"I know you did not mean to be cruel. That does not mean you were kind."

chapter I, act III ✧ 𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒋𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒚

" swear on ODIN Ubbe if you throw that fish anywhere near us!" Nero screamed as the boy swung his spear around threateningly, a wicked smile on his face. The girl squealed when he tossed the fish right at her, hitting her in the stomach. She completely froze, she hated the feel of fishes, Ivar smiled at her and picked it up, throwing it inside a basket, "Oh you're dead, Ubbe."

"What are you going to do?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows. Now it was her turn to smirk at him. She didn't answer, only looked at the boy who she was leaning against, a glint of menace in her eyes, the sight made him smile once again, his blue eyes light with the morning sun.

"What are you looking at?" Ivar grinned, his arm around her as his hand gave her shoulder playful slaps, urging her to answer.

"Have I told you how magnificent your eyes look today, cripple?" she mused, staring up at him, he would never get used to her kind words, even if they came with nicknames such as that, she was raised by Floki, he couldn't expect anything else. His eyes gleamed yet he said nothing, simply kissed the top of her head.

The boy barely had any moments like these. His relationships were mainly rough and painful, but for some reason, he felt as if the girl was the only person he knew who deserved his sweetness.

While they stared into each other's eyes, the boys came out of the water, laying down next to the two so they could dry. Ivar's back hit the sand and Nero sat up, which allowed for Hvitserk to lay his head on her lap, she absentmindedly began braiding and unbraiding his hair.

Growing bored at the task, she decided that annoying him would be more amusing. Her hands slid down to his cheeks where she began squeezing them, smiling to herself at the fish who now stared up at her, a ghost of a smile on his face, "That girl?"

Hvitserk grabbed her two hands with his own, bringing them to his chest as it tensed up under Ivar's question.

Nero looked at the boy she loved, confusion crossing her features as she couldn't stop herself from allowing the words from falling out of her mouth, "Which girl, prince?"

Ubbe almost choked, much to the group's amusement, yet Ivar's face remained devoid of emotion.

When she met Vit's eyes, she giggled, he looked incredibly handsome with the boyish smile that he had splattered on his face. She almost, almost, forgot about Ivar, "That servant girl."

"Maybe," he answered, his eyes leaving hers and she smirked amused, she knew not of who they were speaking about, but she knew the conversation could derail very, very fast. Vit dropped her hands, and looked at her, almost as if worried she was mad, she carefully placed a towel under the boy's head before laying in between the two brothers she loved most.

"I can't remember her name," Ubbe mumbled, partially hoping they would drop the subject because of the presence of the beautiful girl they could all call theirs.

The wolf, realizing that she was bound to not understand the conversation, rolled onto her back before propelling herself on her elbows, closer to Hvitserk.

One of her fingers picking up a strand of his hair from the sand and twirling her fingers around it, finding another something to toy with apart from Ivar's hands.

"It's Margarethe," Sigurd replied, an amused look on his face as his eyes trailed down to Nero, her hair braided into a ponytail, a messy one that still looked beautiful, her hazel eyes glistening honey as they reflected the sand, her plump, pink lips, slightly parted with wonder, he noticed that Hvitserk was also staring at the girl, the same longing look on his face as she played with his hair, innocently.

"Are you sure?" Ubbe questioned his eyes towards the sky, like Ivar's.

The girl was nowhere near paying attention to the conversation, but she soon became aware of the talk when Ivar opened his mouth.

"You've all had her," he began, Nero visibly tensed up, her eyes moved to look at Vit, she gave him a smirk, hoping her acts would cover up the pain she would feel from what her love was bound to say next.

Vit's eyes widened as he knew what she was about to do, he softly whispered, "Don't," but it was no use.

"So I want to have her too."

Nero bit down on Hvitserk's arm slightly and playfully, Sigurd laughed as he watched the interaction and saw how frightened his brother was that the girl would bite too hard.

The middle brother tried ignoring the pain (the pain that was borderline pleasurable to him) and instead focused on the conversation, "It's easy, she's a slave. We'll just bring her to your bed."

The way the boy breathed out sharply at the end of his sentence made the girl look up at him, almost with lust.

Ivar's words had torn her heart to shreds, but her mind found other things to occupy itself with besides the hurt. She would worry about it later.

Without noticing her look, Vit laced an arm around her, rolling her to her side and pressing her back against his side. Ubbe seemed almost... offended by his brother's words, "She is a servant, she is not cattle. She is a human being."

Vit laughed as Nero tried to playfully scape his grip, his one arm being stronger than her efforts. Sigurd watched the interaction amused, with want. Now that he had been with a woman, he wished to be with all of them.

The girl began trying to ignore the rest of the conversation, if she had paid attention for a while longer she was unsure she would be able to hold back her tongue on the topic.

"Have you ever been with a woman?" Sigurd teased, and by the tone of his voice, it was clear he was speaking to Ivar.

Nero's eyes met Hvitserk's, the glint of playfulness reflecting on each other's pupils. With her eyes still on his, she decided to spare Ivar's pride.

"You speak almost as if you've had sex with more than one woman and more than once," she breathed out, smiling a little. Sigurd did nothing but smirk at her comment, Vit's chest rumbled with chuckles next to her as Ubbe and Ivar smiled.

