‘Come now, girls.’ Natan seemed amused. ‘Let us be friendly. Sigga, fetch us all some coffee. Rósa, take off your outer things.’
‘No, thank you.’ Rósa put Thóranna in a corner, away from me. ‘I only came to bring her here.’
‘What?’ Natan hadn’t told me Rósa’s daughter was coming to stay. I whispered to Natan, asking why he hadn’t told me this before. Why he hadn’t warned me Rósa would visit. I hadn’t known they still spoke together.
‘It is the least I can do for Rósa,’ he said. ‘Thóranna was with us last winter as well. She is my daughter and it is only right that she come live with us for part of the year.’
Rósa’s words were sharp. ‘I did not realise you consulted with her on everything, Natan? I didn’t know you were so far under her thumb. It’s clear she doesn’t want our child in her home.’
Natan was laughing. ‘Her home? Rósa, Agnes is my servant.’
‘Only your servant, is that right?’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘I don’t want her to watch over our daughter.’
‘I am happy to look after Thóranna,’ I said. I was lying.
‘What makes you happy does not concern me, Agnes.’
Natan must not have liked to see his past and present lovers collide. ‘Come, Rósa. Let’s all have some coffee together.’
Her laugh was shrill. ‘Oh yes, you’d like that! All your whores supping together under your roof! No, thank you.’ Rósa wrenched her arm from his grip and turned to leave. But she said something to me before she walked out the door.
‘Please be good to Thóranna. Please.’ I nodded, and Rósa suddenly leant in closer. I felt her hand light upon my arm. ‘Brennt barn foreast eldinn.’ Her voice was soft, careful. ‘The burnt child fears the fire.’ She left without turning back.
The little girl began to wail for her mamma and Sigga comforted her. Natan stared at the doorway, as though Rósa might return.
‘What have you told her about us?’ I whispered to Natan.
‘I haven’t told Rósa anything.’
‘What was that about the Rose of Kidjaskard? What was that about all your whores?’
He shrugged. ‘Rósa has a way of naming people. I expect she thinks you’re beautiful.’
‘It did not seem a compliment.’
Natan ignored me. ‘I’ll be in my workshop.’
‘Sigga is going to make coffee for us.’
‘Damn you, Agnes! Just leave it for once.’
‘Are you going after Rósa?’
He left without answering.
ONE NIGHT, IN A FEVER, Tóti saw Agnes appear in the doorway of the badstofa. ‘They’ve let her come here,’ he said to his father, who was bent over the bed, silently swaddling his shaking son in blankets.
‘Come in,’ Tóti said. His arms fought their way out of the bedding and reached for her in the stuffy air of the room. ‘Come here. See how our lives are entwined? God has willed it so.’
Then she was kneeling by his bed, whispering. He felt her long dark hair brush against his ear and a shiver of longing passed through him. ‘It’s so hot in here,’ he said, and she leant forward to kiss the sweat off his skin, but her tongue was rough and her hands were reaching around his throat, her fingertips clenching against his skin.
‘Agnes. Agnes!’ He fought her off, wheezing with the effort. Strong hands reached for his own and pressed them back into the blankets at his side. ‘Don’t struggle,’ she said. ‘Stop it.’
Tóti groaned. Flames were licking at his skin, smoke pouring into his mouth. He coughed, his chest rising and falling under the weight of Agnes as she climbed on top of him, lifting her knife.
‘I DON’T BELIEVE IT,’ STEINA argued, sweeping the badstofa so that the dust flew from the floorboards and floated in the air.
‘Steina! You’re making it messier than it was before.’
Steina continued sweeping furiously. ‘It’s a cruel story, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Róslín made it up herself.’
‘But she’s not the only person who has heard it.’ Lauga sneezed. ‘See, you’re making it worse.’