Tears doused Bonnie's cheeks. Frozen devastation and her vow to Markos imprisoned her in the cupboard. For the next several minutes she watched Ivar's personal warriors bundle Kattegat's Seer in scraps of fabric and remove his body from the keep. Long after they'd gone she still sat in her own piss too frightened to move. Markos had said her baby's path was fixed. Had he attempted to warn her of the accuracy of the foreboding that weighed heavy upon her? Did he mean her baby would...

Oh Goddess, she couldn't even consider something so horrifying! Danger stalked her baby and she had no means or power to block the bullshit! Her sorcery resided within her in a near dormant state. Even with Silas' offerings she be hard press to bust a grape if it had the mind to pull up. She only had one other recourse. Though she hated to do so, she had to involve the other piece of the puzzle.

Bonnie had to push her pride aside and tell Hvitserk how one moment between them resulted in perfection. Once he knew the truth about their daughter he'd jumped the hell out of his feelings. He'd boot the hell up and handle his damn responsibilities...right? Well he got damned better! Fueled by her desperation to save her daughter, she shoved her way free of the cupboard. With a stealth she hadn't possessed since before her pregnancy, she crossed the room. The bottoms of her boots barely touched the ground. In watchful silence, she crept from the keep. To her relief no one was about the tiny house. So she bled into the shadows. After cutting through the marketplace, she stuck to the darkened pathways.

Several minutes later she slammed her fist against Hvitserk's door. He answered with a wrinkled forehead already marring his face. The moment his gaze fell upon her furrows in his head deepened. His gaze narrowed as it searched her face. Almost as if he attempted to figure out why the hell she'd come or worse, place where the hell he knew her from. Her third eye mentally rolled. Silas and his damn Banal incantation. Yet such fluff spells shouldn't have worked on Hvits or Ivar. They were mated! Regardless the state of their bond. If such a spell proved effective on him it did so only because he allowed it to do so. Oh, so it's like that, Hvits? Nope, she wasn't there for a Springer/Maury moment. This impromptu reunion had nothing to do with them.

"Hvitserk, may I come in?" She tugged the hood further down over her face and cast a glance over a shoulder to be sure no one watched.

He hesitated. For a fraction of a second he just stared at her like she'd lost her damn mind. Then he released a long in its telling exhale and stepped to the side. Offense snatched her head back a bit, but she swallowed the clapback perched on her slicker than Texas' gold tongue and entered. Once inside her gaze swept over the space. She noticed how immaculate the planked floors appeared. Even the furs and hides which upholstered most of the furniture looked treated, then brushed to shining perfection. A hearth burned in the center of the living area giving the entire keep a homey vibe. This was all Thora. Hvitserk didn't have a nesting bone in his body. She couldn't count the many times she had to bless his ass for adding not thoroughly cleaned animal hides to the bed furs or for slumbering on her designer pillows instead of removing them from the bed. Oh that shit drove her crazy!

"Why've you come here, Bonnie?" His voice met her ears in a quiet tone. Yet he had an air about him which screamed not there for the small talk. "And what is that smell? Have you soiled yourself?"

"Never mind that," she said, casting another glance at her clean surroundings. Embarrassment flamed the hell out of her, but her pissy state couldn't be helped. "Hvitserk, I need your help-,"

"No," he said before she could spill even a drop of the tea that had damn near burned a hole in the kettle. "I no longer wish to share a path with you and Ivar. I've been given leave by the gods to seek out my own path and this is what I mean to do."

