Excerpt of Viking Fire by Andrea R. Cooper

"“I renounce Father for this.” Kaireen threw the elderberry
gown. Dressed only in her leine, she glared at the new gown
on the stone floor.

“Shame on you and your children for speaking such.” Her
handmaid, Elva, gathered the damask and then dusted off the
rushes. “It’s a wonder one of the clim has not scolded you
from your hearth for such talk.” She wore her white hair
twisted in a chignon, underneath a linen head cloth. Strands
of white hair poked out the sides of her covering.

“No, curse Father for a fool.” She plopped on her bed and a
goose feather floated away. With a huff, she leaned against
the oak headboard. Red curtains puffed like a robin’s chest
around oak poles supporting her wooden canopy.

Her bare feet brushed against the stone floor. Why was she
not born plain like her two older sisters? Already they had
married and expected their second bairns by spring. Well, at
least so far she had enjoyed twenty years of freedom.
Neither of her sisters had had matrimonial dreams of love
matches. Both were arranged marriages.

“You know your da arranged a marriage within a season.” Elva
smirked.

Kaireen shook her head. “To another land holder,” and waved
a hand in disgust, “not t-this heathen. Twice they raided
our land in the last month alone. Many a raid has come from
them. Now father wants me as wife to one of them?” She
clenched her fists. “No, I will not marry this Viking.”

Elva smiled, reminding Kaireen of the rumors of her
handmaid’s uncanny foresight.
Whispers of Elva making strange things happen and often
blamed as the cause of
Kaireen’s stubborn refusal to behave as a laird’s daughter
should.

“You’ve not seen him yet.” Elva wiggled her brows.

“So?” Kaireen shrugged. “I would like to never see him.”

“Well then, would you not like to know if you have a
handsome husband or not?” She waited for her response, but
Kaireen scowled at her. Elva chuckled. “I would rather get a
good look at him now than the morning after.”

Kaireen’s ears heated. “I am not marrying.” She shook her
head for emphasis. “So there will be no morning, nor night,
nor wedding.”

“If he is handsome, I may fight you for him.” Elva smiled,
deepening the wrinkles around her eyes.

“Welcome to him either way.” Kaireen laughed.
"