King Ivar spends much of his time with his infertile first wife: neglecting his second wife, the mother of his children, a Freyjasdottir. Eventually, it catches up to him when a foreign King Sverri invades his lands.
tw: abuse, character death, etc.
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One day, something was different.
Time had passed. You knew something was off. Not with you but.. Kitta. She hadn't gotten up yet; and while your relationship was strained as of late, you knew that you had to check on her. Ivar had gone raiding some time ago and while you waited for him to come home, you had your obligations. The main one of those was to keep Uxi clean, happy and fed. However, Kitta is your other obligation.
"Kitta?" You press the ruddy curtains apart. Little Uxi bubbles in beside you, trotting on his fat little feet with Ragnhild following close behind. There is nothing but silence. All of the Queen's things are as they were. Her fluffy bed is neatly made and a luxurious dress drapes over the furs in a smooth, deep red.
"Ma!" Uxi chirps, doddling in with bubbly giggles.
"Maybe she woke early, my lady." Ragnhild says stomping after Uxi who seeks out her loom. Turning the corner of her bed, you think maybe she has gone out to oversee Ivar's newest defenses before you trip onto the ground with a thud, a small groan bumping off of your lips. The soft, squishy firmness alerts you that it was a body-- Kitta's limp body. You tumble off of her, crawling over her side.
"Kitta!" You shake her shoulder, looking her over. Her pale night dress ims oist with blood about her stomach, sure, but also lower. You yanked up her nightdress, finding the scent like a miasma of blood and infection between her legs. You don't need to be told to know what had happened there. But her stomach?
"Ragnhild, call me a healer!"
Kitta woke up a while later despite her best efforts not to at all. Days had passed and while you didn't know what to tell Ivar when he landed, he understood on that misty pier why his first wife wasn't there. Another miscarriage had taken her over in grief and with Ivar not around? She had hurt herself.
"I wasn't going to kill myself." Kitta says one night after dinner. Sure, she didn't. She just dipped the knife into her gut for fun. "I was just... angry."
You sit beside her with the remnants of your griddle cooked fish in your lap. Ivar had been by her side relentlessly since he came home. Now, he is asleep while you care for her. "I understand." You say. "I was similar... when I lost my virginity."
Kitta turns her head away from the roof bracing beams. "Who was he again?"
You flush. It had been sometime since you thought of Ubbe. Yes, perhaps at night... when no one was around, you thought the sex fondly. You would drag your nightgown over your thighs for better access. You remembered how his fingers twisted, the taste of salt and blood on his lips from Uppsala's live sacrifices and how he brought you to your knees without even being inside you.
Your cheeks are hot. "No... I couldn't say that." You leave your hands from your fish in order to drift up to your cheeks.
"Tell me about it. Look at what I did. I need something to keep me entertained." She says up to you before motioning down to her stomach. Technically-- you didn't owe her shit. Not after she disrespected you, but you were weak to her. You look over the wound in her stomach. As much as you fought with her lately-- as much as you found yourself jealous how your husband would drop anything for her, she is charming. You want to make her emerald eyes glisten again.