"Hvits, I get that more than you know. Whether you care or not, I don't begrudge you this. In fact," a smile trembled her lips even as her vision became suspiciously blurry, while moving over him, "it pleases me to see you no longer attempting to discover a clue at the bottom of a tankard of ale. Looking at you now reminds me of the old you...the you before we even sailed for the Mediterranean. You appear to be the Hvitserk I met when I first arrived upon these shores and that sight is worth Midgard's weight in gold to me. Thora's good for you. I really do hope you both find happiness together." His gaze dropped to the ground and she shrugged off her moment of nostalgia for the most important thing in her world. "But you have to know I'm not here for me. I'm afraid, Hvits. So fucking afraid." She didn't miss the roll his eyes took to regard the ceiling. His silent disengagement burned her chest, but he was the only protection her daughter had left. So she attempted to spit her words as if she meant to go bar for bar with Em on a verse of Rap God. "Freydis is gonna hurt my daughter and Ivar isn't going to do a thing to-,"

"Ivar!" He snorted a sneering laugh to himself as he continued to glare at the ceiling. "Of course it shall always be about-,"

"I can't protect my baby as I am, Hvitserk! My sorcery is damn near nonexistent at this point." She snatched him by the front of his shirt not having time for his insecurities over his brother. "You have to help me keep her safe, because Ivar's not gonna lift a finger to stop that deranged bitch he now calls wife!"

"I don't believe this!" He snapped, snatching himself from her hold. "And even if what you speak is true, it matters not to me."

Her neck snapped back as if she'd just gotten her bell rung by Tyson in his prime. "It matters not! Oh, motherfucker, it matters! You got damn better believe this life matters, because Hvits, she is your-,"

"My wife and I will be departing from these shores by the end of this moon cycle."

He shut her down with just a sentence. "Y-your wife? You're married...you've created a covenant with another...our mate bond is no longer estranged...we're no longer mated," she uttered barely loud enough for even herself to hear. Now that all three of them had created covenants with others their bond had gone from broken to vanished.

"Our bond severed the moment you entered into matrimony with Halfdan, I felt it happen!" He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to him.

Despite how she willed it not to a tear trickled down her face. She shook her head as she held his glare with an unflinching stare. "No you felt me give my vow to another. It damaged our bond...broke it even, but there was still a bond, but now..." More tears flooded her face. "You can't help me." She turned away.

As she turned towards the door it opened. Hvitserk's new wife entered the keep. She was a beautiful, sweet girl and also one of her trusted. Thora counted among the few who still left offerings at her door in spite of Ivar's orders barring citizens from doing so. Every time Bonnie crossed paths with the former priestess she was always kind.

"Supreme," Reverence engraved itself within her tone as she swept low in a formal bow.

Bonnie shook her head as she reached down to assist Thora out of a prostrate bow. "Have a care for your words, Thora. If the right person hears you call me such it'll be you hanging wrong side up in the center of the harbor bleeding out." She palmed the girl's cheek and sensed her impending journey into motherhood. Her heart shuddered behind its concrete barriers. "I'll not have the loss of your life," she then withdrew her hand from Thora's face to place it on her still flat stomach, "either of your lives on my already overburdened conscience."

Thora's breath caught as her hand flew to cover Bonnie's. "I'm with..." Her gaze hurtled to Hvitserk who appeared to have been bitch slapped several times by amazed bliss.

"I should be going," she said to no one in particular since at the moment no one ran her any attention. Hvitserk and Thora only had eyes for the other. They each cooed while stroking her belly. Bonnie forced the corners of her mouth to rise despite gravity's efforts to drag them down. She placed her hands on her own close to bursting mid-section. Her daughter squirmed and kicked at her palms. Once more her fear got the better of her. So she decided to try again for her daughter's sake. "Hvits, I know this moment will be one of the happiest of your life, but I hope your decision this rising won't also join this joyful time with one of your life's biggest regrets."

He stiffened, and then spoke without sparing her the benefit of a glance. "And even if it does it matters not. I'll just add it to the many regrets I already carry with me."

A sob welled in her chest, but she forced it back down with a gasping inhale. In that moment attempting to keep her baby safe felt as if she attempted to hold water in the grip of her hand. So damn useless! It all just kept slipping through her fingers. She pulled the cloak back over her head and departed from Hvitserk's keep. Taking the long way back to her home, she thought about the whole of her existence. Not just the part of her life since she'd come to the Viking Era, but the entire sad affair.

