The early morning sun had woken me from my slumber as it shone across my face. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes before opening them and groggily searched for Ivar in the bed. I found the space next to me to be cold and empty. I sat up and pulled the covers around my bare chest, scanning the room for Ivar. To my horror, I saw Ubbe and Ivar sitting across from each other at the table while Sigurd was leaning against the door frame whittling away at a piece of wood.

Ubbe looked up at me and smiled slyly. He knew very well what happened between me and his youngest brother and he couldn't help but look across to Ivar and smile. I could feel my cheeks redden as I sat in the bed mortified.

I scrambled to find my dress but as soon as I laid my eyes on the dark green fabric I saw the large tear across the front. Embarrassment and sadness swirled around in me while the tearing sound of the fabric replayed in my mind. Though I was happy beyond belief that Ivar believed me and that he professed his love for me, I still couldn't shake the fact that what he did last night wasn't right. I begged him to stop. I told him I didn't want it yet he continued his assault. My mind kept telling me to shut up, that I enjoyed it but the silent corner of my mind called it for what it was; rape.

Tears prickled the corners of my eyes but they had no time to fall when I felt gentle fingers brush my arm. I looked up to see Ivar sitting next to me. He immediately reached out and cupped my face with his massive, calloused hands and brought me into a possessive kiss. Sigurd scoffed from his spot in the door way and I knew that this was no more than a show, a way for Ivar to taunt his brother and silently show him that I belonged to Ivar.

Ivar let go of me and bent down to grab a bundle wrapped in twine that was resting on the floor at his bound feet. He handed me the package before he lowered himself to the floor and moved away from the bed to one of the timbers used for support for the roof. He brought his legs around to his front and rested his back against the beam. Even from behind him I could see that he was glaring at Sigurd who was not so discretely, stealing glances of me.

I unwrapped the gift to find a beautiful red dress with an elegant black vine pattern around the neckline. This must be Ivar's apology, I thought as I pulled the dress over my head and pushed my arms through the sleeves. When I knew my chest was covered, I pulled the covers out from under the garment and pulled the dress down my torso and over my legs before I stood up and let the fabric fall to the floor. I spread my hands across the fabric to smooth it out as I admired the beautiful color.

"That is my knife." Ivar's growl made me freeze, my attention being brought to the brothers.

"No it isn't." Sigurd snapped, not even looking at Ivar as he kept working at the wood.

Ivar tensed in his spot. "Give it to me."

"You're crazy! Father gave me this knife." Sigurd's voice went up an octave making him sound like a little boy throwing a tantrum. He pushed himself off of the door frame and sat on one of the stools at the table Ubbe was sitting at.

"I am going to kill Lagertha with it." Ivar's words hit me like an axe. He couldn't kill Lagertha. Though I wasn't happy with what se had done to Aslaug, she was still a dear friend to me and a big part of my life, especially after my father had died.

Sigurd Scoffed at his brother's bold statement, clearly brushing it off as one of Ivar's grand delusions and kept running the blade down the wood.

Ivar hit his palms against the ground in frustration. Before Ubbe could even catch him, Ivar was already at Sigurd's feet. He lunged forward and gripped the legs of the stool and ripped it out from under his brother. Sigurd crashed to the ground and Ivar waisted no time. He pounced on his brother, ripping the knife out of his hand. Sigurd's left arm drew back and he clenched his fist. As he brought his arm around to strike his brother, Ivar caught his wrist mid strike. Ivar quickly glanced at Sigurd's clenched fist before he brought his head back and crashed it into Sigurd's forehead. Sigurd's head jerked back, blood instantly streaming from his nose.

Ubbe and I both flew to Ivar, grabbing him under his arms and pulling him off of Sigurd. Ubbe let go as soon as Ivar was off of Sigurd and the both of us fell to the ground.

"Get up! Hey!" Ubbe pulled Sigurd to his feet before he shoved him back down into one of the other stools around the table. "We have important decisions to make." Ubbe sat down himself and instantly poured himself a cup of ale, clearly annoyed at his childish brothers.

