Accidental Fiancé

30: What really matters

Thirty: What Really Matters

Heather and Dagur found her sitting aimlessly on the couch, the pictures carefully placed on the table, an almost empty bottle of wine in her hand as she reread the letter for about the fiftieth time. Dagur looked around and groaned, going to Hiccup's room and confirming that he was gone. He emerged, shaking his head as he found Heather hugging Astrid, who was sobbing.

"He's gone!" she whimpered. "He broke off the engagement and headed straight to the airport. I just missed him..."

"Except you were never engaged, were you?" Dagur asked her pointedly. She looked up guiltily as Heather frowned at her 'security adviser'.

"Did he tell you this?" she demanded and her brother scowled back.

"Look, I won his trust by never using him or lying to him and revealing my own vulnerability to him...because that was what he needed to see," he said firmly. "And when he needed a friend, who was there for him? Not you! What exactly did you do to win his trust, sis?" Frowning, Heather stroked Astrid's hair.

"I made sure he had enough money, clothes and whatever he needed," she said.

"Big deal," Dagur snarked. "That was Astrid's money. And you did it to suit your charade anyway."

"He forgave me," Heather said quietly.

"But you didn't help him," Dagur pointed out.

"I love him," Astrid said softly.

"Did he know?" Dagur asked pointedly.

"I told him lots of times," she protested, wiping her nose.

"Was that before of after you told him it didn't matter because 'It's not like we're really engaged, is it?'" he asked her snarkily. Heather stared at her and her brother gave a smug smile. "Yes, Hiccup told me," he revealed. "He was utterly devastated-because he gave you his heart and you basically abandoned him when you had a chance to go off with the big kids and then spat on his love for you."

"I don't even know where to start with that accusation!" Astrid told him, her tone partway between bewildered and angry.

"Well, you don't deny you went off with the male soccer players and the Valkyries to a Club so you could mingle with the winners," Dagur said thoughtfully, perching on the other couch. "You abandoned Hiccup-just like you did before. You forgot him. And when he waited up for you, concerned and worried, you arrive back with Thuggery trying to eat your face and get into your knickers...or did I misread the subtext?" Blushing scarlet, Astrid shook her head.

"No, that was pretty much it," she admitted self-consciously, feeling Heather's accusing eyes on her.

"You didn't, did you?" she asked urgently. Astrid rolled her eyes.

"Of course not!" she replied. "Hiccup stopped everything."

"And then you argued and he stood up for himself for once-and then BAM! You hit him with the eight words of doom."

"You know, Hiccup's sarcasm is really contagious," Astrid told him.

"For a guy who has been where he was and who was let down so badly by you once, it was a completely devastating blow," Dagur told him. "He's in love with you and he hoped you sort of felt the same...but instead...you throw it all back at him."

"I apologised," she protested but Dagur shook his head, leaning forward.

"Some things can't be unsaid because they do too much damage," he told her.

"But I never meant to hurt him," she protested. "I..."

"But you did anyway," Dagur told him quietly. "Look, think about it from his point of view, not your selfish privileged Astrid-is-the-centre-of-the-Universe-and-no-one-else-matters point of view. In your relationship, you have all the power, Astrid. He came into it with literally nothing. You asked him to leave his home, his family, his friends and support network..."