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For as long as I can remember, it was just me and mother. She was more than happy to keep it that way, pushing away all men trying to enter our lives either for her or for me. No man in our lives, until she sold me to the Jarl.
I just assumed, that my father was dead. I assumed for so long, it became the only truth that I knew. I imagined him to have been an old man with too big of an arrogance and that is what got him killed. Why? Because I found no other reason for why my mother would want to live without a man to help us. I tried, I truly tried to get her to tell me more about him, but in vain. Mother never talked about him, she always flinched and shut up.
Like most girls, I wanted a father. I grew envy on the other children in our town, for having their fathers with them. I wanted someone who would kiss me good night and bring out his shield and sword just to prove he would protect me from the horrors of nightly slumber.
I never had that, so of course I did not believe Viggo proclaiming to me my long lost father.
"Wha-what? No, no, no, no. You are not my father." My voice a shaky whisper, my hand a tremling mess and my body a show of shaking in fear of the words to be true.
"I am, and we can test it to be sure. If you want, that is," he spoke, his hand twitching for his belt before he thought better of it, and only then did I notice he had a dagger on it.
Waryness creeping up on me, I took a step back from him. What was he going to do, kill me if I refused?
No, no! I will not allow men to control me any longer.
Hands forming in to fists, my body shaking in anxiety, fear and the willness to fight for myself, was clearly shown. Seeing this, his hands flew up to calm me down.
"Iona, calm yourself and listen. I am not going to hurt you. I swear on my life and by Odin. Let me explain this all to you first before you do anything irrational, is that okay?" His voice was steady, calm but also slightly fearful, but not for himself.
Weighting my options, I decided to hear the man out. I refuse to be like my husband, who never listeness before fighting. He is always bringing blood forward before words.
"Gratitude, Iona. So, the thing you need to know, is that our bonds work through blood, meaning every bond there is between other ulfhednars, is bound either through birth or binding by blood," gazing in to my eyes, he was making sure I was listening.
I was. And then he took a deep breath, as if the next thing had been weighting heavily on his shoulders.
"You are my blood. I can feel it and so did my beast when I carried you back from the town. You feel it too, do you not? That small trust, the feeling of safety in my precense?"
Thinking on it, I realized that was exactly how I felt when I met Alf. I knew him to be worthy of my trust. And I also realized, I felt it with Viggo too.
