glanced from one to the other, his silvery eyes alight with amusement. “Just both of you.”
    “Both?”
That was Dragon again, truly caught by surprise and outraged. He'd assumed his brother's scheming extended no further than their host, who also was having none of it.
    “Not likely,” Hawk scoffed. “Once was more than enough.”
    Wolf refused to be deterred. The soul of patience— and ruthless determination—he asked, “What could be more reasonable? If Hawk takes a Norse bride and you, Dragon, take a Saxon bride, the alliance will be secured three times over. I have no doubt King Alfred would agree.” He paused. “Indeed, that's why I've already suggested it to him.”
    Hawk stared at him. “What do you mean, suggested it?”
    “I sent a letter to him outlining this plan.” The Saxon's look of unbridled shock was, Wolf decided, ample recompense for the anguish Wolf himself had experienced over Cymbra's loss. Indeed, he could not have devised a better punishment. The best part was that it had only just begun. He would have months, possibly even longer, to savor the Hawk's twisting on the matrimonial hook.
    “It's too late,” Wolf said cheerfully as Hawk turned toward the door, clearly intending to send men to intercept the message. “It went this morning, you'll never catch them.”
    He did not mention, although he would tell them later, that in the same message he had asked for Alfred's help in discovering the identity of whoever had intercepted his own message to Hawk the year before and forged the response that set all in motion. Grateful though he was for the outcome, he was still determined to unmask the miscreant lest he be tempted to strike again.
    Slowly, Hawk subsided but he continued to stare at Wolf in stunned disbelief. “Alfred may not like the idea. …” Even as he spoke, he knew he was grasping for hope where there was none. It was exactly the sort of suggestion the king would seize upon to further his own aims to defeat the Danes. Hawk had sworn fealty to Alfred. If the king ordered him to do so, he would have no choice but to … marry. And marry a Norse woman at that, a stranger he wouldn't even be permitted to choose for himself.Gloom over the prospect cast him into silence even as he grabbled for some way—any way—to escape the trap closing around him.
    “Praise Odin I'm not beholden to any Saxon liege,” Dragon said fervently. He swung his legs over the bench and sat up, the better to observe the other two. Hawk's plight was amusing, but his brother, Dragon decided, needed much more careful watching than he'd realized.
    “You're not,” Wolf agreed, “but Alfred isn't a man to anger.” He looked at his brother pointedly. “Neither am I.”
    Dragon stared at him, incredulous. “That's the thanks I get? Not only did I plant the seed in your mind about what actually happened between Cymbra and this one”—he gestured at Hawk—“but purely out of compassion, I refrained from telling you she was pregnant so you wouldn't madden yourself waiting for the sea lanes to open.
This
is how you would repay me?”
    Wolf was on his feet so suddenly he almost brained himself on a low beam of the sauna. “You
what?”
    “How did you know?” Hawk asked, vengefully pleased to see the scheming Viking discomfited.
    Dragon shrugged his