Chapter 15
The crowd loved the song. It was very different from anything the Vikings usually did, although my band had one softer song in our set. When we got to the last chorus, Skorpa left his mic and came over to share mine. The photographers in the pit scuttled along to our side of the stage, and the flashes coming from the audience multiplied. As the last notes faded away, Skorpa gave me a one-armed hung, then moved away so I could take a final bow and leave the stage.
The applause which had previously been deafening, was now thunderous. I slipped out of sight into the wings, and Aethelwold quickly went back on stage to move the keyboards, leaving the mic for Uhtred. Then Uhtred and Sihtric took their places again for the last couple of songs of the encore. I stayed in the wings with the girls to watch.
"That song is amazing!" Mildrith said. "I hope you get to record it."
"The audience loved it," Aethelflaed added.
"I wasn't sure how they'd receive it. I mean, primarily they've Vikings fans and they've never done anything like that." I stopped talking as Erik and Ragnar started playing the intro to the next song.
A few minutes later, it was over. The Vikings lined up at the front of the stage for a last bow, but then Skorpa grabbed his mic again.
"We just want to say a big thank you to all of you guys, and all our fans that came to the other shows. Without you, we wouldn't be here. It's our first time performing in the UK for more years than I care to remember."
He was drowned out by applause for a couple of minutes. Crowds of girls near the front could be heard screaming Uhtred and Ragnar's names in particular. Brida grinned. "They can't have Ragnar. He's mine," she said smugly.
"We know." Mildrith rolled her eyes.
"We also want to thank Pagan Rock for giving us such fantastic support," Skorpa continued. "Come out, girls!"
"Oh, wow. Another bow." Grinning, Brida was first out. The rest of us followed, blinking as more camera flashes went off.
"It's time to say goodbye, but hopefully you won't have to wait ten years to see us again this time," Skorpa finished. "Don't forget to grab a copy of our record, and Pagan Rock's too, if you haven't already."
We all left the stage again and made our way down to the dressing rooms. Aethelwold and the Vikings' roadies went out to take down the rest of the equipment and even as they did this and the venue lights went on, the crowd continued to chant for more for several minutes. We stayed out of sight for half an hour before heading out to meet the fans who had waited in the hopes of seeing us. There were a lot. We spent at least an hour chatting, being photographed, and signing things. Ragnar and Brida posed together numerous times, as it was common knowledge now that they were an item. Erik and Aethelflaed, too, had been spotted together a few times and she was surrounded by girls for quite a while, being told she was lucky and asked plenty of inappropriate questions about Erik, that made her blush.
I stayed away from Skorpa. We hadn't made ourselves obvious and the photo from a couple of days ago when he kissed my cheek hadn't prompted much discussion on social media. There had been plenty of speculation about what we might have been getting up to separately on the tour. Several girls had posted that they got lucky with Sihtric, and it seemed he'd clocked up quite a few notches on his bedpost around the country.
Finally, it was over. Security ushered the remaining fans out of the building, leaving us to go on to another club where an end of tour party had been arranged by the Vikings' management. Fifty VIP tickets had been offered to fans to gain access to it, for more money than the cost of a ticket to the shows, so we weren't able to relax and enjoy, or do anything we wouldn't want to see on Twitter or Facebook a few minutes later.
I hung out with Gisela and Mildrith, posing for more photos and chatting to anyone who wanted our attention. Skorpa spent most of the evening with Uhtred doing the same thing. It was after two in the morning by the time Aethelwold drove us to the motel that had been booked for us. It was only when we arrived that we realised the Vikings were staying at other accommodation. Brida and Aethelflaed had gone with them on the other bus. Skorpa called me just as Gisela let us into our room.
"Hey." I threw myself on one of the beds. "Where are you?"
"Premier Inn. I'm sorry. I didn't know we were staying in different places until just now. You could have come on our bus."
"Oh well. Never mind." I sighed. I didn't want him to know how disappointed I was not to be spending the last night with him, not that we could have had sex—my period had started, putting paid to any residual anxiety that I could have been pregnant.
