The Northman's Last Kiss *RetitledOriginally titled 'The Northman's Bride'

Chapter 12

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Chapter 12

Lika Island

Having no stockings, Mimi's toes curled in the black bear fur rugs blanketed the floor in the master's chamber. It still felt odd to be on solid ground again. The stability of the timber walls had gently rocked and rolled around her for the first few days being on the island. Aleksi told her that the wobbling would pass in a few days, but she still grabbed hold of furniture to stop the room from shifting under her feet...land sickness he called it. She called it a nuisance that added to her insecurity.

She ran her fingers through the fur on the bed. It was a patch work of white and brown fur, softer than bear, most likely fox and rabbit and it was stitched together in a circular pattern that had Mimi wondering what beasts lived in the small forest behind the manor home or if all the beast had been slain to provide comfort an a chilly night.

Not wearing a stitch of clothing, her husband strolled into the chamber with a stack of wood in his arms. He had said, that until the quarantine was lifted and servants arrived to staff their home, that he had no use for burdening her with laundry, insisting that he needed her well rested for other wifely duties, duties that seemed to be limited to her legs being spread out wide, in the most surprising places, practically anywhere on the island.

Mimi smirked, silly of him to come up with an excuse at all. He clearly liked being naked and as the master of this island and the master of her entire universe, why should he not get his way. Mimi on the other hand preferred clothing on land, regardless that they were the only two on the island, the thought of land somehow rendered clothes as a must. A line of reasoning that her husband debated with her daily, even going so far as to hide the selection of fine gowns Lady Lida had sent over. She had the distinct impression that Aleksi would go naked wherever and whenever possible.

"Did the Jarl and his lady live here for very long?" she asked. The 'cottage' as it had been described to her, was no cottage of standard she knew. Made of both stone and timber, with thick iron plated doors, it boasted of six separate bedchambers, a large main hall and dinning area and a kitchen to rival her mother's. There was also several fine out buildings for storage, housing for guests and servants and several fine livestock barns scattered around the island. More than twenty head of cattle grazed in the brood grass field on the west side of the island and a sizable flock of white sheep that Aleksi calls Roslag wondered around in a fluffy cloud like formation. The kitchen garden was not large and took very little upkeep, yet yielded a fine supply of herbs and root vegetables.

"The Knutson family used this lodge when their children were small. Spending summer here at times. Lady Lida prefers a smaller home and caring for her own children over the grandeur of a Tronscar Fortress."

"So we have evicted them from their holiday home?"

"The Jarl's sons have become young men and are too old for summers at holiday, my lark. The family has not come here for years. Lady Lida and the Jarl prefer traveling to Lubeck in summer to spend time with their grandchildren. You will enjoy meeting them all next month. They will be glad you have enjoyed their past retreat."

She ran her finger over the frame of the massive bed. Every night she lay with Aleksi in this bed the more she allowed herself to dream that she could be the lady of this fine home, birth Aleksi his children in this very bed, nurse them, swaddle them and allow their love to abound...

But a smarter part of Mimi told her that it could not be so, fearing God's retribution from hiding away from her intended life of service. The biting lash of her father's whip sprang to her mind every time she saw Aleksi's belt slung over the back of a chair. Her father hadn't whipped her in years for disobedience, but the memory was still somehow fresh in mind. Her unease often grew louder in the quiet stillness of night, robbing her of sleep.