"What do you think this is about?" Bonnie asked Sigurd, while eyeing the men Bjorn sent to retrieve them from the cabin.

Sigurd side-eyed her. "Do you really not know, or are you hoping I'll suggest something that doesn't involve Ubbe?"

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Ivar still trailed them a couple of hundred feet back in the wagon. Humph, she hoped he caught his fair share of hell back there, because her cakes were fucking baked. She shifted again on the horse attempting to soothe the ache in her ass.

Horseback riding was a hobby she hated with the fury of a thousand original hybrids. Ever since she was eight and Caroline dragged her to their first equestrian lesson, she'd always taken an active resentment to any mode of transportation which involved four legs.

"No, I'm just wondering what level of upset would Bjorn have to be in order to send a team of Viking warriors into the hills to escort us back to Kattegat?" She questioned as they approached the walls of the city.

Sigurd cocked a brow. "You think him angry?"

"You don't?" Bonnie scoffed.

"I think him in love," Sigurd said, pulling his horse to a stop at the gates.

Her face scrunched. "You do?"

"Dangerously so," Sigurd confirmed.

The gates swung opened. They continued on to the long house. Once in front of the entrance, Sigurd helped Bonnie from her horse. She glanced back towards the wagon carrying Ivar. Every urge within her wanted to stay and oversee his removal from the cart, but he demanded she keep her distance. So, instead of making a fuss about them ensuring his safe arrival into the hall, she entered with Sigurd at her side.

Inside the feast was still going strong. Revelers moved freely around the great hall, singing, drinking, and retelling tales of raids gone by. Laughter echoed off the walls and Bonnie wished she'd opted to have taken her ass home. Sigurd slipped his arm around her waist, and then sheltered her closer to his body. With ease he maneuvered them through the throngs of intoxicated festers, to the queen's private dining area. Soon as they penetrated the decorative beads hanging over the entryway, the subdued quietness of the room muted the buck wild crazy going live in the great hall. Damn, she hated she left Ivar to fend for himself. Those poor people.

"Bonnie!" Helga and Torvi rushed over to her an pulled her into a hug. "How are you? Bjorn said you fell ill last eve after tending to Queen Aslaug," Torvi said, while leading her over to a seat at the private dining table.

Queen Aslaug reached over and covered Bonnie's hand with one of hers. Worry and ale clouded her normally bright eyes. "Ivar?"

"He's well, and not far behind," she assured, before allowing her gaze to meet Torvi's and Helga's. "I'm well, Torvi. The excitement last eve was a bit much. It just took me by surprise, that's all." She glanced around. "Where's Guthrum and Hali?"

"Your shieldmaidens, Blida and Hilda, have taken them to Hedeby for a fortnight," Torvi said, pouring a chalice of ale and handing it to her. She cut her big, beautiful but very accusing eyes at Bjorn, who in turn dropped his just as guilty gaze to his hands.

She offered Torvi a smile but kept her gaze trained on Bjorn. Leaving her seat, she moved to kneel beside him. Once there, she looked up into his downturned face. When their eyes connected the corner of his mouth quirked. "Hey."

A small smile crept across his lips. "Hey?"

"It means greetings in my land," she explained, slipping a hand in his, she gave it a little squeeze. His deep blue gaze slid over her face in an unhurried review. Sigurd's words floated back to her about Bjorn's motive for sending his warriors. "Thank you for sending warriors to escort me back to Kattegat. Though, you shouldn't have troubled yourself. Sigurd and Ivar or more than savage enough to keep me safe."

"Savage?" Sigurd questioned, sounding a little offended.

Her eyes rolled. "It means not to be fuc-," she cast her gaze to Floki's disapproving face and cleared her throat, "trifled with where I come from."

"Oh well, then. Sounds fitting enough," pleasure tainted his tone. He paused for a beat and his face scrunched, "Even Boneless?"

She cast her gaze over her shoulder at him. "Especially Boneless."

"What about Boneless?" Ivar said, slithering through the beads.

"Bjorn sent for you to hear your thoughts on a matter concerning Ubbe," Queen Aslaug, said lifting her cup in a mock toast before taking a sip.

Bonnie stood from her perch next to Bjorn to glance around the dining area. Hvitserk and Ubbe were both missing from the assemble. "Where is Ubbe?"

"He and Hvitserk are about to plow the slave girl. They were making haste towards the stables as I entered the great hall," Ivar said, hoisting himself into a chair.

Before she could feel any kind of way, the beads parted. "I'm here, Bonnie."

Ubbe entered the area, followed by Hvitserk. He held out a hand to her, and she crossed the room. On her way to him she gave Ivar the narrowed eye stare she reserved for all shit starters and agitators. His shoulders rose and fell as he returned her look with one that could be easily translated into a verbal, I said what I said.

"What's going on, Ubbe?" She questioned him under her breath.

He gave her a pointed stare, and then cleared his throat. "Bonnie, will you accept my courtship?"