When Ivar and I fell, my back hit against the wooden support beam that Ivar was previously sitting against moments ago and he landed in-between my legs. He looked up at me and smiled his most devious smile, clearly amused at where he was now laying. I blushed as he looked up at me, bitting his lip. Quickly I looked away, nervous to be in a compromising position while his brothers were only feet away.

Ivar chuckled when he saw how uncomfortable he had made me and sat up more so that he was eye level with me. He pecked my cheek with a rough kiss before he scooted back down and leaned back so that his back was against my belly and his head was resting on my chest.

"As usual, you must tell us how to behave!" Sigurd yelled using the back of his fist to clean the blood from his face.

"Who else would do it?" Ubbe barked out of breath. "I wish Bjorn was here."

"You think he knows about Father?" Sigurd asked, also filling a cup with the amber liquid.

"Oh, so you think that Odin told us but forgot to tell Bjorn? Hmm?" Ivar taped his newly acquired knife to his temple in a silent command for Sigurd to use his brains. Sigurd leered at him before he took a long swig from his cup.

"Hopefully he will be home soon. In the mean time it is up to us to decide what to do." Ubbe spoke looking between his brothers.

"I'm listening. Say something interesting." Ivar sighed dramatically as his free hand was tracing invisible patterns on my thigh. His light touch was setting my skin ablaze and I mentally cursed myself for being so easily manipulated by him.

"You heard what he said, how the little pigs will grunt when they hear how the old boar suffered." Ubbe quoted their father.

"So now we're grunting. So what?" Ivar's hand travelled up a little further and I stifled a moan as I squirmed under his touch.

"We want blood revenge against Aelle, hmm?" Ubbe asked, trying to see where exactly his brothers thoughts lie on the matter.

"Not only against Aelle. I-I told you, King Ecbert offered our father up like a sacrifice, so we'll do the same to him." Ivar was annoyed that his oldest brother seemed to have not listened to Ivar's story of what happened in England. "That is what father wanted. That is the message that he wanted me to bring back to you."

Ubbe rolled his eyes. "That is so easy to say, Ivar."

Ivar's lips turned down into a deep frown, his eyebrows knitting together. "Here he is, the voice of reason." He stabbed the blade into the wooden floorboards in anger. "I hate reason!" Ivar moved gracefully from between my legs and started to crawl to the door leaving me behind.

"What do you mean, Ubbe?" Sigurd questioned. "I am listening, even if he is not." Sigurd glared down at his brother as he moved past him.

"Aelle has a small kingdom but Ecbert's is vast. How do we overcome that when we have never attempted anything like that before?" Ubbe pressed. He had the answer already, he just wanted to see if Sigurd or Ivar could figure it out.

"We raise an army." Sigurd blurted out.

"No, you are not listening, brother. We raise a great army."

"An army bigger than ever before." Sigurd added.

Ivar, who had opened the door to leave sat back, slowly closing the door and looked to his brother. "Sigurd is right. We call in favors. We do deals with Kings and Earls that we hate. Whatever we have to promise them, we promise. And in the end, we assemble an army twice the size of the army that Father took to Paris."

"And we declare war on England." Sigurd finished, actually smiling at Ivar.

"No. In the name of our dead Father, in the name of Ragnar Lothbrok, the greatest hero of our country and in the name of Odin, we declare war on the whole world." Ivar's words were slow as he spoke them making the look on his face even more terrifying. Ivar was out for blood.

Since finally speaking with Ivar about his mother's death, he has acted strange with me. One moment, he is normal- or as normal as Ivar can be and the next it is like I do not exist to him. His constant change of emotions was confusing to me and was leaving me feel strangely empty.

