Viking's Captive

Viking’s Captive CALLED BY A VIKING BOOK FIVE MARIAH STONE Contents Join the romance time-travelers’ club! Also by Mariah Stone Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Epilogue A glimpse into Fated Also by Mariah Stone Enjoy the book? You can make a difference! About Mariah Stone This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Copyright “The Fortress of Time” © 2018 by Mariah Stone Copyright © 2023 “Viking’s Captive” Mariah Stone. All rights reserved. Cover design by Qamber Designs and Media Editing by Laura Barth All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, contact the publisher at http:\\mariahstone.com Join the romance time-travelers’ club! Join the mailing list on mariahstone.com to receive exclusive bonuses, author insights, release announcements, giveaways and the insider scoop of books on sale - and more! Join Mariah Stone’s exclusive Facebook author group to get early snippets of books, exclusive giveaways and to interact with the author directly. Also by Mariah Stone CALLED BY A HIGHLANDER SERIES (TIME TRAVEL): Sìneag (FREE short story) Highlander’s Captive Highlander’s Hope Highlander’s Heart Highlander’s Love Highlander’s Christmas (novella) Highlander’s Desire Highlander’s Vow Highlander’s Bride Highlander’s Protector Highlander’s Claim Highlander’s Destiny Christmas Reunion CALLED BY A VIKING SERIES (TIME TRAVEL): One Night with a Viking (prequel)—grab for free! The Fortress of Time The Jewel of Time The Marriage of Time The Surf of Time The Tree of Time FATED: Age of Wolves (free) Age of Ice Age of Fire CALLED BY A PIRATE SERIES (TIME TRAVEL): Pirate’s Treasure Pirate’s Pleasure A CHRISTMAS REGENCY ROMANCE: Her Christmas Prince Prologue Vörnen, Norway, 870 AD Sigurd’s heart sank as nine dragon ships appeared from behind a mountain by the fjord. He stood alongside his father, Jarl Randver, on the beach by their village. Ten dozen of their best warriors waited for the enemy right by their side, axes, shields, swords, and bows ready for battle. The red and blue of the ships’ sails screamed the arrival of the enemy, Jarl Fuldarr. It meant that Sigurd’s sister, Vigdis, had failed in her mission to negotiate peace and that she was either dead or captured as a hostage, and probably somewhere on board one of those ships. Sigurd’s heart turned into ice at the thought. It also meant that his men could not send a shower of arrows down on the ships because they were afraid to hurt her. They waited to find out what Fuldarr had to say. “It’s my fault,” Sigurd said to his father, who gripped his great long ax so hard his knuckles whitened. “I should not have sent her, I should have gone myself.” “It is your fault, Son. How many times did I tell you, you cannot trust important things to women.” His father gestured at the ships with his ax. “Look at the consequences.” “She begged me to give her responsibility. And she always gets what she wants.” Randver grunted as a shadow of pain passed across his face. He had been sick for a year now, an unknown illness eating him from the inside, pain stealing his sleep and draining his body. Sigurd had been filling his father’s role of jarl. He had started building a fortress around the village in anticipation of attacks. The jarldom grew weak; many strong warriors left them because Sigurd could not go raiding. Sigurd had needed to negotiate peace with Fuldarr as they were in no position to withstand such attacks. Sending Vigdis had sounded like a good idea. Yes, she was a woman, but she was a jarl’s daughter and proud to have been entrusted with a man’s task. “I should have been stricter with her,” Randver said. “She wouldn’t have assumed that the world owes her everything. She should have just fulfilled her duties like her mother and like every woman. You should not have trusted her.” He turned to Sigurd. “Never trust a woman, Son.” The words reminded Sigurd of his mother and made his muscles ache like the chills before a fever. What had happened to Vigdis was his fault. Guilt hung in his chest like a rock. He hoped that he had not sent his sister to her death. If Fuldarr had touched a hair on her head, Sigurd would cut out his heart and feed it to pigs. The ships arrived. Dozens of Fuldarr’s warriors scowled at them, but no one moved. On the biggest ship, Sigurd saw Jarl Fuldarr in the richest brynja he had ever seen, his long beard braided, his dark hair combed and oiled, a sable fur cloak falling from his shoulders—it must have shielded him from cold nights on the ship. Fuldarr watched them without movement. Sigurd gripped the handle of his battle ax, ready to charge or build a shieldwall at his father’s command. A movement caught Sigurd’s eye, and a woman’s figure appeared next to Fuldarr. Sigurd blinked. It was Vigdis, alive and whole, her back straight, her long golden hair hidden under a silk scarf—the sign that she was married. Her face was cold like a queen’s. She wore the most beautiful dress he had ever seen, the color of a warm summer’s sunset, and jewelry of such beauty he had only seen once in a raid on Frankia hung from her neck. A sable fur trim cuddled her throat. It made her look beautiful, just like their mother. The pain of loss hacked at Sigurd’s heart at the memory of the first