"That's it?" She blinked. "Not even a slap to the face with a bouquet of handpicked wildflowers?"

"Valkyrie," he muttered.

"Oh alright," she whispered back, pushing down her disappointment by his lackluster court proposal. Even Mikael's courtship offer forced her heart to take a second look and he was freaking Mikael Mikaelson. The worst father to ever don the title. She glanced at Bjorn, who watched them like must see TV. "As my protector, what are your thoughts on me entering a courtship with Ubbe?"

"Yes it is true I am your protector. Yet, you're a free woman. In this my thoughts are meaningless. The decision is yours," Bjorn said as smugness radiated from him in waves.

Yes he said the decision belonged to her but he expected her not to choose his brother. Especially after she repeatedly denied him. She saw it all in his arrogant demeanor. Funny thing is, he didn't know she'd already made the choice to be Ubbe's. Oh! The penny soared into the air. Her eyes recaptured Ubbe who watched her with that tempered calmness. The penny dropped. Ooh! The beautiful, brilliant mastermind! Somehow through a series of calculated missteps he'd managed to lull Bjorn into a false sense of complacency and delivered exactly what she wanted. A conflict free courtship.

Unable to resist him any longer, she slipped her arms around his neck. "Yes, Ubbe Lothbrok of Kattegat. I, Bonnie Bennett of Mystic Falls, accept your courtship."

"My gratitude is yours," he whispered as his arms encircled her waist and lifted her. Once they were face to face, he leaned in and devoured her mouth with leisurely tongue plunging kisses. When he'd had his fill of her lips, he peppered pecks over her jaw line. "Along with my heart, my bewitching Valkyrie."

"So, this is your decision?" Bjorn questioned, pausing only long enough to unfold his long body from his seat. Once standing, he continued. His words departed from his lips, deliberate and precise. "To accept Ubbe's offer. An offer which may even lead to marriage?"

Bonnie tapped Ubbe on the shoulder and he placed her back on her feet. She then turned to face Bjorn. "Yes, I accept Ubbe's offer no matter the end result."

"Come," Bjorn grabbed her hand and led her further into the queen's quarters until they reached the sleeping chamber. Once there, he released her and began to pace. "When I offered to make you my second wife you denied me. You even led me to believe there to still be another in your land who holds your heart. Is this no longer the case?"

She didn't know. She honestly didn't know. In her land and time, she would've sworn on a stack of Grimoires Niklaus Mikaelson's love rose and set in her heart. Hell, she'd taken a blade to the chest in honor of their love but being thrown back over a thousand years in the past shifted perspectives and blurred lines. Making everything they'd shared subject to ridicule and second thoughts.

"I don't know," she answered, while watching him wear out the plank floors. "Being here in Kattegat with you and your brothers, confuses me." Taking a perch on the edge of the bed, she stared at thin air willing for an answer for her own benefit, not just Bjorn's. "In my mind, I know I came back here for him, it's just my heart refuses to remember why. Perhaps it's time I relinquish the past so I may honor the present and be committed to forging a better future." Maybe this is how the Hallow is stopped.

"With Ubbe?" He stopped pacing and whirled on her. Kneeling next to the bed, his hands closed around hers as their eyes held. "Why? Why will you have him and not me?"

"You know why," she rested her forehead on his. "You're married already, Bjorn and I'll never tolerate being anyone's second wife."

"What if I divor-," she placed a finger over his lips.

"If you say it then I'll never again respect you."

He removed her finger and kissed her palm. "What of our oath? If you marry-,"

"Nothing comes before our sacred oath, Bjorn." She tugged on his beard. "Not even marriage vows will get between what we've sworn to each other. I'll be by your side for as long as you want me there."

****

Bonnie sat in the center of her bed going through the photo log on her phone of pictures of she and Klaus. Yeah, she knew the type of damage to time having a cell phone in the Viking era could do. However, she needed to see proof of the love they shared so she could understand her diminished emotions now. In the pictures they appeared so in love. So happy. Hell, she even remembered feeling those things and the relief loving him brought. Especially, after...

Her breath caught. An ocean of heartache filled her eyes before the first wave of pain crashed. It was a picture of her and Enzo in Paris she'd never seen. They were engaged in an embrace in front of the Eifel Tower. Her back was to the camera. While Enzo, who faced in the direction of the photographer, held an open ring box. A platinum princess cut engagement ring was nestled inside. A clever smile curved his mouth even as a finger rested upon his lips in an attempt to shush the photo snapper into keeping his secret. Her heart stumbled in her chest. He was going to propose.

"How have you come to have that here?" Floki's wiggling fingers steepled in front of him as he stared down at the out of time cellphone.

She exited out of her photos and sent the phone back to her nightstand in the 21st century. Rubbing away her tears with the hills of her hands, she eyed Floki. How in the hell did he get in? She could've sworn she'd erected a barrier spell to give her some time to herself. For some reason, her barrier spells never seemed to work against Ivar and now it appeared Floki.

