Love Never Dies

Part 4

I wake up feeling a little bit dizzy, when I heard people talking on the room. Ubbe, Aslaug and some woman.

"She needs to rest now, I am gonna come here tomorrow to change her bandages." The woman says leaving the room, that I assumed it was the healer.

Ubbe looks at me and sees that was awake, put his hand on my cheek and says: "How are you feeling little sister?"

"I am well, what happened?" I say to him and Aslaug.

"Well, Sigurd and Ivar were fighting as usual, but Ivar threw a knife and hit your arm." Ubbe says concerned at me.

Now I remembered everything, Ivar was so angry that he threw the knife at Sigurd. This was awful, I was trying to show him that he does not need to be afraid of hurting me and now he was not going to be anywhere near me.

"Where is Ivar? I must speak to him." I say trying to get up but my arm started to hurt.

"No, Ivar can not come here. At least not for now." Ubbe says with a harsh voice.

"But is not his fault, if anyone should not be allowed to get in here it would be Sigurd." I say trying to reason with him.

"No, and that is settled." He says leaving the room.

"Aslaug please, let me talk to him. You know that was not his fault." I say with sadness in my voice.

"Steena, I know was not his fault but he did hurt you. He could have killed you." She says sitting on the bed next to me.

"I know, but he...." I say but Aslaug interrupts me.

"You heard Ubbe, give him sometime to think about it and then you ask him." Aslaug says giving me kiss on the forehead and left the room.

I was so worried about Ivar, what he might be thinking about himself. We didn't even have the time to talk about our kiss. I could not allowed Ubbe to keep me from seeing Ivar.

When I was thinking about a way to go see Ivar, a slave walks in. She was blonde, very beautiful.

"Do you need anything, Steena?" She says looking down.

"What is your name?" I say with a soft voice.

"Margrethe." She says almost whispering.

"I need you to do something for me Margrethe. When I feel good enough to leave this bed, I want you to distract Ubbe and I will go out." I say to her.

"This is not a good idea, I will be punished if they found out that I helped you." She says looking down again.

I tell her to come closer to me and sit on the bed. When she sits I say to her: "I know that is a risk for you, but I will not let anything happen to you, if you help me, I will be in your debt." I say looking at her.

She nodded and then left the room, and I could not wait until I was able to speak to Ivar.

Ubbe and Hvitserk came everyday to see me, I did not bothered them about Ivar, because I knew that both of them would be mad.

When I was finally able to get off the bed, I opened the bandages of my arm and I finally saw why I could not get up. The wound was really deep, so deep that the knife could easily past my arm. I put back my bandages and waited for Margrethe, so we could think of something to distract Ubbe.

When she walked in the room, I was already with a dress, just waiting for her.

"So, I will talk to him about something that happened at the barn and I will leave with him. I do not know how long I will be there. Just be careful and come back before us." She says looking at me with fear in her eyes.

"I do not know how to thank you enough, I will come back before you two. Do not worry." I say hugging her.

Margrethe leaves the room and starts to talk with Ubbe, it only took a few seconds for her take him away. I looked at Great Hall and I did not see anyone, so I left and I went to the hut to find Ivar.

I entered the hut and I saw Ivar sitting, looking at the fire.

"Ivar?" I say closing the door.

He looks at me shocked, and asks me: "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, to talk to you. See how are you." I say while I got closer to him.

"Why? I am not the one with a wound in the arm." He says pointing at my arm.

"This was not your fault, Sigurd provoked you. It was his fault." I say to him.

"But I hurt you, I could easily killed you." He says looking down.

"But you did not killed me, I am alive and well. And want you to know, that I still trust you, I am not afraid of you, this accident did not change things." I say to him, kneeling before him and caressing his cheek.

He looks at me and say: "Why did you kissed me the other day?"

I was shocked, I was not expecting him to ask me that, so I just stood there not saying anything. He gives me a bitter smile and says: "You already answered my question, you pity me."

"No Ivar, I do not pity you. How could I? You are so strong, an amazing fighter, a fearless Viking, I could never pity you. I am not capable of that." I say to him starring at his deep blue eyes, making me shiver.

"You are saying that just to make me feel better." He says looking down again.

"Ivar, how could I pity you if you are the first man that I ever kissed?" I say to him but immediately regretting, because he will think that I am stupid and boring because I never kissed a man before.

"You never kissed a man before?" He says with a bright smile on his face. I just nodded and then he says: "But I have seen men go after you before, why you did not kissed them?" He says putting his hand on my cheek and caressing it.

"I only had eyes for one man, but he did not look at me like that. He probably thinks that I am just a silly girl." I say looking down.

"If he thinks that, then he is a fool. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, you are so kind, you always makes people laugh not because you are saying something funny, but the light inside of you is so bright that people will always laugh at your presence. You may not fight, but you are braver than anyone that I ever met. You were always so kind and gentle with me, not because I was Ivar the Boneless, but because you are genuinely kind to people. You do not see me as crippled, but as man and your presence always makes me feel better, makes me feel that I can conquer any land, do anything that I put my mind, I want to succeed because you believe in me. You are a light in my dark world, and you are so bright that I forget that I am a monster and could be a better man just to deserve your company." He says never taking his eyes off mine.

"I-Ivar......I do not know what to say...." I say to him but he cuts me off.

"You should tell this man that if he thinks less than you are, you would never be with him." He says with anger and sadness in his eyes.

"That man Ivar, is you. You are the one that I want, you are the only man that my heart desires. You are the only that I want to be with, I would be the happiest woman in the world if you called me yours." I say to him.

He didn't say anything, is was just a few minutes, but they felt like years. I was ready to leave when he pulls me on his lap and started to kiss me, putting his hand on my waist and my hair, a kiss so passionate and full of love.

I put my right hand on his hair stroking lightly, the left hand I put on his neck, not doing anything because I was afraid of my wound started to hurt and ruin that perfect moment.

When we ran out of breath, Ivar caressing my cheek, smiling at me says on my ear: "Steena, will you be mine tonight?"