9
Juliet
I woke alone in the low light. Jarl and Fenrir must have gone to fetch firewood or hunt for food. I didn’t know whether it was dusk or dawn, or whether I’d slept a day or a year. The ache between my legs told me what I had done.
I sat up and tried to comb out my hair, but it was too tangled. My shift was gone, torn away. I was naked, barefoot, cold. The bed was still warm from the warrior’s bodies, but I could not return to it. The beauty of our night together was shattered.
What had I done? I’d broken my vows.
I staggered from the lodge. As soon as I stepped outside, my feet ached from the cold ground, but I welcomed the hurt as punishment for what I’d done. All the lovely glow that had filled me after my punishment was gone, leaving me barren and empty inside. The good was
