DREAM OF ME, sihtric & finan

3. sihtric

But when her eyes opened, expecting to see the ugly face of such a man, that is not who she finds staring back at her.  No bright blue eyes, no short hair, but soft, mismatched coloured eyes, long braided hair, and a face she could never rid from her memory, even if he had grown from a boy to a handsome man.

A man on the other side of her cage. A man who was the bastard son of that who had killed her Mother and Father. A man who stared down at her after being beaten by his Father.

She had wondered if he would be here or if Kjartan had finally rid himself of the slave he had impregnated and the son that followed.  The answer served itself right in her face and she hated it.

Her head tilted, tears shining in Tova's eyes for the first time since being thrown into this rotten filthy cage like she was a wild animal.  Her heart hurt, a sting pinching within her throat as she silently prayed to her Gods to send strength.

"Sihtric," She whispers, betrayal shining in both her face and voice, the man flinching at the emotion, understanding how everything looked, because that's how it would of been if it wasn't for her, he supposed.  But that wasn't how it was.  Then the tears grew angry, and she forced her legs to work to stand, shaking her head.

He glanced worriedly down her body, but her eyes didn't catch that. 

"Traitor." She whispers, her body stumbling forward as her hands catch onto the bars, eyes widening slightly at the way she nearly collapses against them.  He goes to move forward, but then she's repeating herself, "Traitor! You're a traitor, Sihtric. Sihtric, you — you — you have betrayed me!"

He's shaking his head, his own hands clutching the bars but when she wraps her fingers around his clothing and yanks him closer, he nearly smashes into the bars and winces, "I have not!  I did not know — I would never of done this to you," He's saying over her claims, trying to calm her down.

"Why have you done this to me?"

"I am going to get you out!"

Her screams turned into cries as she shook her head, not hearing his actual words back to her.  The hold she had on him was beginning to loosen already, not understanding how he could be involved in such a cowardly act— they hadn't allowed her family to fight back.   Though, she was sure her Father had guaranteed that his wife and Father were sent to Valhalla before he moved to fight back himself against the attackers.

"Tova," Sihtric pleads, as she lets go of him completely, dropping against the bars and sliding down them.  He, too, follows her, knees hitting the ground.  "Tova, listen —"

"The Gods will abandon you for this," She says to make herself feel better, though it doesn't work.  This is Sihtric, the boy she used to make flower crowns for, the one who would smile whenever she reassured him, the one who liked when they held hands.  "For doing this to me."

Her cries, actually allowing herself to do this now, is all that is heard for a few minutes.  Tova doesn't even feel his hands over hers on the bars, attempting to comfort her the only way he can given she was locked inside and he had no key.

His fingers tightened over hers, forehead against the metal. "Tova, please listen, please,"

At the plea, and probably out of instinct, she does, her eyes wandering upward to meet his — those bright blue eyes that has always looked at him so fondly when nobody else did. He had wished everyday since they had been banished that he could find her again.

He wasn't about to let anything else happen to her.

"I did not know this would happen, I am a bastard, I hold no loyalty to Kjartan the Cruel. I did not do this to you," Sihtric promises, his hand reaching up to grasp his necklace, the Thor's Hammer against his palm, "I swear it."