I rolled my eyes. “How noble.”
“Were those men bothering you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” I capped the jar of ointment and stored it in my chest of drawers.
“Those men who came to you at lunch like flies to a carcass,” Viggo said impatiently. “Were they hassling you?”
“And what would you do if they were? Threaten to break their bones? Make them swear to never come near me again? I can take care of myself, Viggo.”
“Yes, I can see that. Your fleeing-from-confrontation strategy scared them enough to make them stay away for good.”
I leapt to the door and yanked it open. “I wasn’t—”
Viggo’s brown hair was still wet from showering. The three buttons of his white shirt were undone, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He carried a tray of food in his strong hands. His trousers were rolled up to his knees, exposing hairy and muscular calves. His feet were bare.
“Fleeing.” I looked away and hoped he couldn’t hear my heart fluttering. Of course, I had to realize he was handsome at the precise moment I was trying to be angry and indignant.
He smirked. “What? Have you never seen a man’s forearms?”
I took the tray of food and retreated to my desk with a huff.
Viggo took a deep breath. “Is that Bryn’s muscle relaxant I smell?”
“Yes, he gave me a jar.”
“Oh, is that all?” he said with a chuckle. “You should see my chest of drawers. He stocked it with every one of his concoctions just last week.”
I turned away from my desk to see his smile slowly fading. As if he were only now realizing why Bryn had so dutifully supplied him with medicine.
Viggo picked at invisible lint on his shirt. “When I said he was worrying too much, he jokingly stated that he wouldn’t always be around to patch me up. But he wasn’t joking. He knew. Even then, he knew.”
“He thought you would try to stop him.”
Viggo’s head snapped up.
I shrugged. “When I confronted him about the letter, he said he thought you would try to stop him if he attempted to say goodbye in person.”
Hurt coursed through those copper eyes for a moment before he bowed his head. He forced a snort. “Yes, perhaps I would’ve tried. But in the end he would’ve still left, the determined bastard. I’ll wring his neck when we see him again but, for now, I hope he’s happy.” He shuffled his feet for a moment before scowling at me. “You can’t hide in this room and sulk forever. Bryn wouldn’t approve.” Then he marched down the hall.
I ran to the door and leaned out to call after him. “Thank you for dinner!”
He vanished around the corner.
Chapter Eight
I woke in time to avoid being punched in the face. One moment I was asleep, and the next my eyes were open and I was throwing myself out of bed. The fist sank into the pillow and hit the headboard with a muffled thunk. I scrambled to my feet and backed into the corner of my room. It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. He was burly and tall, my attacker. I caught the sounds of a scuffle right outside my door.
“This is your brilliant plan?” I asked with an uneasy chuckle. “Your friends distract the guards so that anyone who wakes up will be too preoccupied with them to wonder about me? You’re a fool.”
“A fool who’s about to bring Dotharr’s Miracle into submission,” the brute said with a savage smile. “In more ways than one.”
My innards seized up in a kind of terror I could only associate with The Great Disaster. It made me furious. Heat spread down the length of my body. “You don’t even know me. I have done nothing to deserve your hate, you slow, disgusting, waste of space.” I kicked off the wall and swung a fist across his jaw.
He stumbled back in surprise and shook his head hard.
“Get out of my room!” I screamed as I pelted him with punches.
He recovered quickly and lifted his fists to protect himself. I aimed a kick to his torso and then lunged to my bed for the dagger stored under the mattress. He grabbed the back of my nightshirt and threw me into the opposite wall. The world became white for a moment as pain blossomed around my head. I didn’t have time to collapse, much less scream. He pressed his body against mine, pinned my wrists to the wall, and kissed me.
I bit his lip and he reared back with a shout. He released one of my wrists to slap me, and I used the opportunity to gouge his eye. I forced him back and away from me by pushing my finger deeper into his socket. His screams made my head pound but I didn’t relent. I shoved a finger into his other eye and pressed down, forcing him to his knees.
The door burst open beside me and I was tackled into my writing desk by one of my attacker’s friends. I rolled onto the floor. Three more entered my already-crowded room and joined the first in kicking me before I could get up. I covered my head a moment too late. A foot connected with my nose and blood filled my mouth.
Suddenly, it all stopped. I dared to peek from the shelter of my arms to see Viggo throwing one of the young men out into the hallway. He kicked a second man in the chest and sent him into the wall, then spun to face the third one, threw two jabs at the man’s face, and put a knee in his groin. The fourth was boxed in the ears and had his legs kicked out from underneath him. Viggo spotted me on the floor and froze. His nostrils flared. He turned very slowly and proceeded to kick the man whom I’d made blind.
He was still kicking him when my guards stormed into the room. Viggo stopped and threw his hands in the air. “An amazing job protecting Dotharr’s Miracle, gentlemen. You make our Heavenly Master proud!”
“We were ambushed,” my guard sputtered in fear or anger, I couldn’t tell which.
“Yes, by trainees!” Viggo shouted. “You’re supposed to have graduated from this academy. You’re supposed to have seen battle across the sea. You were chosen for this assignment for a reason, weren’t you? You’re a disgrace! Get out of here—you’re fired.”
The second guard loomed over Viggo. “Only General Halvar and the director have the power to dismiss us.”
“Get out,” Viggo said softly, “or I’ll make you.”
I struggled to stand, sure Viggo was about to be pummeled.
Instead, the second guard turned to his peer. “You heard the princeling. We’re no longer needed here. Let’s go home.” He spat in Viggo’s face. Then he and his partner lumbered away.
Viggo twisted around to glare at me. “Stop cowering and help me dispose of these mongrels.”
“How?” I asked.
Viggo nodded at the window. “How else?”
I blanched. “We’re on the third story.”
Viggo frowned at me. “It’s either this, or I’m removing some of their fingers. Which will it be?”
Viggo sat at my table during breakfast. So did Rainer, Frode, Brandt, Asger, and the other two whose names I still didn’t know.
Rainer jumped from his seat and apologized as soon as he caught sight of me. “We didn’t mean yesterday’s lunch to become an interrogation. If you don’t want to talk about Bryn, you don’t have to,” he said in a rush.
I addressed my tray of food. “Thanks.” I was going to sit across from Viggo, but he snagged my sleeve and yanked me down to the spot next to him before I could. I winced when my bottom hit the seat and the impact jolted pain across my body. He immediately released me with a murmured apology.
No one spoke for a long time. The men around me avoided my eyes and strived to put as much food in their mouths as they could. I didn’t know whether I should feel gratitude or shame.
Frode cleared his throat. “Where are your guards this morning, Asta?”