Bronn stumbled back behind him as I finally saw him for the first time.
"I mean it made sense. Jackson was lost about how this other group was always ahead of us. How this other group just knew so much."
Bronn looked back at the guy standing there watching me.
"I mean it wasn't that hard to figure out. You were always there." I tossed the knife at him as he caught it right infront of his face.
"You were always there Maddox."
Maddox smiled back at me as his little giggle filled the room.
"You loved her, I'm sorry but I didn't end her life."
"You didn't but I did." Maddox tossed the knife back at me.
I stumbled back as the blade ripped through my arm hitting the wall behind me.
"I watched her sleep with Maverick. I watched her sleep with my brother. Then I mean there was Kingston."
My eyes shot back at him.
Maddox smiled at me, "You didn't think I couldn't see the feelings there? Solomon was stupid, I will give him that. He is purely stupid to let you walk all over him. Just all over him, you did what you wanted without getting caught."
"I wasn't with Solomon when I was with Kingston."
Maddox nodded his head back at me, "But the feelings weren't there?"
"There were feelings but Solomon had Isabel."
"Had?"
"Has, fine, whatever Maddox. He is with her. Why is that my problem now?"
"You came back for him."
"I came back to save him. I always thought it was because Isabel pushed him to start a war but that wasn't the case. It was all you."
Maddox cracked a smile at me, "My father looked at Solomon like the second coming. He was some son of Odin. He was the only the first born, he was nothing special."
"You are wrong." I looked back at him. "You are completely wrong about Solomon. You don't know him because you have hate in your blood about him Maddox."
"I don't have hate, I was born with hate."
My eyes narrowed as I saw it.
"That's why Loki pushed so hard."
Maddox grinned back at me, "I was never his child."
"You were never born Ragason blood."
"LOKI WAS RAGASON BLOOD!"
"No, he wasn't. It was proven that Loki was just a general. He had no claims you dumb mother fucker!" I shouted back at him.
Maddox rushed at me grabbing my throat pinning me back against the wall, "You have no room to talk about no claims."
"Look again; Ragnar changed it before his death. McKenzie Lothbrok is alive." I smiled back at him as Maddox just looked down at me.
He stepped back from me.
"He changed it a long time ago Maddox. He looked at me and told me that one day one of his daughter's will gain control of Ireland."
Maddox turned back to Bronn, "Do you know anything of this?"
"No, I didn't know she knew Ragnar." Bronn said back to him.
"I knew that man before either of you were born." I ran my tongue along my teeth to clean the blood from them. I spit blood out to the side as it hit the wooden floorboards.
Bronn shook his head back at me, "I don't think you planned this right Maddox."
"No, you really didn't Maddox. I think you fucked it all up." I grinned back at him as I heard the click behind me.
Maddox shook his head as I raised the gun from my waist band at him.
"That dance was horrible." Ragnar smiled down at the ground like he was watching a ghost infront of him.
He ran his fingers along the rim of the gold crown that was incrusted with blue and red gems.
One of the house maids stopped infront of him, "Sir, you have a guest."
He looked up from the crown as she entered the room with a hood draped over her face. "Who are you?"
"I would prefer to talk to you alone."
"No, you show me your face and maybe we will talk."
I pushed the hood back as his eyes got wide.
"Leave, just leave."
"You know me because of what the witch said."
"I won't have that in my house!" He jumped up grabbing the crown from the arm rest.
"Ragnar, we have to talk."
"No, you witch! You mean the death of my family!"
"I know Haddor said that a blonde from another time would come back to haunt you."
He stopped as I walked up behind him. "Just let me talk to you."
"I am really seeing ghosts now."
"Ragnar, just listen to me."
He glared back at me, "No, I have nothing to hear."
"You know why I am back. She told you something about us."
"No, you don't get to talk about my daughter."
"McKenzie or Penelope?"
He stopped as he remained with his back to me.
"Oh, that's right. Penelope hasn't been born yet."
"How do you know my oldest?"
"Because I am her." I looked back at him the crown in his hands hit the stone floor under our feet.
"My wife...."
"She sent me away when I was little. She sent me away from the war and the hate. She saw the pain in your eyes and she knew that it wasn't the world she wanted me in."
"I don't understand how you are back?"