"What about you, Nero, have you ever been with a man?" he continued, making Ubbe choke on his own spit, Ivar and Hvitserk looked nothing but amused.

They couldn't help but hope that she would answer the question, their curiosity getting the best of them.

"Why does it interest you, Sigurd? Do you believe you have a chance?" she questioned, her tone making Vit, Ubbe and Sig laugh, they knew she wouldn't answer his question, it would remain a mystery.

Ivar fisted the sand, growing painfully angry at her reply, the idea of his brother touching her aggravated him to no end.

She escaped Vit's grip and stretched. But before she could go back into the boy's warmth, Ivar pulled her into him, making her breath hitch in her throat.

The blonde boy next to her looked the wolf in confusion, earning a frown in response.

Ivar pulled her even closer than possible, his grip almost painful as he restrained himself from pulling her onto his lap and making her his in front of everyone who watched.

His eyes darkened at the thought and she looked at him in worry.

"Var?" she reassured, only loud enough for him to hear. She couldn't stay away from him, even when her stomach was turning at the idea of him with someone else, "What happened?"

"We should go find Margarethe," Ubbe interrupted, standing up and offering a hand to Nero, as soon as she accepted it, Ivar pulled her back on the ground, amusing both Ubbe and the wolf, she just shrugged her shoulders and watched as the brothers left.

"Must we leave now? I'm not so keen on keeping you from your lady."

"Why do you speak in such a manner of Sigurd?"

"Maybe I wish to be with him," she sighed, trying to get up only to be pulled down once again, she was messing with Ivar, there was no malice in her friendship with Sigurd, well, not on her part anyway, "What is it Ivar? I must hear you speaking of how you wish to have a slave and you can't bear to hear Sigurd's name out of my mouth?"

"Did it bother you?" he questioned, she began growing... angry. She was jealous and he was jealous, and such was not a great combination.

She stood on her knees, preparing to leave as she held back her need to bare her teeth at him and scream. He sat up as well.

They stared at each other. Dark eyes with anger and want and almost... love, "Not at all," she spoke through gritted teeth, "why does it bother you, the manner that I speak of Sigurd?"

He said nothing, instead, he pulled her face closer to his, his stare intense and menacing, any other would've been scared.

Hel, his mother would have been, yet she stared at him with the same coldness, her expression mirroring his.

Her face suddenly devoid of any emotion, without thinking twice, she went in for a kiss, swerving just as their mouths were about to touch as she pulled his shirt to the side, "Don't tease me, pup."

She said nothing, even when anger and annoyance were clear in his voice.

Nero trailed kisses down his neck and he pulled her forcefully onto his lap, causing her to almost moan. She licked a stripe on his shoulder before biting down, kissed again, and nibbled at the skin, sucking.

He groaned at her actions, his hips involuntarily grinding against her.

She breathed out, shaking and pulling away to look at her work, "There you go, Ivar, even if you do have her, she will know you are mine."

Nero Gunnolf stood up, her legs trembling as she turned away, not sparing a glance at the panting man she had left behind.

He didn't bother to follow, his head was dizzy with pleasure, no woman had ever done that to him. No woman had ever claimed him like she just had.

His shoulder and collarbone were covered in bites and love marks. He knew she had done it there so it would only be seen when he took off his shirt, his brothers wouldn't notice, no one would.

He knew not if he should hate or love her when she did things such as those, he knew it was for a joke, but he couldn't restrain himself from thinking that maybe she did feel for him.

She had no idea what she had just done. With each step home she took, another tear fell down her face and another laugh escaped her lips. Before she had done that, loving him was as natural as breathing, took no effort, made no difference.

She cried because she loved him but she didn't know how to love, she laughed because she loved him but she knew it didn't matter.

She hated how she was sure he would still have the servant, her hands curled into fists. Nails digging into her palms.

Walking along the coast she finally found her family's residence. As quietly as she could, she sat down on the sand, her laughing and crying fit coming to an end.

Her body was simply engulfed by the sound of the waves and by the darkness that was seeping in her heart.

How could one love so much and for so long? She groaned in annoyance as what she had done resonated in her mind, gods, Ivar wasn't one to be quiet about things, he would soon question her and she wasn't sure she could bear to look at his lips without touching them with her own,"Wolf?"

She didn't have to look to know her father was by her, standing with his feet dug in the sand and an amused and worried smile on his face, "Yes?"

"Is this about that crippled bastard?" he questioned, sitting down next to her as he toyed with a piece of wood. The girl grabbed a stick and threw it into the sea.

He shook his head, giggling at how she would blame everything else but herself and the boy for their miscommunications.

"Maybe."

"What do you find so intriguing about him?" Floki asked, turning his head to face the girl who no longer looked mad, simply upset.

She sighed, her head spinning around the million reasons she had, to find Ivar so, intriguing, "I... don't know, I can not tell you one thing, there are too many."

"The gods have been so kind to Ivar!" the man giggled once again and she scoffed, looking at him with blatant annoyance, her eyes widening and questioning. So he continued, "Because, child, when I found you in the woods, you were made to be my omen, my sign to tell me that I had done right in killing Athelstan. But you were also made to be his everything."