[ act iv - peace for those that earned it ] CHAPTER FORTY ( and so it begins )
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FIVE BLISSFUL YEARS HAD PASSED AND IN THAT TIME, the kingdoms of both Vingulmark and Vestfold grew three times over. Althea's twenty-fifth winter was slowly approaching. She still looked as young and beautiful as the day she turned sixteen. Torsten had truly made a name for himself. His people saw him as a good and tactful king, he was thirty-three winters and had grown to like being a king. A king where his people loved and respected him like they did Althea.
He was currently training as Althea saw to duties in the great hall. No war had been brought upon either cities but it never stopped her from bettering their defenses. Hakon was with Torsten on the training grounds, he had grown so much in the past five years and looked even more like Gunnar. His blonde hair shined in the sun as Torsten was teaching Hakon the very basics of welding a weapon.
After all he was only seven winters. He was not yet strong enough to hold a real sword but a wooden one would do for now. Aren and Aina sat off to the side both swinging their legs from where they sat, soon they would be able to pick up a wooden sword as well. Hakon began when he was six winters and Aren and Aina only had a winter to go. They were speaking in a language that only they seemed to understand, their fingers pointing to their older brother and father.
Althea sat at the table discussing what the scouts had seen and what she wanted their next move to be. Her six month old son, Einar, sat in her lap. Ubbe left for England a winter after Lagertha did but Althea promised him she would keep an eye on Kattegat. Which she was surprised that Ivar was still holding his position as king there. He had basically run the city into the ground.
Althea's spies would report that there were talks of overthrowing Ivar in the city. She rubbed her sons back while listening to the reports. While Ubbe was still here, they heard Ivar had married a woman named Freydis. It was said she resembled Althea but from what the people described Althea could not imagine it.
Five years and they still had yet to have a child which only proved what Ubbe had told her about Ivar to be true. That he was impotent, something Ivar believed was not true. Seeing as how he believed Althea's two children were his and claimed to be a god, but oh how wrong Ivar was. What Ivar believed was that Torsten just stepped into the role as father since seeing as how Ivar was Althea's enemy he could not.
Although it was told to her that one of her informants saw Freydis with a thrall man. And things took quite a turn when it was finally confirmed that she was pregnant. Ivar would really fall for anything if it meant his bloodline would be carried on.
There had been threats that were sent by Ivar but they were intercepted due to Althea's spies and scouts. One was captured alive and Althea saw to his torture herself. Where the man finally cracked and said their only orders were to remove Torsten. That there should be no harm to her or her children - just her husband. Althea's spies had very specific orders. They would spread the word on how Althea's twins, the children of Ivar the Boneless were prospering.
