Iron Seas 03 - Riveted

told her to return to the warm house when she ventured out. David came to her, gathered her against him.
    “What happened?” she whispered.
    “The dogs found the camp,” he said, and that was enough, Annika was glad she hadn’t seen what they must have. “We chased them off, built a pyre—but there wasn’t much left. And there’s more.”
    Something that had made Källa angry. Annika could see it in her sister now, the long strides, her face set in stone. She passed them without a word. Annika glanced up at David.
    “On the opposite side of the cove, we found the remains of the ships the whale had taken. Freya’s Cloak was one.”
    Ursula Ylvasdottor’s ship. Throat tight, Annika’s gaze found her mother, emerging from Austra Longears. Frida had known the woman better than Annika did—but she appeared less grieved than worried as she opened Rutger Fatbottom’s chest hatch.
    David took a deep breath. “And then Källa said that Paolo had already offered her an airship, so she would continue doing what Ylvasdottor had done for Hannasvik, bringing in cargo and supplies from Norway. Hildegard…disagreed.”
    Ah. Anger on top of grief. A dangerous combination for them both. “They fought?”
    “Yes.”
    “Did they finish?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    So they’d only been interrupted while driving separate trolls. Annika gripped his hand as Hildegard dropped through the chest hatch. Frida looked through after her, met Annika’s eyes, shook her head.
    “We need to hide now,” she said.
    He laughed a little. “That bad?”
    “Yes. Warn Dooley. He doesn’t want to be dragged into it.” She pulled him toward the house, where Lucia stood in the door. “We’ll wait inside, where it’s safe. David is about to learn a bit more about his new family.”
    Frida soon joined them, and they waited at the table, listening to the storm of shouts outside. Annika still hadn’t had a moment alone with David, but she sat next to him, which was almost as good, and was relieved when the conversation turned to leaving for Smoke Cove.
    “We’ll return for the last troll tomorrow,” Frida said. “If we can repair his legs.”
    Annika winced. “It was only one hinge bolt.”
    “And I imagine you had reason.”
    “I didn’t want to die.”
    “I suppose that is reason enough.” With a smile, her mother looked through the window, where the second new troll stood. She sighed. “It pains me to see them so naked.”
    Naked, but more clearly a machine. “Mine will stay that way.”
    Frida nodded. “And what of that whale? We could salvage a century’s worth of equipment from him.”
    David shook his head. “As soon as everyone outside of Iceland discovers what happened, you won’t want them to associate that whale with your people in any way.”
    “I suppose that’s true. It’s a pity, though.” She glanced at Annika. “Will you be taking your naked troll home?”
    “Only to visit. And perhaps in the spring, when I can take David up to bury Inga’s beads.”
    She felt his sharp gaze on her, but didn’t look away from her mother. Frida nodded, then regarded him thoughtfully.
    “You are much different from your cousin. And your aunt.” Who were still shouting outside. “More like your mother, in many respects.”
    “And my father, too,” he said, and smiled a bit when Frida shrugged.
    Oh. Annika remembered doing the same once. But when she opened her mouth, David shook his head and looked to her mother again. “Did you know Inga?”
    Frida’s eyes softened. “Yes. I spent the first part of my life with her.”
    Beneath the table, David took Annika’s hand. “Will you tell me about her? I don’t know anything of her life before she left.”
    “I will be happy to, David Ingasson.”
    Their last day in Vik dawned late, and not very bright, but since Annika knew that David would be on the ladder behind her as she drove, it was an absolutely perfect morning. A week in Vik, and not a minute alone.
    Yet she was more in love with him than ever. Just as during the first night in Phatéon ’s wardroom when she’d discovered how well she liked him, long conversations over the corner of Lucia’s dining table only deepened her fascination, her appreciation for everything David said and did.
    And those hours only deepened the ache of wanting him, needing him. Her guts were well and truly riveted. She loved and savored every small touch between them—and was desperate for more, desperate to have