"Are you alone?"
"No, I'm sharing with Gisela."
"Shit. I was thinking of talking you out of your clothes on Facetime."
I laughed. "Sorry."
"Call me tomorrow?"
"I will. Talk soon." That was it. We ended the call and I stripped off and got into bed. "They're at Premier Inn," I told Gisela.
"I suppose we'll catch up with them in the morning. Brida and Aethelflaed will have to get back to us."
"Aethelflaed's going to Denmark," I remembered.
"Yes, but she's coming home first to pack properly and get her passport. She said Erik will come back with us on our bus, then they're going to hire a car to get back to the airport."
"Oh, okay."
"Ragnar's probably coming with us, too. He's gonna stay at Brida's flat for a few days while they decide what they're doing."
"How do you know all this?" I frowned.
Gisela laughed. "You've been with Skorpa nearly every minute for weeks. You miss all the news."
"Well, I wish I was with him now," I grumbled.
"Are you going to keep seeing each other?"
"I don't know. We haven't talked about it. He'll go back to Denmark. It was probably just a tour fling."
"Do you want it to be more?"
"I don't know," I lied. "It's been good the last few weeks, but it's not a normal environment, is it? We probably won't have a thing in common in normal life. Besides, I don't want to go and live in Denmark."
"What if Skorpa suggested staying here?"
"I doubt he will."
"Clearly you haven't seen the way he looks at you."
"You mean like he wants to rip my clothes off?" I joked.
Gisela frowned. "Thanks for that delightful picture. No, like he worships the ground you walk on."
"Bollocks," I scoffed, but my pulse quickened. Did he feel like that about me? Would I get the opportunity to find out?
The next morning, the Vikings' bus arrived at our Travelodge, to drop off Brida, Ragnar, Aethelflaed, and Erik. There would be just enough room for us all on the minibus for the journey back to Winchester. Uhtred and Sihtric got off the bus to say goodbye to us.
Uhtred wrapped his arms around me in a bearhug. "You are coming back to meet Iseult, right?" he said. "We're staying in London with her friend for another week or so before we go back."
"Of course I will." I glanced over his shoulder, looking for Skorpa. "Where's—?"
Uhtred let go of me. "He's not here."
"What? Where is he?" My heart plummeted into my boots, and the extent of my hurt surprised me.
"He, um, he left early. He said he needed to get home."
"He's gone back to Denmark already?" I gasped.
"Didn't you two talk to each other at all?" Uhtred's eyebrows rose. "Skorpa lives in London. In the suburbs, anyway. He has done for a few years. He came back to Denmark to work on the album and record, and tour, but he has a house here."
"He didn't tell me that."
Uhtred shook his head. "You should call him, then. If you want to keep in touch with him. Do you?"
"I—" I paused. At the news that Skorpa lived in London, my spirits had lifted. But he had left to go home, without even saying goodbye. He hadn't called, or even sent a text. That told me he didn't want to continue whatever it was we had had for the past few weeks. Clearly, it had really only been a bit of fun for him while we were on tour. "Nah." I shook my head. "It was fun while it lasted."
Uhtred frowned at me. "Are you sure? I thought you were pretty fond of him."
"I don't really do relationships." I shrugged. "We need to get going. I will call you as soon as we get sorted out at home, and I'll get a train back to London. I can't wait to meet Iseult."
"Okay. Safe journey. See you soon." Uhtred gave me another quick hug and went to get back on the bus.
Ten minutes later, we were on the road to Winchester. I sat up front with Aethelwold, staring out of the window in a morose silence, while the others chatted in the seats behind us. After a while, I pulled out my phone and checked Twitter. Our followers had increased in number since last night's show, and there was a lot of talk about my duet with Skorpa. It reminded me that we had talked about recording, so if that happened presumably I would see him then. But otherwise, it was over. I didn't know whether it was worse than he lived less than a hundred miles away from me, or better. If he didn't want to see me, it didn't really matter.