CHAPTER 17

FREYA

Jacob seems a little bit off today since he came back to help me this morning. He is not as chatty as he was yesterday and seems to have a lot to think about, so I stop and walk over to him, and he jumps slightly when I put my hand on his arm.

“Let's take a break and get cooled off by the lake,” I say, and he gives me a small smile and nods his head.

“Sounds good.” He answers and we walk away from the fields and houses.

When we get to the lake, we sit down, take our boots off, and let our feet into the water. We sit like this for a long time.

“Is something wrong?” I finally ask him.

“Just some business. I don’t want to bore you with it,” he said, giving me a small smile.

“You won’t bore me,” I say and smile back.

“How is your country? It sounds like it is very different from here,” he said.

“Well, you're right. It is much colder there. But there is lots of forest. Some of us live in small towns, mostly by the sea. And the land is divided up between the jarls. Some farmers live