Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Have you ever been chastised by a parental figure? Sat uncomfortably as you received the glare. A glare that you knew meant they were about to yell at you reprimandingly as soon as you're alone.
Presently, Alvina felt exactly that. She didn't have to know what Ubbe was saying to understand the look she was recieving from Ivar, as she sat wrapped in Ubbe's cloak with a sniffle and wet hair.
As soon as Ubbe closed the door behind him, sending her one final concerned look, Alvina clenched her eyes shut in anticipation. She expected to hear him crawl towards her, to hear him say some vicious words or to make a fool out of her. But he didn't say anything. Not a word. The room was completely silent as Ivar contemplated what he had just been told.
He'd thanked Ubbe for not going to Bjorn, for some unknown reason. He still wasn't sure why he was protecting her. Perhaps some part of him still felt indebted to her after her kindness to him, though he'd never found that to be an issue before. Maybe it was the fact that out of everyone there, she was the only one who seemed to even somewhat believe in him. He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he felt an overwhelming urge to keep her safe, which Ubbe seemed to approve of.
"You want to die?" He began, as though trying to fully understand the situation yet still managing to make it sound like a threat.
Alvina looked over to him with red eyes, her teeth chattering from the cold. "Maybe." She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out whether or not he was about to kill her.
Ivar shrugged, seeming a little bewildered. "Why?" He questioned.
Alvina scoffed as though it was the most obvious answer on earth, quickly realising that he was serious in his question. "Because my family betrayed me! I have nothing left, my entire life has been a lie, everyone I love is gone and I am here surrounded by people who want me dead."
"If they were the ones who betrayed you then why aren't you trying to kill them instead?" He then suggested logically.
"You already killed my grandfather." She glared at him. "And you certainly made sure that it was an easy death. I didn't even get to kick him before he died."
"For the record, I wanted to Blood Eagle him." Ivar corrected, only making Alvina purse her lips flatly, knowing that he wasn't at all understanding what she was saying.
"Ivar, you will be a Great man, I believe that, but amongst my people there is no such thing as great women." She explained. "My mother was as close as it came, and she was killed by a coward of a woman and the king that she defended. Why? Because she was a woman. Do you think such murder could happen to a man?"
"But you're not amongst your people now." Ivar reminded her. "And I promise you that we'll avenge your mother as well as my father."
Alvina smiled at her genius friend, tucking a strand of raven hair behind her ear. She knew that she'd lost everything, that she was alone and estranged from all that she knew. But somehow, in the company of this heathen, she had never felt more at home.
