Curse Of Blood: Gods & Monsters

Chapter V - Aila

FYI:

Naust - a boat house

Njord - god of the sea

Frigg - goddess of marriage and motherhood

Those few not completely affected by the befuddlement of ale had been sent from Harald's chamber without that which they had come to witness — a virtuous bride unfettered by habiliments. Harald, having sensed her inquietude, so unlike the usual misgivings of a young bride, had forgone the customary disrobing and precipitated the horde from their private chamber unsatisfied.

Aila sighed her relief at being free of the raucous and bawdy roisterers. She had no compunction about the ritual she might have enacted, but for Harald's intercession, for it was a commonplace practice and, after all, a matter of course. Moreover, nudity was a natural and quotidian state. The restlessness surging within her breast was a forceful ache, of which her guilt was the source.

"Will you have some more mead?" Harald asked quietly from the door, his deep voice resonant and warm. He had not moved from its frame since barring his guests without.

Aila shook her head, but kept her face averted, unwilling to look upon the bed nearby.

"Some ale then?" he persisted. When she declined this too, he moved toward her and, hooking a finger under her chin, lifted her gaze to his. "Forsooth, Aila, you look unwell. What can I do?"

Aila swallowed her grief and closed her eyes. "Do what you came here to do," she murmured, winding her arms about his neck. He needed no more encouragement than that — her upturned face and lowered lashes inviting his kiss.

Harald, as if in fevered awe, closed his mouth over hers, running worshipful hands along her spine and into her hair, before finally closing a fist in the unbound, golden mass almost painfully. He lavished her with ardent kisses and eager fingers, ripping her shift from her without care to its ruination. All through this pleasurable onslaught, Aila willed her mind to lose itself in ecstasy as his had allowed him to do.

But she could not. Though she longed for the peace a mindless coupling might induce, her conscious stirred at every turn; and every touch. When he pushed her into the mattress her shudders were borne of a different provocation than the desire he likely mistook them for. When he lay beside her, suckling at her benumbed breasts, she felt the cold hand of her sister brushing at the tears that had escaped to her temple. When Harald settled his weight between her thighs, she could hold back her anguish no longer, her sobs instantly swallowed by his harsh breathing.

The pain at her loins was naught to the inexorable agony within her heart. Harald, unaware that her attenuated passion was now further reduced to silent anguish, increased the pace of his zeal till finally he roared his fulfillment and spilled himself within her. Thereafter, he pulled his spent and sated length from her, rolling to the side with an gratified smile and shuttered eyes.

Aila, meanwhile, pulled the furs over herself to stave the coldness from blood. She had thus far subsisted on shame alone since accepting Harald's proposal; she had, still and all, contrived to be happy for herself and her family, but these feelings would not surcease despite that her heart had devolved into two separate halves — her guilt and her happiness. She wanted Harald, but felt keenly that she was betraying her sister's memory. Be that as it may, she could not allow Harald to see her despondency for she would not have him be a party to her sorrow if she could help it.

Her resolve was, however, a moot point for Harald had indulged very little, perhaps even less than she herself had, and was no longer ignorant to her suffering. He raised himself onto his elbow to watch her, his brow furrowing and thereby banishing the calm efficacy of his love-making.