Blind Allegiance by Violetta Rand

outside.
    The ship had just turned into a narrow inlet. A fjord, Randvior had called it when he described his homeland. And thousands of inlets dotted the coastline like fingers on a hand. High, rocky outcrops surrounded them, and to the south, snow-covered peaks stretched upward and outward for miles in every direction. Noelle looked over the railing; sheets of ice floated on the water, but the ship cut effortlessly through them.
    “How far to your steading?” she asked as Randvior joined her.
    “Maybe ten miles.” He pointed eastward. “This river borders my lands. We’ll follow it home.”
    The idea of bathing and drinking fresh water again pleased her. Luxuries she regretted ever taking for granted. Anything was an improvement over the stale-tasting water rations served from wooden barrels on the ship.
    What she regretted most, though, were her actions last night. She looked over her shoulder at Randvior—his face still glowing. After he bade her to go to sleep, she’d tossed and turned for nearly an hour. Unable to settle down, she’d demanded to see the Terms of Surrender her brother had signed. He’d offered it for inspection.
    She’d opened the scroll and eyed her brother’s grandiloquent scrawl at the bottom of the page. His B and S were exaggeratedly rounded for a man’s writing style.
    Her name was written out as insignificantly as she felt. Listed as one of many items the jarl was entitled to as payment for his leniency. She read her name out loud— Lady Noelle Marie Sinclair , youngest daughter of Frederick Michael McKenzie Sinclair, the Sixth Earl of Durham. No disputing this contract, she legally belonged to him.
    She’d studied the document contentiously, scanned further down the page, and read the amount of silver and gold he acquired and the names of the men and maids he claimed.
    “Everything seems to be in order,” she’d said with growing apprehension and dropped the contract on the bed.
    “Look.” Randvior’s pleasant voice interrupted her thoughts. He pointed toward a cluster of cottages built along the edge of the water on the last island. People gathered to watch the ships pass by and waved.
    She waved back.
    “Are you enjoying the scenery?”
    Admittedly, his lands were far more beautiful than Durham. More enchanting than anything she’d ever seen. “It’s breath-taking.”
    He raised his head and studied the sky as if he could read the future. “The snow is very late, but it will come, min lille dukke . And when it does, we’ll be imprisoned together for months with no escape.”
    She believed him. These were the legendary lands of the dragon people that her countrymen deeply feared. And now, I am a prisoner in the very place priests in the Sabbath pulpit liken to the torments of Hades.

 
    Chapter 8
    Homecoming
    With the weight of the world on her shoulders, Noelle stayed silent once they anchored and Randvior handed her over the ship railing, straight into the arms of two strangers. The men carried her to land and settled her amongst a crowd of people who waited eagerly to welcome them home. A group of lavishly dressed women stared at her. Of mixed ages, even the youngest scrutinized her from head to toe. She breathed steadily and offered her most courageous smile. Not one returned it.
    She knew they were trying to guess who and what she was to Randvior.
    Noelle looked past them and focused on her father’s former maids; Deanna, Katherine, and Johanna were being brought ashore, too. As soon as their feet hit ground, they scurried away from the men and flocked around her. Noelle smiled radiantly and wrapped her arms around two of them, while she tried to calm the third with comforting words. She reminded them of the small courtesies the jarl had shown them already. Even though they had been kept apart for ten days, they appeared unharmed.
    “If he wished to mistreat us, I am sure he would have done so by now. He is at liberty to do with us as he pleases. I’ve sensed