Dream of Me/Believe in Me

knowledgeable about such matters just on the basis of her few weeks of marriage. She eyed the apricot gauze again. It was lovely and it did suit her coloring. Perhaps she would just think about it.
    There was little enough time for that, though, for scarcely had she finished deciding what to do with all the items than one of the serving women knocked hurriedly on the lodge door and, at Cymbra's bidding, entered.
    “My lady, his lordship wants you.” She gestured toward the great hall.
    Wondering what it was that could not wait, Cymbra answered her husband's summons to find him in conversation with Dragon. Both men fell silent as she approached. They rose politely and Wolf held out a chair for her.
    “Is something wrong?” she asked, glancing from one to the other.
    They both answered at once. “No.” “Of course not.”
    Dragon cast his brother a look she couldn't decipher and sat back to listen.
    “I've decided to invite the other lords of Vestfold toassemble in Sciringesheal,” Wolf said, “that we may meet together and talk over matters of mutual interest.”
    Cymbra swallowed her surprise and thought quickly For such guests, there would have to be a great feast lasting several days and including only the finest of everything. It was quite an undertaking. She prayed she was up to it. Scarcely had she thought of that than she looked at her husband cautiously.
    “When is all this to be?”
    “The summons has just gone out. They will begin to arrive within the week.”
    “A week?”
Only a week to prepare. “How many?”
    Wolf shrugged. “There are the jarls themselves, their sons and retainers, the usual escorts and hangers-on … all in all, not more than a few hundred.”
    “A few hundred! In a week?” She stared at him in disbelief. She loved this man with all her heart. He was strong, protective, kind, utterly wonderful. Yet none of that stopped her from demanding, “Are you
mad?”
    “I told you she wasn't going to be happy,” Dragon said. He looked pleased to be proven correct.
    Wolf shot him a hard look but directed his attention to his wife. “There's nothing to be concerned about,
elskling.
You'll have all the help you need.”
    She stared at him unmollified. Typical man to say such a thing. She doubted he had given it any thought whatsoever. “Where will they sleep? What will they eat? How do you plan to keep them entertained when you aren't talking over these great matters, whatever they may be? Several hundred men who have to be fed, amused, and kept comfortable, and you give me only a
week?”
    “Easy, sweet sister,” Dragon said with a laugh. “We begin today to build two temporary halls on the hillside that will shelter our guests. As for entertainment, there are few better than the hunt, which has the addedadvantage of providing food. But if you are still concerned, such word is already spreading that will bring ample … entertainment on the next tide. You need have no worry about that.”
    “Oh, good,” Cymbra said. “Hundreds of Viking lords
and
every whore who can hie herself here. Truly, something to look forward to.” She shook her head, then added, “It will take everyone in the town working together if this is to be as it should.” Yet, even as she spoke, she felt a spurt of excitement at the prospect. She did enjoy a challenge and this promised to be a huge one. Moreover, she could not have conceived of a better opportunity to prove herself to her husband.
    “You're the woman to organize it,” Wolf assured her. “Buy anything you need, arrange everything as you see fit.”
    His confidence in her made Cymbra forgive the short notice, but she didn't stop worrying even as she hurriedly summoned the women together and began describing what must needs be done. In the flurry of activity that followed, she had very little time to think about anything except the endless details of the preparations.
    And no time at all to be aware of the matter that concerned her husband far more than anything he would discuss with the other lords of Vestfold.
    W HEN ARE YOU GOING TO TELL HER? DRAGON asked several days later as he and Wolf rested beside the river after a cooling swim. Around them were scattered the remnants of the midday repast Cymbra had sent down—rounds of warm bread, ripe cheese, apples and berries in abundance, legs of chicken, partridge, and grouse, fallen upon eagerly by the hungry men who with Wolf and Dragon had labored long and hard to construct two very