"I'm back to tell you that one day I will come back. I will come back to you and I will need your help to save Solomon."
"Solomon?"
"Ragason."
"You are going to be with him?"
"Don't judge me yet, father." I smiled back at him.
He nodded his head back at me, "I will do whatever I have to do."
Maddox looked at me as Bronn took off out the door.
I grabbed the barrel of the gun as I dissembled the gun infront of him. "It's too early to kill you with little effort."
Maddox narrowed his eyes as I dropped the clip from my hands, "You have nothing against me."
I took off running as I caught Maddox in the stomach sending us both out the window that was behind him.
"Long trip?" Ragnar smiled as King Ragason walked up to him.
"Leaving 2 sons with a very angry wife isn't smart." King Ragason laughed back at Ragnar.
Ragnar laughed back at him as they went through the great room to a side ballroom, "I am happy that you did get the chance to come and see me."
"I will always come up and see you Ragnar." King Ragason smiled back at him.
Ragnar pushed the door closed as King Ragason was once inside, "I just want you to know that I need your help with something."
King Ragason looked back at him, "What? if you need armies, I don't have many trained. I mean I barely have any."
"No, I need you to know that in a few years something is gonna happen. Someone is going to come and see you."
Ragason looked at him with narrowing eyes.
"She will be my daguther."
"Your daughter McKenzie?" Ragason questioned him.
"Yes."
"Sir, I don't understand."
"Her mother sent her away. I didn't have any choices. I didn't know until she returned."
"Sir, I am still lost."
Ragnar handed the painting over to Ragason, "Years from now, they will call us legends of Ireland. But right now, we have something to fight over. We have a bigger issue coming when McKenzie comes back."
Ragason looked up at him with the painting in his hands, "That is..."
"That is your sons, Solomon and Maddox."
"And the girl?"
"Your daughter."
"I have a daughter." Ragason cracked a smile as Ragnar sat down next to him at the table.
"Ragason, listen to me. Something is gonna happen that will trigger McKenzie's return."
"What, why, what is going on?"
"She just told me that horrible things will happen. That our families will be hurt. That people we trust will not be the people we think they are."
"Why can't we just fix this now, why do we wait for her?"
"It isn't our problem to fix." Ragnar smiled back at him.
"But our children, our children have to pay for our mistakes?"
"Don't they always?" Ragnar smiled down at his hands.
"I won't be able to live with myself knowing that something is going to happen to my children."
Ragnar looked up at him, "My daughter lives in another world. I don't even know what is going on with her."
Ragason stood up handing the painting over to him, "I don't believe you."
Ragnar jumped up as Ragason went for the door.
"King Ragason took the thrown of the southern lands after his father passed. You have one brother, Loki, and you are currently married to a woman that used to make you smile every time you went to the market in Cork."
He stopped as her body turned into the room.
"You are a man of our word. You want people to hear what you have to say instead of dealing with death."
Ragason turned back to Ragnar.
"Meet my daughter, McKenzie."
"You are older than what you should be." Ragason pointed out.
"I'm about 17."
"Really, I thought you were born about 5 years ago." Ragason glared back at Ragnar.
"Listen to her." Ragnar pointed back at me.
I looked back at Ragason as he turned to me with curious eyes. "I'm McKenzie Lothbrok. I will be the one that saves your son's life."
I cried out as Maddox sent his fist down on my chest again, breaking another rib.
I pushed my foot up connecting with his shoulder, pushing him off of me.
I rolled over in the mud as blood dripped from my lip mixing with the dirt under my body.
"Give it up McKenzie. You are going to die."
"No Maddox, I didn't come back to watch you take something that never belonged to you!" I shouted back at him as blood was thrown from my hand. "I should have never had to work this hard. I came back to save Solomon from Isabel. I never saw you in the back ground making your move. I never saw it until Bronn came to the castle that night and took me outside."
Maddox narrowed his eyes back at me as I started toward him.
"You came into the wrong war."
"I didn't want any of this."
"You should have never come back."
My eyes trailed up as his eyes were stuck on me as my body started to shake.
"Believe me when I say, I'm not behind it McKenzie."
His words slipped across my skin as I felt something about him change. His body language had shifted completely as his hands were almost shaking against my bear arms.
"McKenzie, I beg of you to understand that I am sorry when I say that you saw the bad in the wrong brother."
