HHO - His punishment
Author’s notes: Penultimate chapter! This series is coming to an end, but I have to say I’m very impressed with the audience it reached! It was supposed to be a single drabble and it exploded into a series that was even more hyped I was intending! Thank you!! Thank you for real!
Words: 1.627 and I’m not guilty
Alfred had no other choice but to deliver the castle and flee with the ones he could save, in order to protect and save the most he could.
In fifteen days, as promised, Ivar overcame his forces, invaded his town, broke his castle and took his crown. None of his sacrifices had served for nothing. He burned the woman he loved to death, he married a despicable woman, he cried blood, and even then...
And you had to admit the only thing you were regretting into this was not to be there to see Alfred's face when Ivar broke into the Great Hall for the first time, breaking those doors as if they were nothing but wet parchment.
Alfred didn't lose everything.
You took everything from him.
"What did he say, love?" you asked Ivar when a man left his side after whispering something into his ear.
He was lazily seated on the throne that once belonged to Ecbert and Alfred after him. In your head, the crown Alfred gave to that woman Ivar sacrificed to the gods to use her blood into the blessing ritual that crowned you his queen; his pure blue eyes rose to yours to answer your question with a hoarse voice.
"The former king is here, wanting an audience with me".
His lips curved in a smile when you seated the throne he gave to you, crossing your legs under the beautiful dress he had given to you… Again, red. You would dress red for him whenever he wants just because you loved the way his eyes used to run your body when you were dressing red. Over your shoulders a mantle with wolf skin around your neck: his mantle, with the scent you learned to love marked on your skin.
Your eyes went to the reconstructed door - now made of the finest iron and free from the weak spots you pointed on the old one.
"Tell him to come in. It will be interesting..."
Ivar straightened his body on the throne, looking at you.
"Wanna talk to your..." but your voice cut him before he could finish his sentence.
With your sharp eyes looking at him, you became the only person alive able to cut your king's voice while he was talking without receiving a dagger through your throat or mouth...
"You are mine. He is nothing but past. And it will be interesting to see his face when he sees what his past had become."
... because your words were always able to make him smile.
Ivar motioned his fingers mutely ordering his men to open the door for Alfred and so you saw your former king, friend and lover coming inside the hall, just to lose his voice in an open mouth silenced for your presence in that place.
Ivar's elbow was laying on the arm of his throne, his face supported on his hand, and his lips curved in an arrogant smile towards Alfred's surprised, almost shocked expression.
"Lost your words, fallen king? Seeing ghosts?" you teased, causing Ivar to giggle.
That was your moment and he didn't interfere.
Indeed, it was interesting - even funny, he could say - to see the former king's eyebrows frowning and his eyes looking shocked from your figure to Ivar's, stopping on him.
"You said you would... You said you would burn her!"
There was indignation in his voice and it just twisted your expression in fury.
But before you could do anything, you saw your king's hand extended for you. So you walked towards him and seated on Ivar's lap, receiving a warm embrace of his arm around your waist and his nose nuzzling your neck, causing shivers down your spine and a soft moan from your mouth.
His blue eyes looked at Alfred's eyes once again.
"There is more than one way to burn a woman's body, fallen king." he said, causing you to smile at him when he used your words to call Alfred.
Things were starting to make sense into his head.
That was why everything had failed.
You were the reason Ivar knew everything about the castles weaknesses.
You gave his castle to Ivar's hands, almost as a wedding gift.
Alfred tilted his head, looking at you in disbelief.
"You agreed with him? You agreed with his plans to mislead me?"
That betrayed expression in his face was enough for you to handle and even with the soft tighten of Ivar's hand on your waist, you got up from his lap walking towards Alfred to look him in the eye.
"How dare you?" you asked; your voice sounding sharp and wounded "How dare you to look at me with this expression in your face or this shadow in your eyes? I bet on you, Alfred!" you yelled on his face.
Your heart was drowned in fury where before only love was there for him. There was nothing but anger now.
Ivar straightened his body again, to look at you. His blue eyes fascinated by your wildness.
"I agreed with his plan because I trusted you would never choose me! Wanna know the entire truth? He said he would give both of us to you if you had chosen me, but you chose her. Twice! So yeah, I agreed in mislead you! And also I told him every single room of this castle, every single weak spot. I told him how to get into the town, where to hit for the doors to fall, I told him which rooms open, which heads to cut and everything he needed to sit on your throne! Because guess what, Alfred: YOU CHOSE WRONG!"
Somehow, to see him being such an asshole was giving you strength and to scream at him that way was freeing you from inside out.
"Yes, I betrayed you. I betrayed your crown and your kingdom. But you betrayed me first. And I don't regret a single moment of this vengeance. I don't regret a single action except for the ones I made for you, to be with you, to be yours. I regret every single moment I lost by your side, Alfred. I regret Ivar didn't have my first kiss or the first touches I felt in my body. I regret your trembling hands on my skin and all the things I allowed you to do with me. I regret one day have loved you. I'm glad it's over."
You sighed giving your back to him and walking back towards Ivar, but while you were going up the few steps of the stair to the throne, Alfred's voice echoed one more time.
"So this is it... Are you abandoning everything? Our God... Our way of life... Me?"
It was a tricky question, almost a trap that would have got you if there was a single drop of love into your heart for him yet. And Ivar knew that, so his blue eyes studied your expressions, trying to find a single drop of regret.
However, you smiled. And your smile wasn't bitter but decided.
"No." You said, looking at Alfred. "You had abandoned me, Alfred. Our God never looked at me. Our way of life made me a concubine to a boy who was wearing a crown that was heavier than his head. I didn't abandon anything. You burned me to death and I've reborn different. I'm Viking!" you hit your chest and pointed Ivar without looking at him.
You weren't doing that for the horny expression he had in his face, but even then, he was amused by your reaction.
"For him, I'm not a concubine: I'm a queen. And he is not a boy, Alfred: He is a man. That's what a woman needs: A man. Now pick up your pitiful pleads for mercy and get the hell out of my hall. Grow up and when you become man enough to face Ivar - if you ever become this great of a man - come back. My king deserves a real enemy. You're not even a quarter of what you need to be to be worth the time I'm losing here."
You could say that your words broke something in his heart the same way his torch had burned something in your soul.
Your steps finished the way to Ivar and you mounted his lap, kissing his jawline, ignoring how scandalous it could be to a Christian boy like Alfred.
"Tell him to leave..." you whispered on Ivar's ears, feeling the bone he had got with your strong actions and the pleasure you had in you for being able to make a man like him so amused and willing for you "I wanna make our princes."
You felt Ivar's hand on your waist and the other hand you saw him using to move his fingers behind your back, mutely sending Alfred away before kissing you without really care he was still there, looking at you two.
His anger burning into his chest to see your sweet and soft lips moaning to Ivar's kisses on your neck. Or the way you were allowing him to touch your skin under that dress.
Even worse: the way you didn't care on letting Ivar rise your skirt and push himself between your legs right in front of his eyes as if he was what he knew he had become for you now.
Alfred's hands stopped trembling.
And while you were moaning Ivar's name, he ripped the parchment he had brought with him with a proposal for a deal and left the throne hall without any more words.
Ivar had taken everything from him.
So now there would be war.
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