Dream of Me/Believe in Me

in helpless, resented response.
    “Good evening, my lord.” They might have been distant acquaintances, so cool and calm was she. Her control provoked him mightily, particularly when contrasted to his own lack, but he was damned if he'd show it.
    “My lady,” he said, all civility. Smoke swirled from the cooking fire at the center of the hall. Children ran among the tables and benches, playing with the eager dogs. People gathered in companionable groups, chatting about the day's events. It was all very normal, very ordinary.
    All but his Saxon wife, Frigg-blessed woman, at once bane and joy of his existence. Resolve flowed through him. He would teach her a thing or two about this game, having played it in courts of intrigue from black-watered Dubhlinh to treacherous Byzantium.
    They proceeded to supper, which was as fine as any served in his hall since Cymbra had taken the keys. Nor did he deny himself the pleasure of telling her so, if only to see her veiled surprise at his graciousness.
    “I've never had better haddock. Taking into account that I'm not particularly fond of fish, this is amazingly good.”
    She had eaten very little, only toying with her food. Now she dropped all pretense of interest in it and looked at him cautiously. “You don't like fish?”
    “Not especially. I probably ate too much of it as a child.”
    A child? Her stomach did a slow tumble. The thought of a child like Wolf, a small, black-haired, gray-eyed mischief maker for her to love and nurture, swept over her with sweet longing. Her cheeks warmed.
    “Why was that?” She was hardly aware of what sheasked, wanting only to distract him so that he wouldn't notice her sudden self-consciousness.
    He lifted his horn of mead, drank, and set it down again in the curled iron brace made for that purpose. “There were times when we had no fodder for the animals and they had to be slaughtered. When the crops also failed, there was only the sea to keep us alive.”
    Cymbra could not mask her surprise. “I had no idea you endured such hardship.”
    He shrugged dismissively. “We were not always so prosperous. In my childhood, there was great disorder. Many holdings were raided repeatedly, ours among them. My father tried to protect us, but as often as not, our walls were breached. We had to run and hide while the raiders took whatever they wished and burned the rest.”
    Struggling to reconcile what he had just told her with the wealthy, powerful man he had become, Cymbra asked, “How did you go from that to all of this?” She gestured around the hall filled with the trophies of victory, gleaming gold and silver plate, vivid hangings, and, most important, happy, prosperous people.
    He hesitated and for a moment she thought he would not answer. His expression was guarded. “In my twelfth year, raiders came again. This time both my parents and a good many others were killed. There was nothing left for Dragon and me. We went to sea.”
    Cymbra waited, thinking he would follow this matter-of-fact recitation with something more. When he didn't, she looked to her brother-in-law. “How old were you then?”
    “I was eight.”
    “Weren't you afraid?”
    “I was more afraid he might leave me.” He cocked an eye at Wolf. “But he wouldn't have. After we buried our parents, we stood beside their grave. Wolf put his armaround my shoulders and promised me everything would be all right.”
    Cymbra's throat tightened painfully. Vividly she could see the two boys as they had been, one still a child, the other little more, setting out alone to face a dangerous and hostile world.
    “You were lucky to survive.”
    “We did more than that,” Dragon said lightly. “Wolf seemed to have a knack for figuring out which voyages to sign on with. He was big for his age and already handy with a sword, so he didn't have too much trouble convincing shipmasters to take him on. It was only after they thought they had him that he'd mention I came along, too.”
    The two men shared a grin over the memory. Cymbra marveled at it. A past that would have destroyed most people seemed only to have strengthened the valiant Hakonson brothers.
    “We sailed the world,” Dragon said, “or at least most of it. Everywhere we went, Wolf studied how people fought and how they defended themselves. The rest of us would be …”he sought a discreet term suitable for her tender ears, “… relaxing while he'd be making sketches of fortifications or having long discussions