"McKenzie, there you are!"
I looked up as Tamara, the house maid, walked around the corner with a smile on her face and a giggle in her throat.
Maddox moaned as he rolled down from the table.
"I fucking told you Maddox! I won't walk away from this!"
Maddox hit the ground as the clouds above us clapped as rain hit my face. "You think you are gonna fix this all?"
"You are pissed because you know what happened that night. You are pissed I didn't sleep with you."
Maddox wiped the blood from his face as mud replaced it; it darkened his eyes creating a mask across his once sweet face.
The man that once cared for tomorrow, was now looking at painting the ground red.
"You sure are pretty." Maddox mumbled into my neck.
I laughed back at him as I pushed the door open to my room.
His hands trailed up my sides as I walked over to the table that was infront of my bed.
"You want something to drink?" I turned around to him with a smile.
He smiled as I handed him the cup.
"A little something to help with the night ahead." I grinned as the cup touched my lips.
He tossed the drink back as I sat my cup back down.
Maddox licked his lips as I pushed him back on the bed.
He grinned up at me as I grabbed the sides of my shirt, "You sure are pretty."
"I know, I hear that a lot." I looked over at the door as Bridget walked into the room smiling at me.
"Really, with Maddox?" she laughed back at me as she then saw he was knocked out.
I shook my head as I let my shirt drop back around my body, "Are the others still here?"
Bridget nodded her head as she grabbed a piece of bread, "Yea, Solomon and Maverick are walking around."
I glanced back at Maddox, "Why did he have to be the one?"
Bridget glanced over at him, "Why did he have to be the one that almost completes destroys a nation and kills his brother?"
"Yes, Bridget, why did he have to be that one?"
"Because he is a douche bag."
I grinned back at her as Maddox rolled over on the bed moaning.
"I don't think you drugged him enough."
I grabbed more of the wine as I went over to him pouring it down his throat. "Drink up, baby boy; you got more trouble to get into tomorrow."
Bridget grinned over at us, "For a second he actually looks like a cute little puppy."
"Cujo, napping over there." I tossed back at her.
"Don't worry, he will get what is coming." Bridget smiled back at me as Ragnar walked past the door.
He stopped and looked into the room.
Bridget and I just sat next to bed as Ragnar kept walking as he started to shake his head back at us.
"You are just pissed as fuck because I become the only girl that you liked that didn't give in to the Ragason name."
"You went after Solomon!"
"I went after someone that had fucking balls!" I shouted back at him.
Maddox looked back at me.
"I went after someone that actually had a plan Maddox. You didn't know what the fuck to do. You stood in the back ground and watched. You watched your father and brother control it all. You are nothing Maddox. I'm sorry but you aren't them."
Maddox glanced up at me as the rain started pulling the mud toward his jaw.
"You aren't worth it; you aren't worth a god damn fucking thing."
Maddox pulled something out from behind his back as he threw his hand forward.
I stumbled back as something sharp hit my chest.
"See the problem about you McKenzie, was that you fucking talked too much."
I started choking as I could taste the blood coming up my throat.
Maddox walked over to me as I had collapsed to the ground. "You may have killed everyone around me, but I still get the marvelous event of killing my brother."
My breathing started to catch as Maddox smiled down at me.
"You should have never came back." Maddox tossed back at me.
"And you shouldn't have thought she was alone."
Maddox turned around as there was Solomon with Kai and Lucas.
Kai pulled the arrow back as Lucas fixed the sword in his hands.
Solomon looked down at me then back at Maddox.
"Brother, you are ok." Maddox smiled back at Solomon.
Solomon shook his head back at Maddox as Bronn was tossed to his feet.
Maddox turned around to see Kari and Dallas standing behind him.
Casey and Christian stood behind them with glares aimed at Maddox.
"See the problem, brother, is that you thought you had the upper hand this entire time."
Maddox turned around as I was looking at him. "I just..."
"You can't kill me." I sent my hand into his chest as the sound of crunching bones and snapping tendons echoed around us.
Maddox's chest rocked as I pulled my hand out.
I glared up at him as his heart was still beating in my hand. "The only way you can kill the beast..."
"Isto remove his heart." Solomon finished as Maddox's lifeless body droppedbetween us.