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he’d promised would take care of her if anything should happen to him. But she could not even think about that.
    Even now, Reinn strained against his brother, their arms locked in a physical hold as they fought for position in the water. He was fighting for her against tremendous odds and she knew it was not for the sake of her keep. He had been with Gunnar on other campaigns and had not tried to wrest away his sibling’s spoils. Reinn had been unaware that his kin had turned brutal and fought to punish that lack of honor. Nay, he fought to ensure the heartless knave did not inflict harm upon her or future captives.
    How could she have thought he would behave dishonorably toward her when she’d already seen him show mercy on a battlefield? Love for him filled her and she knew she had to find a way to help him. Gunnar was her enemy too. Besides, she would fight for Reinn as he fought for her.
    Now, Gunnar knocked the ax from Reinn’s free hand, then capitalized on Reinn’s attempt to retrieve it. The move gave him an advantage to push Reinn underwater.
    He held him beneath the surface while the sea bubbled and surged with Reinn’s struggle.
    Eva grabbed the fur pelt in the bottom of the faering and threw it on him, blinding Gunnar momentarily. He must have lost his hold on Reinn for a moment, because he resurfaced, sputtering and coughing.
    Her boat bobbed with the wake of their enraged efforts. Gunnar dove on top of Reinn, but Reinn must have found his ax while he was underwater, the weapon appearing now as he held the shaft crosswise to Gunnar’s throat. He shoved the wooden handle hard into Gunnar’s neck, pushing him backward to keep the pressure on his throat.
    Their enemy’s face turned red with lack of air and Eva knew Reinn’s honor would demand he show quarter. A relief since she would never want the man she loved—aye, loved—to live with the fact that he had killed his own kin.
    Pride in him surged through her hard as Reinn released his brother and Gunnar stumbled backward. He would have slid under the water if Reinn did not hold him up by the soaked wolf pelt.
    As Gunnar regained his senses and his breath, Reinn let him go.
    “You will leave the Anglesey coast and not come back,” he warned his brother. Then, he turned to Gunnar’s men in the ship above him. “I entrust you all, men whom I hold blameless for his actions, to see that he returns to our homeland. There, he will have to live by the code of our people since we do not sanction cruelty to women.”
    Privately, Eva hoped his men would toss him overboard before they returned to their snowy northern home. But even as she thought it, Gunnar lifted a broadsword over his head, aimed at Reinn’s back.
    She screamed a warning. Cold terror gripped her heart.
    Reinn turned, ready to defend himself.
    But oddly, Gunnar had stopped midair. An arrow in his chest.
    The huge Norseman fell forward into the shallows, dead by the bow of one of his own men. Eva could see a warrior on the long ship lowering the weapon. None of his crew seemed to look at him accusingly. Then again, maybe they would not mourn a corrupted leader who had fought with dishonor to attack his brother from behind.
    They all stood, stunned, for long moments. Gunnar’s men lowered their shields and their heads, perhaps to mourn the man that he’d once been.
    Reinn’s head was bowed too. Her heart broke that he had to see his brother’s death even as she was supremely grateful he had not made the final blow. Mostly, she whispered one prayer of thanks after another that her noble warrior had survived the battle.
    Now she only hoped he would forgive the hasty words she’d thrown at him when she’d been afraid he had used her for his own gain. She would be a fool to let Reinn Geirsson slip away.

Chapter Five
    Two days had passed since the Norse warriors had built a burial chamber for Gunnar on one of their smaller ships. After the fashion of their people, they honored their dead by