Lagertha had ordered the fortification of Kattegat not long after she usurped the throne, commanding every able bodied person to help build a massive wall, complete with covered towers. I managed to allude Lagertha's orders, sneaking out in the early morning hours before work began and came back just as the sun was almost set. I didn't mind spending all day by myself in the woods or climbing mountains. It beat feeling alone while in Ivar's presence.

In the passing weeks Ubbe and Sigurd had come and gone, traveling to neighboring villages and towns spreading the word of their plans of avenging king Ragnar. Now the first longships were arriving in Kattegat. I watched as they tied up to the pylons and the men and women happily stepped onto the dock.

I turned and headed to the boys house as more and more boats pulled ashore. Once entering the home, I saw Ubbe and Ivar speaking with each other at the table. As soon as they heard me they quickly stopped talking and turned to look at me. I was exhausted from pretending to be happy while around Ivar's brothers so I let my face stay in its somber expression.

Ivar turned back to Ubbe and spoke to him in a hushed tone. My heart sunk even deeper in my chest. What had I done to deserve Ivar's cold shoulder? Would this last forever?

Breathing out through parted lips, I headed to my trunk I had brought from my old family home that now belonged to a new family and tore through it, looking for my black dress. I flung garment after garment on to the ground until I finally found the one I was looking for.

"What are you doing?" Ivar spat from his spot at the table.

I froze. Even when he spoke to me with such disgust in his tone it still sent butterflies through my belly. Gods, what was wrong with me?

"There is a feast planned for this evening in the great hall to welcome all who have come to avenge King Ragnar." I spoke, nervous to turn and look at him.

"And why weren't we told?" He snapped.

I didn't know how to answer that question. Maybe because you haven't spoken to me in four days? Maybe because Lagertha thinks you are going to use this army against her?

"Relax, Ivar." Ubbe spoke, pulling me from the snarky remarks going through my head. "Margrethe told me this morning that Lagertha just made plans for a feast."

This was the fifth time Ubbe had saved me from Ivar's bubbling rage in the past two weeks. I tightened my grip around my dress before I scurried from the home but not before I heard Ivar call out to me.

"Run along to Lagertha, little one."

After I had left Ubbe and Ivar, I made my way to the hall to ask Lagertha if I could bathe here. I tried to act as if nothing were wrong but I knew she saw right through me. I was standing now in a black dress that was pulled tight around my waist by a black leather corset while the neckline was cut low, the curves of my body on complete display. The wefts of hair at the side of my face were pulled back into two braids and were tied in the back while the length of my hair fell down my back in its loose waves. I wasn't blind to the looks I was attracting from the men who filled the hall, at least at this feast I wasn't a slave so I have the right to stop unwanted advances.

But considering how things were between Ivar and I, were they really unwanted? Aside from his snide remarks, I didn't exist to him. I would hope that if he was no longer in love that he would at least let me know. The great hall was abuzz with all of the foreign warriors, ready to sail, to raid, to sink their sharpened axes into the necks of Saxons and to avenge their king.

"All by yourself tonight, eh?" Sigurd spoke before he took a long sip from his drink. He moved next to me and looked out into the crowd.

"I..." I breathed in awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "I am just trying to enjoy myself, Sigurd."

He chuckled into his drink, clearly happy he struck a nerve. "You look beautiful tonight."

"Are you saying I am hideous the rest of the time?" I couldn't help my sarcastic comment back. He laughed, rolling his eyes and for a moment it felt like we were kids again before all of this confusion, all of this animosity and our murdered parents.

"It's nice to see you smile again." He said before walking away. I looked around the hall, searching for those blue eyes that invaded my nightly dreams but I came up empty. Trying my best to shake my nervous feelings away, I followed Sigurd to a table where he took out his oud and began to strum the instrument. The strangers who sat around at the table all smiled and began singing merrily.

One of the men sitting next to Sigurd was banging his drum in rhythm with Sigurd. When he saw me he instantly stopped playing and poured me a drink. He seemed to be about our age, as he stood with the cup in his hand I immediately felt small. He towered over me, even more than Ivar when he he stood before me on his crutches. The man's toothy grin was contagious and I found myself smiling, truly smiling for the first time since... since before Ivar returned.

