Dream of Me/Believe in Me

stared at him and he noticed yet again the flatness of her eyes. “I only meant …”
    “I know what you meant.” He did not want to be unkind. There was too much pain already to add to it. “Those who wish to do so will continue to search.”
    She frowned. He wondered if it could really be out of concern for him and felt the thought slip away. Nothing in his experience with her said it could be so. Nothing.
    Her husband had rebelled against Alfred and died for it. Daria had been thrown from the heights of anticipatedpower to sufferance in her half-brother's household. She had no reason to want Krysta found.
    Did she have reason for even more?
    He stared at her, trying to think, but his mind moved sluggishly before the onslaught of raw emotion. His marriage to Krysta had stripped her of what power she had enjoyed at Hawkforte. What was left for her, then?
    His marriage … But there had been another marriage before his, that of his sister Cymbra and the Norse Wolf. A marriage begun in violence and intended revenge that, grace of God, turned swiftly to true love.
    Wolf had proposed the alliance of Norse and Saxon against Dane. Wolf had suggested his own marriage to Cymbra to solidify that alliance.
    An answer had come back to Wolf, insulting him deeply, rejecting both marriage and alliance. An answer sealed with the Hawk's own sign yet never written or known by him.
    The mystery of who had sent the message that could so easily have provoked war remained unsolved.
    He shrugged impatiently. Why think of such things now when Krysta's fate hung in the balance?
    “Go to your bed,” he said again and turned away.
    H
OW COULD THIS BE? IT WAS WELL AFTER MIDNIGHT yet Hawkforte blazed with light. Not a man, woman, or child had sought rest. In every nook and cranny, every outbuilding and dependency, every passage and every chamber, people were searching. The night air resounded with the constant calls: “Lady Krystaaaaa … Lady Krystaaaaaaa …” On and on, enough to drive her mad
    Why did they care? What did it matter to them whether the Norse whore was found? Why was Hawk not raging with anger for all the trouble she was causing and had caused
    from the very beginning? Why was he not glad to be rid of her?
    Not that it mattered. She had waited far too long to consider any change in her plans. She would just have to be more careful but she was clever enough to manage that. Far, far more clever than any of them.
    Best not to wait any longer though, have it done and enjoy the anticipation of the discovery, the fury that would erupt. Oh, yes, that would be very good indeed.
    K RYSTA BLINKED ONCE, THEN AGAIN BEFORE SHE WAS certain of what she saw. Still very dim but growing stronger, a light was approaching. Her stomach clenched and she took tighter hold of the iron bar. The impulse to cry out on the chance that the light belonged to rescuers was very strong but she forced herself to remain quiet. Rescuers would likely be calling out to her. In the utter silence of the cell and the passage beyond, she heard nothing.
    Nothing save for her own prayers offered up for the safety of her child in the moments before the light grew brighter.
    Daria's face loomed at the tiny opening in the door. Her mouth twisted and her voice was very high.
    “There now, you've waited long enough. Did you fear I would not return? But I have and look what I've brought you.”
    She held an object up to the opening. It glinted with the sharp sheen of metal.
    “Do you recognize it? You should. It is Hawk's own knife. You will die by it and he will be blamed.”
    Despite herself, Krysta could not prevent the sharp inhalation of her breath. Daria heard it and laughed. “So surprised? But how else would I do this? It's perfect,really. Hawk never wanted peace with the Norse, not really. He rejected Wolf Hakonson's offer of alliance, he sent the message saying he would never allow his sister to be wed to a filthy Viking, then he raged when the Wolf took her anyway and made her his wife. Did Hawk not go to Sciringesheal himself and steal her from there, only to finally have to return her to the Wolf when he came upon Hawkforte with a mighty army? The peace they pledged then was false in the Hawk's heart, he wanted only revenge. As for marrying you, he loathed the idea but was forced into it by Alfred. Now our
great
king will have every reason to be enraged at Hawk, as will the Norse themselves. He will be disgraced, cast down, just as he deserves to