Seven times Aslak crossed Vetle's mountain. Each time, Vetle found another reason to wish he'd stay.
Vetle is expected to marry a local girl and inherit his father's mountain farm. So why can't he take his eyes off the handsome young warrior who's just arrived at his door?
When twenty-year-old Aslak first crosses the mountain pass, Vetle is eighteen and has never imagined a different future for himself. Aslak is one of the king's men, tall and broad, heading toward his first war and the land he's been promised afterward. Vetle shows him the way east, expecting never to see him again.
But Aslak returns, again and again. Over seven visits, their brief meetings become the part of Vetle's life he looks forward to most, even when he has no idea whether there will be another.
Between visits, Aslak travels in the service of his king, while Vetle remains on the farm with a father whose violence has taught him to obey.
With every reunion, Vetle finds himself wanting a future different from the one his father has chosen for him. Aslak wants that future too.
But after a lifetime of being told how to live, can Vetle believe that his future is his to choose?
