Chapter 2

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The lovely fire burning in the fireplace was making the room warm enough that you were alright with only a fur thrown over your thin nightgown. You yawned as you grabbed the next book on the table and brushed a hand through your hair, it was way too early for you to fix it right now. Not even Ivar, who usually left the room before you could even wake up each morning, was awake yet. He slept peacefully in the huge bed across the room while you kept rubbing your eyes, trying to get rid of the sleep clinging onto your eyelids.

It had been a month and you were still clueless about most of the things here, their language included. If your mother were there, she'd scold you so hard.

Even if you tried to focus on the lines, your mind wandered off to the bloody face of your brother's messenger just when Ivar killed him, and you felt the goosebumps rising on your arms.

"Viking way", your brother had called it. "They're savages, their traditions are much different than ours. Do not embarrass me, or my court."

No one had ever killed anyone in front of you before.

You had always thought it would be such a great burden, to kill somebody. Or that everything would slow down, and it'd be more dramatic, but the way it had happened and Ivar had acted...

It was almost too simple. Too normal for them.

Viking way.

Oh God, your brother was going to be furious when he learned Ivar had killed his best friend and messenger. It was no doubt that he'd take it as an offense to his kingdom and-

And what?

As you thought it over, you couldn't help to feel a spark of a victory towards your brother's fury. Hvitserk was right, the Great Heathen Army was the biggest and the most powerful army in the entire world, and no one, not even your brother could do anything about that. He would feel anger, he surely would, but he would be unable to do anything about it, for the first time in his life.

Just like how you had felt when you first heard about your marriage.

Your chair squeaked softly when you shifted your weight and went back to your book, but-

"What are you doing?"

Right. Ivar was such a light sleeper that you sometimes wondered if he even slept at all.

Your head shot up and you looked at Ivar who was watching you with a frown.

"Did I wake you?" You asked, "My apologies."

He nodded, "What are you doing?"

"Reading."

He looked confused, "The sun is barely out."

You still couldn't push the image of him with blood splattered over his face to the back of your mind, so you gulped thickly and went back to your book, but he seemed to have other plans because out of the corner of your eye, you saw him sitting up in the bed.

"What are you reading?"

"The- the legends."

"Of?"

"Aesir." You answered and that seemed to make him chuckle.

"Why?"

"I don't know anything about here," You said slowly, "I need to start learning such things."

Ivar hmmed, "And what have you learned so far?"

"That they have a complex family tree and stories." You turned to him, pursing your lips, "I do wish that I had brought some books from my country, I can only understand the half of this."

Faint Of Heart [Ivar x Reader]Where stories live. Discover now