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Luna rides on her horse between her husbands as they turn to see Uhtred has stopped his horse, Skade looks at him as she keeps riding forward. Luna frowned at the sight.
"I think she may have got herself inside his head. He should kill her and be done with it." Finan spoke, Sihtric leaned over to pull a leaf from her hair making her grin.
"That will not kill the curse." Sihtric answered.
"There is no curse." Osferth replies and glances at the three.
"And if I say there is no Christian God, does it make it so?" Sihtric asked making her laugh, his answering smile took away her breath.
"There is no curse, Sihtric."
"You do not know that, Osferth. Anything is possible." She says defending her men.
"I have seen women throw a curse and the next day a man is dead."
"Right, that is enough talking. To speak of it makes it stronger." Finan said leaning over to look at both men pointedly. They rode in silence the rest of the way, they entered the hall with Alfred to discuss where to go from that moment. Finan sat down inclined against a beam, he pulled her into his lap as Uhtred paced. She leaned back against him and smiled when he positioned his chin on her shoulder, his beard tickling her cheek. Alfred looked over at them with a look in his eye she couldn't place.
"Uhtred, we're discussing strategy and I have decided we shall remain here within the burh, and wait."
"For what?" Luna asked and smirked when Alfred scowled at her.
"For Bloodhair to attack."
"What makes you believe he will attack?" Uhtred asks, he reaches over so he can trace his fingers down Luna's cheek gently as he speaks.
"Is that not what Danes do, Uhtred? They cannot help themselves." Edward says naively.
"Why should he not attack? I am here." Luna wished someone would strike Alfred down, Finan slid his hand to her stomach and she reached down to intertwine their fingers. Edward looked over at them in confusion and she snickered softly.
"You are here and so too is your guard. Why throw men against the walls of a burh when Winchester's riches are unprotected?" Uhtred stated plainly, Alfred had no brain it would seem.
"Would he do that?" Edward asked the two men. She hoped her child would not be so oblivious.
"He doesn't have a large army to hold Winchester." Beocca states.
"What if Hæsten were to join him?" She rolled her eyes at the mention of the coward.
"You're saying we should have stayed home?" Aethelwold questions.
"None of you truly has a thought in your heads, huh? Without Uhtred you are sitting deer ready to be slaughtered." She lashed out in anger, Finan quickly gave a fake laugh and drummed his fingers on her thigh.
"She's with child, Lord. You know how women are during pregnancy." Finan chuckled nervously at the look Alfred sent their way, Uhtred turned to smile at her with a proud look.
"If you believe the burhs advantage dismissed, you must have an alternative?" A young man says and gives her a revolted look, she blows a kiss his way unaffected by his glare.
"I don't know you." Uhtred turns to look at him.
"I am Sigebriht, son of Sigelf. It is my village that the heathen burn, my father built these walls."
"And he built them well, Sigebriht. Which is why Bloodhair will not attack, he will not want to lose men." Uhtred informs them.
"Not even to kill a king?" Alfred asks making Luna scoff.
"You are not that important, lord. You die and Edward takes your place. You would simply be another dead king of Wessex." The visible outrage that showed on the king's face was almost laughable.
"You will order your wife to be quiet." Alfred demanded looking at the two men next to her.
"Sihtric and I vowed to never govern our wife like a slave, lord. She is free to speak her mind as she wishes." Finan says with a smirk at the unhappy look that graced the king's pale face.
"She is married to different men?" Edward asks with curiosity.
"I married her in the eyes of the Christian God and Sihtric in the presence of his Gods." She tilted her head to allow him room to kiss her cheek.
"And I have been known to accompany Uhtred and his wife in their bed." Luna said with a sly smile as Edward looked at them in awe.
"He will wait for us to starve or he will pass, lord. He will not attack but we must, that is still my advice." Uhtred speaks gaining the king's attention.
"If Winchester is vulnerable lord—" Beocca is cut off by the king.
"This woman that you have taken, why is she here?" Alfred asks.
"She has value."
"And Sigurd will want her back? I refuse to call him Bloodhair." Alfred said with a blank look.
"He will." Luna answers.
"She is what to him? A wife? A lover?" Aethelwold questions looking at them, Luna just shrugs.
"She's a seer, sorceress." Uhtred answers hesitantly.
"Hmm. The simple mind of a dane believes in signs, Edward. If a bird flew from their camp to ours they see it as a sign and follow. They would march into battle all because a seer caught sight of a bird." Luna frowned at the disrespect to Uhtred's religion. The man sits next to her and Finan with ale, she rubs his back to calm his bitterness.
"Yes, lord. It can happen that way."
"Then it follows that without his seer, there can be no signs. Sigurd is blind, there can be no battle." Alfred says looking at Uhtred.
"You are both right and wrong."
"We wait, Uhtred. Now..." He trails off as he and his men stand. "I wish to look at her. Skade." Uhtred turns to Luna and Finan with a disbelieving look before grabbing a torch and leading the king to the witch. Finan guides her to Sihtric and Osferth by the fire, Sihtric lifts the fur cloak with his arm and covers her up in it, his hand rubs some warmth into her side. She moves to meander her arms around his waist and nuzzles into his chest, he kisses her softly with a smile before turning to Finan.
"What are they doing?"
"Alfred said he'd like to hump the witch. No word of a lie." Luna smiled at Finan's exaggerated explanation. Uhtred then comes up to them with the bothersome idea to chain Skade to the fortress walls to call for Bloodhair.
