Oath Breaker (Sons of Odin Book 3) by Erin S. Riley

harlot, but angrier with himself at how near he’d come to accepting the offer. He wanted her, craved her, yearned for her as he had no other. All the pent up longing and thwarted desire had rushed to the surface, urging him to take her . It had required every bit of self-control Ulfrik possessed not to do so.
    He pulled the oars harder, drenched in sweat already but bereft of the relief he needed. Ulfrik’s desperate thoughts still churned like the waves of a stormy sea.
    He was tempted to row all the way back to Dubhlinn, find a petite, dark-haired whore, and take his lust out on her. He’d tried that once, long ago, but hadn’t been able to go through with it. Ulfrik had paid the girl for the night and left the brothel without touching her.
    He wanted Selia, yes, but the claiming of her body would never be enough. Ulfrik wanted her to love him as she had loved Alrik. He wanted passion to dance in her eyes when she gazed at him, wanted to make her tremble with need when he touched her, wanted her to cry out his name as he buried himself in her depths.
    The thought of being inside her nearly drove him to the breaking point again. He imagined Selia’s silky limbs wrapped around him, their bodies writhing and damp, her head thrown back in desire . . .
    The rowing wasn’t working. Snarling in frustration, Ulfrik pulled off his boots, cloak and shirt, slinging them to the floor boards of the boat. He stood, balancing carefully so as not to tip the vessel, and jumped into the sea.
    The cold water was bracing, making him gasp as he bobbed to the surface. The island was far in the distance; he had rowed for quite some time.
    Good .
    Ulfrik gritted his teeth, grabbed the rope floating in the water, and began a slow swim back to the people who needed him to be a better man than his brother.

Chapter 10
    The days passed quickly, the final autumn leaves dropping from the trees, as the family settled in fully to life on the island. Selia made sure to keep herself busy when Ulfrik was near. His rebuke still smarted, and a flush heated her cheeks whenever she thought of it.
    But thankfully, he held his distance. The day Selia had argued with him in the clearing was the day he and Ainnileas had begun building the house. Neither had consulted her or asked for her opinion in any way. Instead, Ulfrik simply began felling trees, and her brother had jumped in to help. They had worked on it unwaveringly since then, with Ulfrik returning to Dubhlinn every so often for supplies or some necessary tool.
    No one had bothered to confirm that Selia indeed wanted to remain on the island after the babe was born. She’d made it clear her ultimate plan was to sail to Iceland, so this presumptuousness on Ulfrik’s part irked her.
    But he’d been coolly polite to her since their argument, accepting her faltering apology, all but ignoring her otherwise. He was good to the boys and kind to Eithne, engaging everyone but Selia. She suspected he was doing it on purpose to make her feel even worse than she already did.
    But she needn’t have worried about Ulfrik pining for her, or worse, cornering her with another reprimand of how she had offended him. He and Ainnileas left the cave every morning and returned only when it was nearly dark; both dirty, sweaty, and laughing in the chummy way that set her teeth on edge. Ulfrik always resumed his masked expression whenever he looked in her direction or spoke to her. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
    On a day when a torrential rainstorm kept everyone inside, Selia sat with her spinning near the fire pit as Geirr, Faolan and Eydis argued over their game of rocks and sticks. Ainnileas and Ulfrik sat on the other side of the fire, carving something or other from small pieces of whalebone.
    The children’s voices rose as their argument escalated, and Eithne hushed them from where she stirred a pot of stew. Eydis stomped away from the boys with a huff of disgust and approached the men, sitting on the