Virago - Ivar The Boneless

Confrontations

When the three of them returned to their settlement, they were quickly spotted before being halted in front of Ivar. Sitting there, Little Bear held her hands together in her lap. There was a feeling in the pit of her stomach which made her worry about what was going to come next. Again, Iona sat between the two brothers as Ivar sat high and looked down on them. 

"Welcome back," he said to them. Ubbe looked up. "You look thirsty? Are you thirsty?"

Hvitserk looked up slowly before spitting to the side. There were a few laughs from the others in the room. The sound echoed in the blonde's ears, she hated it. This is exactly what she feared would happen. 

"I know you should say, I told you so, but I told you so." Ivar was calm as he spoke to them. 

The laughs were louder this time from the people in the room. 

She wondered if Ivar was going to feed on the fact that he was humouring this people. She knew he loved to showboat from time to time.

"Ivar, we went-" Ubbe tried.

"-No, no. Let me guess," Ivar remained calm. Little Bear looked up at him through her eyelashes refusing to put her head up. "You went to The Saxon's and tried to make a deal. And they spoke sweet words to you." Ivar smirked and let out a small snigger to himself after speaking. 

The fact that he wasn't mad made it even worse for Iona. He wasn't mad for now at least.

"I was just trying to-" Ubbe spoke up as he looked up at Ivar. 

"-You made a bad call!" Ivar's voice rose, the anger was present in it as he stared at Ubbe. "You showed yourself to be weak." Turning back to calm, he spoke. "You three are lucky to be alive. And now it is finally time, for you to recognise me as the rightful leader of the great army."

Too many feelings were happening inside of Iona right now. She was scared, scared of what was going to happen next. She knew Ivar wasn't going to let it slide. Ubbe had made a bad mistake, she tried to warn him but she wouldn't rub it in his face. 

A few seconds of silence passed before Ubbe got to his feet, gingerly. "As your older brother," Ubbe spoke as he walked towards Ivar. A man stepped forward stopping Ubbe who simply looked at him before stepping forward again and closer to Ivar. "As your older brother, I will never ever accept that."

Ivar simply let out a small laugh under his breath, looking away from Ubbe for a moment. 

"In any case, it would be a dereliction of duty. And after all," Ubbe turned to look at the army, "Doesn't somebody have to be responsible for the care of our people." Ubbe tried to be brave, tried to rally people to help him but they remained silent.

"Hmm," Ivar made a noise getting Ubbe's attention. "It doesn't seem to me that you have taken good care of them so far."

Ubbe looked disgusted with his younger brother's words. 

He looked back at Ivar, he spoke in whispers to another man. "You cannot con-" Ubbe was annoyed at Ivar disrespect. "Ivar? Ivar?" His patience wore thin. "Ivar?!" The last was a shout, silencing the room and echoing off every wall. 

This caught the attention of the cripple who turned his head to look at Ubbe with a look that was chilling. He smirked before speaking. 

Iona felt a chill run over her spine. She wanted nothing more than to get out of there. Something made her want to run. Ivar would never let anyone disrespect him like that, she knew Ubbe would somehow pay for what he had done. 

She missed the words that were said. Her mind was elsewhere. 

People cheered around them before she realised what was happening. 

"Then Hvitserk and I will go back to Kattegat tomorrow with our forces," Ubbe announced hoping for his brother to stop him or backtrack. 

Ivar did not look phased. "If that is your decision." Ivar didn't seem to care about the threats Ubbe had. 

Hvitserk followed Ubbe as he walked away, taking a few steps. Ubbe halted before looking back at Ivar. "Our father would have hated you for splitting this family."

"I don't think so," Ivar smirked as he watched his two brothers leave the room. 

His eyes looked at the blonde who remained seated waiting for her punishment. Her eyes met his before he told all the others to leave the room. Sitting still, Iona listened as people left the room. She didn't look around to see if she was alone with him or not, she noticed as his eyes returned to hers though. 

Little Bear's eyes were wide as she held his gaze. 

"You have betrayed me." He was calm, too calm for the blonde's liking. She preferred it when he was angry. "You are like your mother," Ivar his wits about him as he looked at her. He couldn't believe he had been stupid enough to believe there was ever anything between them. "Return to Kattegat with my brothers before it is too late." 

She shook her head. "Ivar, this is not how it looks."

"Tell me then," he tried her with a smirk. "How is it?"

Iona stood up but was quickly pulled back down. She didn't realise they weren't alone until that moment. Her nose twitched as her hand went to reach for her axe only to find it gone. "I would never betray you. I tried to stop them." 

"You only say that because you have been caught," he said believing what he was saying. 

She closed her eyes for a moment, she tried to let the calm wash over her but she found herself full of rage. Standing back up, she stayed strong even when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Take your hand off me!" Snapping she pushed the hand from her shoulder. Her face turned back to Ivar who was smirking. "I'm not going to beg, Ivar." She narrowed her eyes as she walked towards him. She stopped just a few steps from him. "I don't need to," she looked over at some movement from the right of her. She didn't see who she was looking at, the black curtain blocking out whoever was watching. Returning her eyes to the man in front of her, she took a deep breath. Little Bear closed the gap some more, ignoring the steps from whoever was walking towards her from behind. "I love you, Ivar." She stared up at him, his smirk leaving his face as he looked at the young woman who was telling him some of the most sacred words. 

He wanted to believe her, he wanted to tell her he felt the same way but he couldn't. He knew he had strong feelings for her yet he couldn't appear weak just because of her. He needed to send her away, he needed her gone. He flickered his eyes away from her before tilting his head a little. Little Bear listened, behind her the other footsteps left before it appeared it was just the two of them. 

Ivar beckoned her closer with his finger. She obeyed, for a moment she thought there might be a chance he would believe her. Standing directly in front of him, she was still below him so she had to looked up. 

Keeping silent, he noticed she was uncomfortable. Sometimes the silence was easier than speaking too many words you couldn't take back.

The Ragnarsson looked down into her eyes. They were the first thing he noticed. There was that longing look that she had been giving him recently. Looking down at her now, he knew he couldn't follow through with his threats, the two of them had shared a special moment together and that was too much for him right now. One chance, this was her chance with him. 

"I don't love you," he smirked as he spoke the words. 

She continued to stare up at him, her eyes turned a bright red but she didn't realise. The smirk on his lips made her want to take back her words, she couldn't believe she'd been stupid enough to think he would ever love her back.