Virago - Ivar The Boneless

You Are Crazy

As she left the main streets, she smiled finding herself face to face with Bjorn. "Sister," he looked up at her. "I thought-"

"You thought wrong," she interrupted him. "I am alive, I am well, the King is dead." She climbed down from the horse she rode as she looked up at her brother. It was almost like he had not been in battle, there was little to no blood and he looked very calm. 

He looked at her, he was confused. "King Aethelwulf is dead? Who killed him?"

"I killed him," Iona told him blankly. She was not as proud as she hoped she would be. 

Bjorn stared at her, he didn't know what to say in reply to the words she had spoken. It was not what he expected her to say, instead, he put his arms around her. "Let us celebrate your safety," he held her tight for a moment before walking alongside her towards the main square. 

Iona walked alongside him, she did not speak as she kept her head down and looked at the ground. She had killed a King, Little Bear the King killer, she did not want that hanging over her right now. 

She sat in the main part of the village, she watched as people came and went, bringing in their belongings, bringing in food. As she watched, a smile curled on her lips when she saw Hvitserk and Ubbe. 

"You're alive?" Hvitserk sounded surprised as he approached the blonde who leaned back in the chair at the head of the table. 

Ubbe nodded his head at her before he sat beside her, "You had us all worried for a while."

Iona smiled as she put a hand on his knee in the way of a friendly gesture, "I did not know you cared so much." There was a hint of playfulness to her voice as she spoke which made the eldest son of Aslaug smile. 

He placed his right hand over hers holding it for a moment. He lifted it up before kissing the back of her hand, "See you at dinner, Little Bear." She watched as Ubbe got up walking away leaving her with Hvitserk who sat in the seat Ubbe just left. 

Her eyes lit up as she looked at the blonde before she wrapped her arms around him, "It's nice to be back."

"What happened?" He asked her as he held her tightly.

She pulled away, her eyes on him as she spoke, "Do not worry about me. I am just glad to be back with my family."

Hvitserk furrowed his brows as he watched the blonde who looked away, he followed her gaze noticing her eyes finding Ivar's. Hvitserk noticed that Ivar was not the only one who was watching the young woman. "Why did he leave you out there?" Hvitserk asked her bringing her back to him. 

Turning her head to him, she shrugged her shoulders. "My horse ran away," Iona shrugged her shoulders at him. "I refused his help, I was the one who wanted to walk," she left out some important details regarding what really happened. "It's my own fault," Little Bear looked away from him only to find Ivar had gone. 

XOXOX

Sigurd was watching Iona, she was sitting at the table alone. Everyone had started to find their own rooms, places that they could sleep for the night. Walking towards the table, he kept his eyes on the young woman. She noticed him, her eyes shifting to him as he sat at the table alongside her. 

"It seems you have everyone wrapped around you," he told her as she shifted her chair back a little. He hated how she had turned away from him so quickly. "Even Ivar." 

He hated how much she had changed. When she had first arrived in Kattegat she barely trusted anyone before they became great friends but now she could not even look at him. Most women would give anything to be with a son of Ragnar, to be with a prince. He knew from experience, Margrethe having been with three of them in the hopes of getting herself a husband. Little Bear was different though, he didn't know for sure but he was confident she had been sleeping with Hvitserk and that was hard for him. Everything he wanted was always snatched away cruelly by one of his brothers. Lately, though, her attention had been on the youngest of the Ragnarssons, Ivar. He didn't understand why he was just a cripple, he'd never be able to satisfy any woman. 

"He does not care for me," the blonde told her former friend. She did not need to tell him anything but they had once been close. "What do you want, Sigurd?"

He placed his axe on the table, his hands laying next to it. "I need you to know that I care for you. I need you to know that I did not intend to hurt you." 

Iona raised her eyebrows as she watched him, she did not need this half attempt of an apology. He was worthless, he had hurt her in the worst way and she could not try and pretend that she forgave him. "I put up with you for your brothers, because I do not wish to lose my head. I let you live because my own brother would never let it go."

Sigurd smirked, "You really have no choice then." He wrapped his left hand around his axe as he laughed. Then he looked at her again, "You have always believed you are more than you are. You are crazy, crazy like my brother. You are not a God, you are a child. You are nothing special. You are weak, you will never marry, you will never find someone to share your life with." He spoke through gritted teeth as she let him speak, she was incredibly calm as he told her many horrible things. "You will be lonely, a sad old woman who will die alone believing she is special. Maybe one day, just maybe you will come to me," he let out a cold chuckle. "Maybe if I am feeling weak I might take you as my wife, I might let you believe you are worth more than... this."

Little Bear looked him up and down, she put her hands on the table. She edged her fingers closer to his before stopping leaving the tiniest gap between the two of them. "I would rather be dead than ever be your wife, Sigurd." The smirk on her lips was evident as she looked up through her lashes at him.

He raised his left hand, the axe slamming down on the table, her fingers moving just a second before the axe would have hit her. "No one else will ever have you, not Hvitserk, not Ubbe, not even my crippled brother. You will be very," he paused for a moment to think of the word before smiling, "Lucky, very lucky indeed to be with me."

She stood up, she did not notice the small crowd out people that were watching as she gripped the shirt of the Ragnarsson who was confronting her. Her voice was a whisper as she threatened him, "If you come near me again, I will cut your dick off and feed it to you. Do not try me, Sigurd." Pushing him back, the chair skidded on the floor as she walked away disappearing through the crowd of people.