Her eyes narrowed with anger at his comeback. He cheated on her and now he had the nerve to make it even worse, to sass her. It was that girl from the market, she knew, it had to be her, who else would it be? She was always batting her eyelashes at him and she had been the first one to volunteer for this trip.
Freya was hurt and angry, with both this woman and Markus, but mostly at Markus. Who could really blame her for doing what she pleased? She was a free woman after all, but him? He was a different story.
She was not afraid of him, of his size, of how intimidating he looked. He was a large man, yes, but she had known him her entire life. He might be threatening to everyone ese, but not to her. Freya looked up at him defiantly, her eyes matching his burning anger. A quiet hiss went past her lips when he grabbed her by her wrist, but she didn’t flinch, she was not going to give him the satisfaction.
“Who knows?” She replied. “Everyone is talking about it, even our son mentioned you disappeared every now and then so why should I think you didn’t?” She said slowly. “And in case you were wondering, I had a long day too, Markus…”
“Our son also suggested that we throw his sister into the river. Should we heed thatwisdom, as well?” Markus released her wrist, taking a few steps back and plopping back into his seat. The subject of Freya’s anger, admittedly, was not something he was overly concerned about, despite the aggression that flushed her cheeks. He teetered on the edge of morally grey–however, the assertion that he had slept with another woman in his absence was false.
Disregarding his tossed aside food, he tried to get back into his dinner, tearing off a slab of meat, fresh from a hunt. He chewed, silence echoing off the walls, off him, off Freya.
He swallowed, and groaned, exasperated, “I have seen no other woman. Whatever you heard of my comings and goings are the whispers between old crones that have nothing better to do than bend over and bear children,” He grunted, “I’ll gut whoever filled your ears with lies, if only to avenge the mortal wound against my face.”
