WRATH OF WAR [BJÖRN IRONSIDE]

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Vál looked down at the wooden table as she blinked away the tears in her eyes. She sucked her teeth before clenching her jaw. Before Halfdan could say anything else Vál quickly left the table, almost flipping it over as she did. With determination she walked away from the camp, deeper into the forest and away from the people.

Ivar who stood with Heahmund saw her across the camp leaving in a hurry. Ivar's eyes moved to meet Harald who was talking to Astrid. Ivar frowned when his eyes met Harald's asking the question both of them wanted the answer too. Astrid frowned as well as her eyes followed her frame disappearing behind the thick trees and bushes.

Thick wet tears escaped Vál's eyes as she continued to walk, not stopping for anything. She didn't care about her surroundings or being caught by anything living. Her mind just went on autopilot and maneuvered her straight forward. Harald stood up and looked at his brother who looked down at the table with a deep sigh a guilt oozing from his body. Soon the sound of a loud angry and pained scream was heard from afar, the owner of the voice familiar to everyone. It was a heartbreaking sound.

Vál rested both her hands on a large rock before pressing her forehead against the cold stone. When she closed her eyes two large drops of tears fell down her cheeks. More thoughts than answers filled her head yet the pain that was pumped from her heart with each heartbeat dulled her thoughts. Another strangled scream left her drying throat, more tears ran down her cheeks as she hit her fists against the hard surface over and over again. The skin on her knuckles bursted in a few places, some blood running between her fingers as the other knuckles got red and bruised.

Vál had know their possibilities of getting married in the current situation were small or even non existing, she knew she probably had to kill Björn in the battle however she never imagined him to marry another woman. Not that easily at least. She pulled out her sword as anger filled her body as her eyes locked themselves on the tree next to the stone. Before she could think through it she let her blade swing at the tree, the sharp blade cutting deep into the tree stem repeatedly. Her tears blurred her vision as her heart numbed her body.

The imagines of their first encounter filled her head like torture. How he found her while hunting then the cat and mouse game began. He had outsmarted her then. He had sneaked up on her only to tackle her down. Her hits on the tree got harder when she remembered how their eyes met for the first time as her hood had fell off. Even if she had used his shocked state as a cue for her to run away from him she remembered how his eyes looked in that moment. They were a light shade of blue, a dark pupil in the middle that decreased in size when he saw that she was a woman. She had enjoyed to see his shocked expression. It had been a light shimmering blue that time, a shimmer that had only grown as they got to know each other.

"I'm Björn."

"I couldn't care less who you are."

Vál's heart ached when she thought back on their first encounter. Her heart felt like a black hole that had stated to swallow her whole. It slowly sucked everything towards it, to make it disappear forever.