"What?" Ragnar says. "Athelstan, no! You're a free man, but I can't do without you!"

He takes a deep breath.

"I know you loved Gyda very much, as if she'd been..."

And he can't go on talking, as he realises he's already speaking of his little lady in the past tense, and this is so wrong, so terribly wrong, his throat closes on the words.

This shouldn't be. It's just wrong, and Athelstan can't leave on top of all that horror...

He pulls the little ex-monk closer and crushes him in a hug that is at once fiercely possessive and bonelessly desperate.