Nothing had ever been easy for her. She'd fought like a berserker for everything that rotated in her orbit. Then she had to fight harder to maintain her slice of happiness. Yet even when the fight was over, and the gloves came off she still ended up being laid flat by another damn goodbye. Her mom, dad, Grams, Elena, Damon, Jeremy, Enzo, Klaus, Halfdan, Tyler, and the fucking list spiraled on! What the hell was it all for?

By the time she arrived at her keep she was emotionally and physically done. Before she could let herself in, the door swung open. Silas and Thomas hurried out. Silas snatched her in his arms and buried his face in the crook of her neck. He inhaled her and she couldn't help but notice the way his body shuddered against hers.

"Where the hell have you been, Bennett? We've torn the city sideways looking for you!" Silas hissed as he pulled away to glare down at her. "How many times have I told you not to leave without giving me itemized route plots of your destination?" Methane bolts of lights flashed through his gaze.

"Supreme, you also assured you wouldn't leave the keep without me," Thomas added in a gentle but reproaching tone. "Anything could've befell you and the-,"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think I'd be gone for long," she said, looking from him to Silas.

Silas' nose wrinkled. "Is that..." He whispered the last part. "Piss?"

"Look it's Odin...the All-Father..." She heard people mutter as they passed.

"Come," she said, beginning to feel the itch of her urine drenched skirts. "Let's go in, I need to wash up."

Silas studied her face for a moment, before strolling into the house with her still in his arms. Once inside he placed Bonnie on her feet. When she attempted to move towards the designated bathroom area he grabbed her arm.

"You look...wrong, Bennett." He crowded into her space to tower over her, all while covering her face in scrutiny. "What's happened? Where'd you go?"

"To take the Seer his tonic," she admitted.

A scoff snatched his face away and rolled his eyes to glare at the ground. His mystical energy flared about him. "Bonnie we agreed-,"

She placed a hand to his chest. The turbulent sorcery settled and wrapped about her wrist to inch its way up her arm. "I'm sorry, but I sensed his suffering and you were out. I didn't know how long you'd be."

"So why didn't you take Thomas with you?" His hand covered hers.

Her lip tooted. "You know damn well why I didn't take Thomas." He shrugged and continued to stare like he didn't know what she meant. She pursed her lips. "Had I told Thomas, then he would've made fifty-eleven excuses as to why I should wait for you."

"And he would've been right to do so," he said with a bob of the head.

She deflated a bit thinking about the events which transpired over the past couple of hours. "Perhaps."

He cradled her face in his hands. "What happened?"

"Ivar has lost every piece and part of his damn mind. He stabbed the Seer six hundred and sixty-six times, but not before he had the chance to tell me my baby's path is doomed." A sob swelled in her chest and damn near choked the eternity out of her. "And there's nothing I can do to save her, Silas." She sniffled despite her resolve not to be a sniveling bitch about the situation. "Hvits refuses to help me, because who the hell wants a problematic baby mama when your life is perfect, right?"

Silas scoffed. "You don't need him," he gripped her chin and forced her to look at him. "We'll keep her safe, Bennett. We're all she needs." Bonnie wished she could believe him, but the foreboding which shadowed her third eye only grew darker. "Go gather your things for a much needed soak in that era inappropriate tub of yours, and I'll ready the water for you." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and turned her towards her room, giving her a little shove in the direction.

Bonnie wrapped her arms about herself to hold together what threatened to shake apart at a moment's notice. She entered her room on auto pilot. Her mind still lingered with Hvitserk as she gathered her bath beads and Little House on the Prairie night gown. She just couldn't get over his reaction to his wife's pregnancy. He looked like a damn lottery winner when he learned he'd soon be a father. The adoration and affection he'd showered on Thora broke her down. For she'd give anything to have her daughter know the love Thora's baby had received before even clearing its first trimester. There she was with two fathers and already one had chosen his own selfish agenda over her. While the other just didn't want to know about her. The last thing she ever wanted to offer her baby was a recycled version of her life.

