Dark Pool by Jen Black, published by Cambridge Books.
Eba of Bundalloch finds her brother's cattle raid on neighboring territory has repercussions that take her from
medieval Scotland to medieval Ireland. Thinking herself quite grown up, she craves adventure and suitors, but soons finds herself longing for the security of home. The customs of the hardy Vikings of Dublin disturb her, and when she is betrothed, against her will, to a vicious young man she realises just how naive she has been.
The newly crowned king of Alba, Finlay, feels constrained to rescue her, but comes up against the wily old Viking king, Stiric, who denies her existence. Jealousies and feuds erupt, and when Dublin goes up in flames, Finlay thinks he will never find the girl.
"As a romance, this tale is a bit too harsh to handle, but
as a historical and a believable portrayal of the ancient times of transition
where Celts, Gaels, Picts, and Vikings lived together in the isles I give this
book a 100 percent. The snapshot of life in those unsettled times, especially
the life of an unprotected young maid makes for a great read. An informative
and interesting tale set in a troubled time in history."
Reviewed by Raakhee
Suryaprakash for The Road to Romance
Click for a link to Amazon
Excerpt:
Eba stirred in a brief, incoherent way and then woke with a jerk. She was naked
beneath the wool blanket and a man she did not know stood within the cubicle;
thankfully his back was to her, but he was so close she could have touched him.
Beyond him, a crowd of men laughed and talked round the long hearth out in the
open hall.
Her wet clothes hung from a peg in the wall, well out of her
reach. The man ran a wad of straw gently up and down the blade of his sword,
stripping it of dried mud, and took no notice of her. With her gaze fixed on his
broad back, Eba gripped the edge of the blanket, pulled it tight around her and
shuffled cautiously across the bed platform until she got her back against the
wall. The straw mattress squeaked and rustled beneath her, but his own work
masked the sound and he did not turn.
Eba curled her knees in close to
her belly and looked at the man. He was tall and broad across the shoulders. A
memory of his rain drenched, mud splattered face filled her mind, and she
remembered he had dragged her to a ruined shed of some kind. He would have raped
her if she had not fainted. Her heart leapt in her chest, and the air vanished
from her lungs as the thought struck her that he would probably do it now.
He hung the sword belt on a convenient wall peg, jerked a rough leather
curtain across the front of the cubicle and laughed softly when the simple act
provoked a roar of outrage from men deprived of their entertainment. The
sickening realization struck Eba that most likely they had already had a fine
view of her when he had removed her clothes.
She watched him hitch his
sodden linen tunic up and over his head and toss it onto a small wooden chest.
He toweled his hair, face and throat, and Eba's gaze flicked nervously over the
shadowed ridges of his chest and stomach. He half turned, noticed she was awake
and smiled. He tossed the rough cloth to her.
Eba ignored it, and
huddled so far back into the corner of the bed space that the wattle wall
pressed into her back. Fear rose through her in spiralling waves. Torquil had
captured her, but he had commanded his crew and kept them away from her. He had
kept her safe until she met Kimi. Even then, Annikki and Conn had kept a careful
eye on her. Now there was no one at all. She was alone in a hall filled with
rough men.
Fear magnified her senses. She registered the rumble of
conversation outside in the big hall, and the mixed and jumbled smells of pine,
wet wool and smoke in the air around her head. She thought she might be sick.
The curtain twitched to one side and admitted a pair of large and dirty hands
offering two steaming wooden bowls between curtain and wall.
"You wanted
to feed the lassie, Aralt. Here's broth for you."
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