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When Alfild awoke, she did not notice the heavy weight that would soon be burdened on her shoulders. She was blissfully ignorant to the horrors that awaited her in her neighboring cabin. Instead, she enjoyed the sunlight that gently shone through the cracks in the wall and onto her pillow. She smiled gently, her fingers slowly running up the bedsheets.
And then she heard it. That bloodcurdling scream.
Suddenly her doors slammed open, three of her guards barged in with terrified expressions. Their faces softened when they came across Alfild's resting figure.
"Princess, You better come see this." One of the guards blurted out.
After dressing herself and walking into the cabin next door to see the gruesome sight, Alfild's first reaction was to storm into the Great Hall. With Brunhilde's blood still on her fingertips, Alfild slammed open the large doors. Her eyes were ablaze with fury as the ragnarssons and their mother sat completely unaware of the situation. Or most of them did, at least.
"Alfild?" Ubbe greeted the young woman with a quizzical expression.
Her eyes held the fire of a thousand suns as she roared, "The queen is dead!"
The room fell silent. How could one reply to such a statement? Alfild knew it was one of them. Her mind had decided that it was Aslaug, that her sons were innocent, but that was not the case at all. In fact, the one person that Alfild prayed for it not to be, was in fact the culprit.
"The Queen was planning to betray us." Ivar spoke up. Now all eyes were on him. "What was I to do? Let her kill my mother, hm?"
His words made Alfild spit in disgust, her eyes never leaving his. "Only a coward would kill an unarmed woman. Were you too afraid of facing us on the battlefield, Ivar?" She yelled, the fury of Freyja herself coursing through her veins.
"Only a coward would betray the people they came to defend." He shrugged in response.
At this she lunged forward, only to be stopped by Ubbe and Hvitserk who both looked at her with empathetic looks. But her rage was blinding. She stood kicking and screaming, ready to burn their entire town to the ground. And, as the two brothers practically dragged her out of the hall, Alfild continued to yell threats at their younger brother.
"Alfild, calm down." Hvitserk tried.
The girl glared at him. "Calm down? Calm down?! Your brother murdered my mother. Have you seen her? Have you seen the pool of blood on the floor? He didn't just stab her once. It was again and again and again! I barely even recognized the body, Hvitserk!" she screamed, tears now brimming her eyes.
Hvitserk sat beside her, Ubbe still unsure how to handle the situation. Of course what had happened to her was awful but Ubbe noticed that his brother had not fully recognized the subject of Brunhilde and Alfild's betrayal.
"It's going to be okay, you're going to be okay." Hvitserk reassured her as she pressed her head into his shoulder to muffle her agonized sobs.
Tears now streamed from the girl's emerald eyes, staining them red. "She was all I had." She cried, her emotions bubbling to the surface. All her life, it had been much like this. Those she loved betrayed her or died. It left her in a state of permanent anger, but behind her thin defence of rage there was fear and pain enough for many lifetimes.
"I know things seem hard now, but it will get easier. At least you know that Brunhilde loved you. That must be worth something" Hvitserk continued.
His words seemed to make the cogs in her mind turn. They seemed so personal, that she knew he wasn't just talking about Brunhilde and Alfild. Even in her state of utter despair, she managed to smile gently. "And your father loved you. Both of you. I suppose now we're all in the same boat."
She knew that King Ragnar wasn't dead, but to the ragnarssons it must have seemed like it. It'd been years since any of them had seen him. The idea that one's father could just leave them behind must have been awful. Although, she knew how that felt too.
That evening Alfild decided to leave Kattegat and return to her kingdom. Soon she would have to be named as queen and she wanted to make a good start and lead her people from home. That being said, her quarrel with Ivar The Boneless was far from over.
The new queen would not sleep until she not only realised her mother's dream but also revenged her untimely demise.
Ivar would pay. For that, she was certain.
VOTE IF YOU'RE READING PLEASE. It's hard to tell if people are enjoying this book when I don't have any votes and I don't want to discontinue this book. -Rhiannon
