Vikings Drabbles

⤭ foul misdeeds

after unforeseen events, ragnar feels he must remind you who you belong to. loosely inspired by the lokasenna. rated 18+ for smut.

COLD CHILLS CREEP down your spine when Halfdan the Black's dark gaze falls upon you, but you will not waver, not show fear —a queen cannot show weakness. Ragnar Lothbrok speaks to Harald, one king to another, regarding past transgressions and the ill will they once bore one another. But the talk of the past only stirs the embers of conflict back to flames. You can see the glint in Ragnar's gaze —his eyes cold and harsh as the winter seas— and how his jaw tenses, fingers digging into the carved armrest of his throne. Harald Finehair is a would-be usurper and always will be unless he relinquishes his ambitions to become King of all Norway.

Rising from your place at Ragnar's side, you step off the dais, offering a false smile as you pour a cup of mead. "What is done is done now," you say, holding out the cup, a peace offering of sorts. "Let us leave it in the past and move on, King Harald." Ragnar nods, extending his own filled horn in agreement —you had always been better-versed than him in political affairs.

Harald reaches for the cup, but instead, his fingers wrap around your wrist, jerking you to him. The cup falls from your hand, the mead spilling out around your feet. "Forget about past deeds?" He laughs, low and dangerous and mocking. "You would like that, wouldn't you?" Fear seizes you, and Harald knows he has all but won when he takes in your wide eyes and parted lips staring up at him. His icy stare shifts to Ragnar —risen from his throne, hand resting on the hilt of his sword as around the room the warriors of Kattegat move forward at the apparent threat to their queen.

He lets go of your wrist but pinches your chin between his fingers and leans forward, inhaling the sweet scent of your hair and flesh —stirring old memories. "Ragnar was never enough to slake your lust, was he?" Harald asks, loud enough for all those in attendance to hear. He looks over his shoulder to Halfdan, smiling, then back to you and finally Ragnar, with the rage of the gods burning in his eyes. "That's why you welcomed my brother and me so warmly between your thighs."

Swallowing the rising lump in your throat, you tear yourself from Harald's hold, reaching for the dagger at the back of your belt —he's hardly fazed when you lay the blade's edge against his neck as a warning. "Speak again," you hiss, "and I will cut out your tongue." Halfdan moves forward from his seat, the sword at his hip quarter-drawn. You look to Ragnar and see the question and betrayal in his eyes. Huffing, you pull the dagger back and step away, shoulders heaving in anger.

"Do you see?" Harald asks, turning to address your people with his arms spread open wide in victory. "She would not act this way if it were not true." Whispers echo around the hall. Harald turns back, his gaze falling on you —knowing you cannot deny him— before moving to face Ragnar's wrath. Unwilling to suffer the humiliation of Harald's accusations, you storm past Ragnar and your throne to the back of the Great Hall.

THE DOOR CREAKS open after some time, and silently, Ragnar moves toward you at the center of the room, taking a moment to study your look of disarray —hair unbound from a crowning braid, eyes shining with tears and resentment. He stops bedside, rough fingertips trailing along the shell of your ear, down your neck and clothed back, and then the bed dips, and Ragnar nigh lays atop you. "Tell me Harald speaks falsely," he whispers at your ear, pressing you against the straw-and-rag-filled mattress with his chest flush to your back —the scraggly beard on his chin and jaw scraping across your bare shoulder and neck. You shiver. "Tell me you did not fuck them."

Were you not pinned under his weight, you would have slapped him for even harboring the thought. "You would take his word over mine? The word of your wife and mother to your children?" You spit. Ragnar sees the heat in your stare as he tilts his head —and yet it is still not an answer to a simple question.