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“Galinn betrayed you.”
The words were cold and piercing - like a sword to the heart.
“Are you certain?” the words left Soma’s lips almost before Eivor had stopped speaking. Her heart thundered in her chest and she could barely hear the sounds of the longhouse around her.
Denial.
She didn’t want to believe it, she wanted to say Eivor was wrong - she had to be mistaken. Maybe one of her other men found out about the tunnel by chance, Birna could have let something slip. Or Lif. Or Galinn.
Eivor, thankfully silent, just gave Soma a single nod. Soma felt Eivor’s sharp gaze on her, a quiet question in her eyes:
What are you going to do?
The cold, rational voice in her mind whispered, ‘You trusted Eivor for a reason.’
Eivor was an outside voice, a mind not clouded by sentiment, and a heart not torn by the love Soma had for her closest advisors. Birna, Lif, and Galinn were the only people who knew about the tunnel. Birna never would let anything slip; she was a smart woman, a careful woman. She knew better, no matter how much ale passed her lips. Lif barely ever talked.
Galinn …
She glanced over at the table where her advisors sat. Birna was half reclined on the bench and leaning her back against the table. Lif sat next to her leaning forward and engaged in whatever Galinn was saying as he stood with his arms folded.
Anger.
No. It was more like white hot rage that roiled in her gut. She stayed calm, keeping up appearances as a good leader should even though she wanted to clear every damn thing off the table in front of her.
How could he do this to her? After all she did for him? After she found him half dead and delirious in the fen and nursed him back to health. After he swore his allegiance to her. He made an oath .
She left the table and walked towards the trio, Eivor mercifully kept quiet as she followed close behind. That was good. Soma wasn’t sure she could talk quite yet as her mind went to the next step:
Bargaining.
Galinn could be reasoned with. She could offer him redemption, a way out of the mess he made. If Wigmund had offered him riches - Grantebridge was thriving and she could offer more to him than that pig ever could. Perhaps she could still use him to get to Wigmund? He need not die for this transgression. It would be a second chance. Her family could stay together and not be wrenched apart by this-
No.
He had betrayed her and broken his oath to her the second he decided to side with Wigmund. For whatever reason: money, fate, or a motive that only made sense in his complicated mind. He broke the oath and she’d never be able to fully trust him again. If she gave him a second chance: he’d betray her again; for that she was certain. What would it say to the rest of her clan if she let this one slide?
All the men and women who were injured during the frantic escape from Grantebridge. The drengr who had lost their kin to Saxon swords. All the people who had put their trust in her to lead. They’d never trust her again if she forgave Galinn for an offense that was unforgivable.
She quietly accepted the decision she had to make. The hardest in her life, somehow it was harder than leaving home to join Guthrum. She stopped short of the table and Eivor stood by her side, the question still hanging in the air:
What are you going to do?
“This will be the hardest thing I have ever done. Stay close by me Eivor. I will need you.”
Eivor crossed her arms and finally spoke the unanswered question, “How are you going to deal with this?”
“As a leader must.”
She got Galinn’s attention, barely able to look at him as she waved him and the rest of her inner circle over. The three stood in front of her and Eivor, solemn and questioning. Galinn, the snake, had the gall to look slightly confused. Pretending he was innocent after stabbing her in the back like this.
She closed her eyes, calming herself down before she spoke, “My family, my inner circle. Today we make sure what has happened will never happen again. We end Wigmund’s life.”
Lif smirked and cracked his knuckles, Galinn slapped Birna on the back. Again the snake acting as if he wasn’t the reason they were all in this mess. She turned her back on her family as she steeled her resolve for what she was about to do. She leaned heavily on the table, staring at the map. There was still a quiet voice in her head that said she could still redeem Galinn. That this could be avoided.
Her eyes wandered to the knife sticking out of the table, blade glinting in the dim light of the longhouse. It reminded her of what she needed to do to protect her family. Her city.
She had to deal with this.
As a leader must.