"Apparently, I now can move things through space and time," She said, pulling her knees to her chest.

Floki's eyes flared. "Just things, not people?"

"No, just inanimate objects," she said, resting her chin on her knees. "Why're you here and how'd you get through my spell?"

"Please," he waved her off and sat on the foot of her mattress, "Now that you have your love entanglements neatly tangled it's time you begin mastering your sorcery, don't you think?"

"Past time," she admitted. Ragnar would be back sometime that spring and if she knew her Vikings, that's when the shit really hit the fan and flew everywhere. "If I'm to be ready for what's to come, then yes I'd better shift my focus. Beginning with finding out what Ayanna knows."

Floki's brows scrunched together. "As in Bennett?"

"How's that for coincidence?" Bonnie arched a brow. "First Klaus' stepfather makes an appearance and now my great grandmother to the thirty-fifth power makes a cameo. With odds like these damn the Viking era I should be in Vegas."

He nodded his agreement. "This black sucking abyss you spoke of, how does it thrive?"

"The Hollow," just the very mention of the entity's name provoked a firestorm of energy to whip through her veins. "But before being known as the Hollow she was Inadu. A powerful witch from a Native American coven who was born sometime around 500 AD. Prior to her birth, the elders of the tribe sensed she would be powerful. So, for whatever reason they thought it would be a good idea to give her more power while in the womb."

"All-father, I believe Sheila may have covered this in one of her lectures," Floki said, turning towards her with a raised finger. "I remember because she borrowed some of my research on the indigenous tribes of Louisiana. There was even a family whose ancestors could be traced back to one of the earlier tribes. Labonair I believe was the name."

"Makes sense," Bonnie nodded already aware of the connection. "The Labonairs are descendants of that thing. Wonder if Grams interest in the subject was strictly academic." She dropped her gaze to the furs on the mattress. Here she was thinking she had a millennium to prepare for this bitch only to realize she was three hundred plus years in the hole. "I'm gonna visit Ayanna tomorrow after first meal. I'm done putting this off."

"Just as well," Floki rose from the mattress. "I've always been curious about that particular Bennett Witch. They say she foresaw the fall and rise of Africa."

A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth as she stood as well. "You mean the rise and fall?"

"No, I spoke without error the first time," he said, followed by his signature high pitched giggle. He cut an eye over his shoulder. "Do believe you have a role in that as well, the rise part of course."

"Of course." All Bonnie could do was shake her head. She had a feeling her next thousand years were gonna be kind of busy.

****

"Yes, well what of Margrethe?" Hvitserk questioned from next to him at the great table. "Tell me you're going to miss her," his eyes swept from left to right, before he lowered his voice, "and the...liberties she permits us to take. Bonnie is rare, but is she worth denying specific appetites?"

Ubbe watched Margrethe weave her way through the revelers. The way her slim hips swayed from east to west as she went about her duties always provoked his prick to rise. Even now his man stand thrust and jerked for freedom from his trousers. There was something so appealing in how she submitted to his every urge and notion. The way she allowed him absolute control over her. And it wasn't because she was his family's slave, no. It was because she trusted him. The very emotion polished her blue eyes to a brilliance which rivaled the morning sun. Hvitserk was correct to assume he'd miss Margrethe. Yet perhaps he didn't have to halt relations with her. Why couldn't he have a wife and a bed slave? Was he not Viking?

"Good riddance to Margrethe I'd say, were it I courting Bonnie," Sigurd said, raising his chalice to them.

"Even for a slave she barely washes and the last time I took her I had to soak for nearly two turns of the sands glass to rid myself of a rancid fish odor."

"Ah, Sigurd," Ivar said, from his place at Hvitserk's other side. "Are you using a little smell as an excuse to flee the vagina? All kuntas have the stench of the sea it's no reason not to do your duty as a man."

"What'd you know, Boneless?" Sigurd sneered, settling back to glare at Ivar from his place across the table. "Aside from mother's you've never even placed your hand upon one. And not all women's sheaths smell of the sea," a smirk twisted his mouth, "at least not Bonnie's."

Hvitserk scoffed. "You've scented Bonnie's muff?"

Sigurd nodded.

"The day in the water. When she wrapped her body about mine and pressed her bald kuntas in my face."

Ubbe straightened and leaned forward in his seat to consider his younger brother. He knew the look of them when they spouted falsehoods. Although, Sigurd, was smug he still appeared to be truthful.

"What did it smell of?" Ivar questioned, his unblinking stare trained on Sigurd.

Sigurd moved in closer and rested his arms on the table.

"It smelled flowered, but there was also another scent. A faint wild musk that made me want to place my tongue, fingers, and prick in it."

Hvitserk reached down and readjusted his cock. "Will you share her as well?" He asked in a lowered tone meant only for Ubbe's ears.