The bath beads slipped from her hands and rolled every which way! Fuck her life sideways! That was the last of her twenty first century comforts. Not willing to relinquish another damn thing, she fell to her knees to hunt down every single bead. After she'd gathered most of them and returned the tiny clear balls to the container she noticed a couple more had rolled under her bed.

"Bennett, your bath's ready," Silas called from the other side of the divider.

Exhaling, she crawled over to her bed. "Coming, give me a second."

She slid her hand under the bed for the two errant beads she refused to let slide. Raking her hand back and forth her palm connected with something hard, sharp, and cold. A frown crumpled her forehead as she withdrew the object. Soon as her gaze landed on the dagger a vision filled her foresight. Ivar stood over her with a blade aimed at her belly while she slept. It was the exact vision from her dream, but at a different angle. The Seer had spoken facts. Her vision hadn't been a dream. It had been a living nightmare!

****

Qetsiyah stepped from the void to stand in front of a plight of freshly disturbed soil. She lifted her hands. The rich dark earth rose and parted. In a shallow hole rested a figure shrouded in dark robes. She moved to crouch down next to the grave. Gently, she removed the tattered cloth from the figure's face. The weight of her heart lessened and doubled at the same time. If that was even possible. Yet since he'd become her mate, she'd been met with a great many more wild possibilities than not.

"Markos," she murmured, while skimming the pad of her thumb over his full bottom lip. "Rise, sweetheart. There's still more work to be done."

His long silken lashes fluttered several times before they rose to reveal his beautiful dark mahogany brown eyes. When his sight focused on her he sat upright and pulled her into his arms. His lips then covered hers. As their eagerness for the other increased she reluctantly broke the kiss.

He cradled her cheeks in his hands as his gaze devoured her face. "How much time do we have before Silas' blasted curse reinstates itself?"

"Not long...five or perhaps ten minutes at the most," she said, turning her head into his hold to kiss his palm.

Remorse and pain etched fine lines into his forehead. "I'm sorry, My Destiny. I wanted nothing more than for it to be different for you this time around."

"It doesn't matter, it wasn't the purpose for the reset anyway. I never expected for that to change. It's a fixed moment, Markos. You and I both know this." She pressed another kiss to his lips. "Now stop looking as if you somehow failed me because you didn't."

"Maybe, but since I was unable to alter that path, the success of this outcome now truly rests upon the mother of all," he said.

Her eyes rolled as her upper lip curled. "And if this is truly the case, our odds has just gone from screwed slow to fucked dry!"

"Qetsiyah!" He admonished with flared eyes and just as wide nostrils.

"Forgive me, sweetheart." She pressed her lips together in faux regret. "I'm just a little annoyed." She waved a hand about. "All of this is beginning to look a little familiar."

"I know you believe we're doomed to walk the same path as before." She opened her mouth, but he placed a finger over her lips. "And I know you believe yourself an authority on such subjects." He removed his finger to kiss her, and then pulled away to continue. "For obvious reasons, My Grand Design. Yet there are some things that has altered this time around."

"Right," she said with a dip of the head an arched brow. "Because Mama Bonnie has two baby daddies this go 'round. Thanks to uncle Hvits' solid contribution. He's shitting all over my well plotted plans, gawd! How the hell is this even gonna work? I can't order the steps of a god."

"Be at ease." He cuddled her into his chest and pressed a kiss to her temple. I believe the Divine One just may surprise you. Have faith, Fa-,"

She jerked her head back to visually annihilate him. "Finish that sentence and I'll not speak to you for the remainder of the Viking Era." He pressed his lips together in a rare, closed mouth smile. She smirked. "I pray you're right about her because I'm fresh out of do overs and second chances. This shot is the only one left in the chamber."

****

Freydis sat upon her throne weakened from the bout of carrying sickness she'd suffered the better part of the rising. Her gaze strayed to her husband who sat at the great table with his personal warriors drinking ale. They all shared tales from their time in England. Those sagas undoubtedly led his thoughts to his dark whore! She couldn't count the many occasions he murmured her name in his sleep. He'd even had the daring to pleasure himself once when he thought her deep in slumber, and then met his end with the witch's name on his lips.