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know where he is. In fact,
there was no one here when we came to Dunhelm.”
    That Bard should lie to her so baldly
stunned Aurelia to silence. No one here? What of the warriors she
had joined on the walls this very morning?
    Her heart clenched in fear. What had Bard
done to her father?
    Aurelia pushed to her feet and determinedly
folded her arms across her chest. “He must be here!” she
insisted.
    Bard’s lips quirked as though he wanted to
reassure her. “Well, there can’t be that many Hekod’s in the
vicinity. And he can’t be far. Maybe we could find him
together.”
    Aurelia was astonished by the suggestion.
Either Hekod had already died a gruesome death, or he was
imprisoned and awaiting a sorry demise. How could Bard pretend
Hekod did not even exist?
    He had sworn vengeance upon Hekod, after
all.
    “ Do you have any other
family?” Bard asked with a concern Aurelia knew was
feigned.
    Clearly, Bard meant to exterminate all of
her family to see his claim to Dunhelm uncontested. Well, Aurelia
was not going to supply the names of her Viking kindred to make
that task any easier!
    “ No, none, I am afraid.”
Aurelia lied.
    Bard had the audacity to look
sympathetic.
    The cur! How could he imagine that she would
forget that he had killed her sole brother in his drive to possess
Dunhelm? Bard must think Aurelia a fool.
    Though Aurelia longed to set him straight on
that score, she realized that it might be useful to encourage this
view.
    Aurelia’s mind flew like quicksilver. She
was Bard’s prisoner, that much was clear. If she were believed
harmless and given rein within Dunhelm’s walls, she would be better
situated to aid her father’s Viking cousins when they arrived.
    And it was so easy to trust a half-wit.
    “ Well, if you have no other
family, we’ll have to make sure we find your father,” Bard
asserted.
    Determined to play the idiot, Aurelia
clasped her hands and let her voice rise slightly, as though she
was but a trusting child. “You would have time for such an
endeavor?” she asked with feigned delight.
    “ Of course.” Bard smiled
warmly at her, then a shadow flickered over his expression. “Losing
a father must very difficult.” The glimmer of pain in his eyes was
gone so quickly that Aurelia wondered whether she had imagined its
presence.
    “ Baird! What are you
doing?” The priest was agitated, obviously at having lost control
of events. “Are you feeling all right?”
    Bard interrupted his priest in a tone that
brooked no argument. “I see no reason why she can’t stay here until
this is resolved.” He smiled for Aurelia and her heart thumped.
    “ I can see a
thousand!”
    Bard propped his hands on his hips and
pivoted to glare at the priest. “What about your old favorite,
liability?”
    What was liability? Something that enraged
the priest, clearly, but beyond that Aurelia had no idea. Perhaps
it was a fancy word for her not being Christian.
    The other man hissed through his teeth.
“There is no Ki…” he began, but Bard did not let him finish.
    “ We don’t know that,” he
interrupted crisply, command obviously coming easily to him. “And
there’s no reason not to be cautious.”
    “ Except that you never have
been before,” the priest muttered with dissatisfaction.
    Bard grinned outright, his teeth flashing in
the darkness of the chamber. Aurelia could guess that women came
out of the woodwork when he smiled like that - and melted when he
turned that smile upon them. “So, your tirades haven’t fallen on
deaf ears all these years, after all.”
    The priest opened his mouth and shut it
promptly.
    Bard turned crisply, ignoring the way the
priest’s nostrils flared with disapproval. He offered Aurelia his
hand gallantly. “May I offer you accommodations?”
    Accommodations in the home he had stolen
from her family.
    Aurelia bit her lip before she said too much
and fought to appear simple. “You have claimed Dunhelm, then?” she
asked with wide eyes.
    “