Chapter two - Secrets

Three years later.

Daciana lived her life with her brother and his Lord, Uhtred of Coccham as a warrior, although Sihtric protested and wanted her to give up fighting it was a useless attempt. Fighting was in her blood and she would stay on top form if it was the last thing she did, the last thing the woman wanted was to be domesticated and left to cook, clean and breed.

Over the years she had grown close to the men under Uhtreds command, though she had become closer to one more than any. The same man that had held a sword to her throat all those years ago, was the very man she had managed to fall for. Finan was also her brother best friend which added to the complications of their relationship, the two of them kept their desire for one another a secret for the sake of Sihtric.

Daciana had stayed behind whilst Uhtred took a group of men to kill a party of raiders up river, she was practicing her axe throwing on a tree when the men had returned. A smiled formed on her face as she brought Sihtric into a hug.

"All went well?" She asked, ignoring the eyes she could feel on her.

"Did you expect anything else, sister." Sihtric nudged her side.

"You stink, go and wash or no woman will ever marry you." The woman joked as she pushed him away.

Daciana put her hands on her hip shaking her head as her brother walked away, standing in place purposely waiting back. Finan chuckled under his breath as he caught up to her and she fell in foot with him.

"And what of me, do I stink too much for marriage?" He said quietly.

She laughed looking over to him, "Any woman that tries to marry you will have much more than your smell to worry about." She threw her axe and it landed perfectly in the leg of a table making the occupants of the table all jump.

"Ah well, let's hope Uhtred doesn't decide to marry off his greatest warriors for alliances then." Finan nodded as his mouth turned into a smirk.

"Your just lucky my brother has no control over me or I'd probably be married by now." She winked as she backed away from him and over to her house.

✵ ✵ ✵

Daciana was helping sharpen the weapons when the king and his travelling party came through the gates of Coccham, making her grunt under her breath as she nudged her brother in the side and nodded her head over to them.

"Finan." Sihtric called out.

"What?" He replied almost boredly.

When Finan lifted his head and took notice to the king he quickly stopped what he was doing and hurried over to them, with Sihtric and Daciana close behind him. Though Daciana didn't like King Alfred, she showed the respect that he was owed even if it was reluctantly.

"Lord King. Welcome to Coccham." He gave a smile, causing Daciana to roll her eyes.

The King nodded his head, "Finan."

"Lord Uhtred is at the fortress, the burh."

"Will you fetch him Finan? We'll be waiting in the hall." Lord Odda asked.

" I will, Lord." Finan swayed backwards on his feet, before turning to the two siblings. "The man must have a priest for each day of the year." He joked as the steady stream of priests walked by.

The two of them laughed as Finan turned back to the priests and made the Christian signing to their god. Sihtric returned to his previous task leaving the two alone.

"I'll go and get Uhtred, I'm faster than you." Daciana said, poking her tongue out in a childlike manner.

"Aye, you are." He grinned at her, "Now, keep your tongue in your mouth before you give me any ideas."

He moved closer too her, so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath. She smirked, looking up at him for a second before poking out her tongue again, then hitting him in the stomach and running off, leaving him doubled over clutching his stomach but still chuckling at her.

She hurried to the fortress, then returned with Uhtred and left him to deal with the King. Instead of joining them in the hall she waited outside and played with Uhtred the younger for a while. He was an energetic little boy and Daciana enjoyed his company, she felt like his youth rubbed off on her.

"How many points do I get if I hit the tree?" The little boy raised his brow as he tried to figure out if he could manage the distance.

"Well, the stable is ten points and the tree is further away. So, let's say the tree is worth fifteen." Daciana nodded.

Uhtred scrunched up his nose and picked up a stone from his pile, winding back his arm he launched the stone. The two of them watched as Clapa walked in front of the tree and the stone bounced off the giant man's forehead, making him yell out and look for the culprit. Daciana cheered and picked the boy up, placing him on her shoulders.

"That's a win for you little man!" She half yelled as she ran around with him, he let out a full belly laugh as he held on to the ends of the braids on her head for support.

"Daci, was that you two! Are you trying to behead me!" Clapa rubbed the spot that was reddening by the second.

"It was all Uhtred." She laughed, setting the boy on the floor again so he could run off.

"When Lord Uhtred's done in there will you tell him to come by the docks. A ship is approaching, traders but I think I spotted warriors with them."

She nodded, "of course, I'll let him know."

✵ ✵ ✵

Once King Alfred had set back off to Winchester, Finan showed up at Daciana's door and informed her about what the visit was all about. How Alfred came about the hanging of a thief, and when Uhtred tried to tell the King about the possible army of Dane's at beamfloat, the King refused to do anything about it.

"Why Uhtred keeps his oath to that turd, I fear I'll never know." Daciana sighed as she took off her boots.

"He'd never break an oath. Even if Alfred refuses to see his value." Finan shrugged as he followed her actions. "Now, can we stop talking about it?"

"And my brother is where?" She cocked an eyebrow and moved to stand infront of him.

Finan leant down and started kissing at Daciana's neck, "Passed... Out... Drunk... And... in... Bed." He said between kisses as they moved up her neck and along her jawline.

She nodded, walking with him until the back of his knees touched the bed. Quickly pulling his shirt over his head, she pushed him backwards so he fell onto the bed. He smiled up at her as she climbed on top of him and then removed her own shirt. When she was straddling him he reached up and pulled her head down, meeting her halfway with his lips.

Author's note

The last kingdom episodes are quite long so I'm probably going to be splitting each episode into two or three chapters, maybe with some filler chapters in between for my oc's depending on the scenes they'll be in during the episodes.