"For you, fair maiden." His velvety voice was like the sweetest music. He held out the cup for me to take, his hazel eyes staring into my grey blue ones. I stood there for a moment and took in the images on his bare, muscular arms. On one arm he had Huggin while the other had Muninn, Odin's ravens. Magical Staves, no doubt for protection and runes also adorned his skin. Half of his chocolate brown hair was pulled back into a braid while the rest was left loose. His beard was a long mix of the same chocolate brown of his hair and auburn with gold beads adorning the few braids mixed in.

"You do not drink?" He asked, his brows knitting together in confusion.

How long had I been staring? "I do, thank you." I spoke, fumbling to grab the cup from his hand.

"I am Florian. I have sailed here from Sweden to join the great heathen army!" He spoke proudly as he poured himself a cup.

"The great heathen army," I repeated "is that what they're calling it?" I took a bigger sip than normal in hopes that the cup would cover my face as I rolled my eyes.

Sigurd looked back at Florian and I speaking. He quickly turned but before I did I could see the smug smile on his face. Seemingly, seeing me with anyone but Ivar was enough to make him happy.

"Do you sail with us to England?" Florian asked.

I gave him a tight smile. "I am not sure if I am. Though, if I am, I do not know if I will be permitted to fight." Of the numerous questions swirling around in my head those were indeed two of them. With the way Ivar has been acting, who knows if he'll want to in England with him and if so, I doubt with his need to control me he'd let my in battle.

Looking away from Florian, my eyes caught Ubbe in the crowd. He stood next to Margrethe who was now, thanks to Ubbe, a free woman. She always liked Ubbe but everyone knew Hvitserk was her favorite. To procure the girl for himself, Ubbe had freed her and asked her to marry him while Hvitserk was away. Ubbe's lips turned down and I knew that I was in trouble for speaking with this strange man. I should have known better. Even though I can't see Ivar, I knew now that he is watching. Always watching.

"What is your name?" Florian moved so that his forearm was resting above my head on a wooden beam. Not only did this make him seem even taller than he already was but it closed the space between us and made it so I was trapped in his space.

I felt my cheeks burn red as I was stuck in this position with this man. My head was racing, commanding me to run but my body was frozen in place, waiting for Ivar to appear and sink his axe into Florian.

"Her name is Briet," Sigurd answered for me, still strumming at the strings of his oud. "She's usually never this quiet." I glared at Sigurd which only made him chuckle before looking away.

"Briet," Florian spoke as his index finger curled under my chin, tilting my head up so that I would look at him. "That's a beautiful name."

Before I could respond to his compliment or even break from his grasp I heard the doors of the hall slam shut. I pushed off of the wooden post to see what was going on but it all happened so fast. Warriors ripped Florian from me, locking his arms behind his back while they held the blade of their swords to his exposed throat.

My head snapped towards Sigurd who was being ripped from his stool and held captive with a threatening axe blade at his throat as well. I felt an armor clad arm snake around my torso, holding my arms tight at my side while a rough hand gripped the hair at the top of my scalp. My heart was racing inside my chest while my eyes frantically searched the rest of the room.

At the throne, Torvi and Astrid were also held in a similar fashion, weapons held at their exposed throats. The crowd of confused towns people split revealing Ubbe, sword in one hand and axe in the other as he stormed up towards Lagertha who stood by her throne in complete bewilderment. Everyone who was known to be loyal to Lagertha was held against their will while the people who remained neutral were all looking around in confusion. I looked over to Sigurd just as one of the passing warriors landed a blow to his stomach. I struggled against the one holding me to try and go to Sigurd but it only made the man's grip grow tighter.

I knew what was happening the instant I heard the banging of iron against the wooden floor boards; Ivar. Ivar snaked his way down the opening in the crowd and joined Ubbe at his side. The moment he stopped he reached to his belt and produced his axe, breathing heavily like a bear about to attack its prey.

