Sarah Mac’s Reviews > The Viking Chief's Marriage Alliance > Status Update

‘Her back arched & she cried out, her body squeezing him rhythmically with her pleasure. He couldn’t see her face as she came, because she buried it against his shoulder & neck. He wanted to see her face so desperately, but like so many things she hid it from him.’

‘The Oracle’s words were a cruel mockery of her life. She would be the queen of no man’s heart. She couldn’t even entice a man into bed with her. But something began to unfurl within her. Like a serpent waking from a deep sleep it squirmed & stretched, filling up her wounded heart with a fire that would never be tamed.’

Thorstein is lucky he’s so hot—otherwise Gyda might’ve dumped his stubborn ass by now. :P She can’t decide whether the poor bastard needs a hug or a kick in the nuts.

‘She’d seen thirty winters, while Astrid had died before she’d seen twenty-one. She reached up w/ her fingers & smoothed the wrinkles w/ a featherlight touch & sighed deeply. Her own face returned, & the sweet face of her sister fell away like an ill-fitting shift. Every season her face aged & weathered more. Every year she lost more of her sister.’

‘It was strange to see her so vulnerable. Somehow he knew this was a side of herself she showed no one. He looked away, feeling like a thief.’

‘She stared at his mouth, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. Did she dare? She heard the taunts of Halvor in her mind. How he’d called her cold & passionless. But she’d not always been so brittle. Her marriage had beaten & tempered her like a blade in the fire.’

‘Thorstein turned & looked away from her towards the approaching harbor, hating how those unshed tears had made his guts twist. He had no need to feel guilty. He had saved her life—it was not his responsibility to look after her future as well. A person had to look after their own fate.’

‘Her clothes & jewelry identified her as a jarl’s wife. They gave her power in a world ruled by men. They were her sword & her shield. And she would wield them with arrogance & pride.’