Fragile and Agile ~ Finan the Agile x Reader

⚓️ Ch.2 ⚓️

Y/n's POV

Land was a welcomed bliss I didn't think I'd ever be glad to see. Despite the snow fall and rain, I couldn't help but marvel at the touch of land upon my raw feet.

All my years spent wishing to be one with the sea yet I could barely contain myself when we dismounted that boat, the firmness of solid ground beneath my jelly legs. I fell to the ground chains rattling and a laughter of desperate relief escaping my lips.

That earned me a few concerned looks and a sharp slap across the cheek.

Iceland was cold during winter, almost an irony to the pictures on the internet of vast green lands I'd seen.

Man I missed the internet

I missed proper clothes

Missed proper food and not rotting scraps.

All that was almost four months ago now I sat in a barn cold, frail, hungry.

"I think we might be getting fed, lord." Halig's voice broke through the sound of chattering teeth and my thoughts.

"Call him Osbert." Finan warned.

As Sverri entered the barn we were all chained up in and huddled under blankets desperate eyes turned to watch him.

I, myself, watched shivering between Finan and Uhtred who sat as close as possible to share their heat with me. We all watched in desperate plight as he glanced upon our frames and walked to the pigs.

I rolled my eyes looking away at the sound of the animals feeding, it caused a rumble in my stomach and an ache to follow. I huddled closer to Finan at the sudden gush of cold wind entering through the open barn door.

"Hungry?" He jests quietly.

I hadn't spoken in weeks. My voice was long gone, so instead of verbal words I nodded my head.

Minutes passed and when I thought sleep was about to consume me in one of the rare occasions it actually did nowadays, Sverri approached the pen we were chained up in. The sack of leftover foods dangling in the air tauntingly in his hands.

"More than you deserve." He says throwing the sack into the pen. Men who had lost their dignity, scrambled and fought over the food, even the three men I'd grown to rely on in my time.

"Be grateful." Sverri said his eyes casting upon me making me shiver. I was hoping if I avoided eyes contact he'd walk off. But he didn't.

I continued to watch sadly at the men fighting over the food. This was the most we'd had since our captivity and yet despite my hunger I made no effort to try and grab myself anything.

"Look up at me girl." He demanded.

With a tight squint of my eyes I reluctantly turned to face him. He smirked, amused by my obedience which he and his man had slowly beaten into me over the last few months.

Stepping through the fence of the pen the men scrambled back to the sides huddled under their blankets and eating their food in fear the man was coming to take it off them.

He wasn't, his eyes were trained on my tired and distant ones.

"It's a shame. Such beauty left to waste away, my offer still stands you know." He mused his warm hand burning my skin as he ran his knuckle along my cheek.

Sverri's first attempt to bed me the day he pulled me out of the water and onto that ship was his last. He persistently sought me out, taunting me, making offers that at times I struggled to turn down if not for Finan and Uhtred interfering.