Lagertha waisted no time. She grabbed for a sword that was next to the throne and stalked down the steps to meet the threat that was in her hall. She gripped the hilt of her sword and began to raise her arm when the piece of timber that locked the front doors began to be hacked away at. Ivar moved to attack but before he could the doors burst open revealing Bjorn.

"If you kill her, my brothers, you will have to kill me too." Bjorn spoke, his tone low and calm even as his hand slowly moved to his sword. Flanked at his side was Hvitserk who looked around the room with knitted brows, Halfdan and Harald both moved back slightly, clearly not wanting to be apart of the family feud.

"Maybe we should," Ivar sneered, clearly angry his plans of revenge against Lagertha were thwarted a second time.

"Shut up," Ubbe barked at Ivar, kicking him gently with his boot. "She killed our mother." He spoke, loud enough for both Bjorn and the others to hear and to remind the people of Kattegat that Lagertha was a usurper.

Bjorn stepped forward towards his younger brothers. "I know, you want revenge. So would I. But more importantly we have to avenge our Father. That is why I came back. And that is what we are going to do."

In a silent command to fuck off, Lagertha threw her sword down on the ground in front of Ivar. Ivar's nostrils flared as he sat there fuming. He took his metal steak and drove it into the ground as an outlet for his built up rage before he and Ubbe both left the great hall, defeated again by the usurper queen.

Bjorn watched as his brothers left, Hvitserk racing after them. The oldest son turned to his mother and with an emotionless expression questioned his mother. "So you had your revenge?"

After the events that took place in the great hall I knew exactly where Ivar stood with me; he didn't trust me and I knew he never would. Having no place to go, I walked the woods for most of the night. I couldn't be in the same hall as Lagertha and Bjorn and Loki knows I couldn't go to Ivar and his brothers. The crushing realization that I had no one truly hit me as I walked in the moonlight. Nothing felt right to me. I couldn't even go to the one spot on Midgard that brought me peace because it was now tainted with memories of Ivar.

Finally stopping to rest my now aching feet, I sat against the base of a giant oak tree. My head fell back against it's bark and I could feel the ghost pain from being held prisoner from one of Ubbe and Ivar's warriors. I let out a long breath through my nose and closed my eyes. What has my life become? Surely the Nornir had something different, something grand in mind for my fate or was this it, I was helplessly fated to be tied to Ivar and his cruelty.

Rustling branches caught my attention and I was immediately preparing myself for Ivar's hands to latch around my neck. Not wanting him to have the upper hand, I grabbed for my newly acquired blade I had tied at my ankle and ripped it from it's sheath. Turning away from the tree I crouched and looked in the direction of the sound.

Two reflective eyes peered back at me through the brush and before I had a moment to prepare myself, a wolf pup tumbled from the bush it was hiding in. The little pup looked confused and scared as it looked up at me with its amber eyes.

I immediately prepared myself for its mother to attack, moving while still on my haunches as I looked over the woods around me. The pup whined, its ears now lowered back against its head as it looked at me. Silence reigned over the woods and I slowly started to relax again. The pup must have been separated from its pack. It was alone, just like me.

Holding my hand out to the animal, it timidly crawled towards me. When the cold tip of its nose met my finger tips, I moved closer and gingerly brushed my fingers through the pups' black fur.

It took no time at all for the wolf to become comfortable with me, crawling up into my lap and licking at my cheek affectionately. My heart melted and I couldn't bring myself to leave it behind to die.

Cupping its face so our eyes met, I looked deep into the animals eyes, making a connection with the abandoned beast.

"Vidar," I spoke out loud. Vidar is Odin's son who will kill Fenrir to avenge his father during Ragnarok. He is the silent god of revenge. "Your name is Vidar." Vidar's tail started to wag happily as I spoke to him. "Now we are both no longer alone."