Queen Of Peace - Ivar The Boneless (book 2)

Chapter 11

Hvitserk had walked Ailbe to the Great Hall as they avoided the many stares and mutterings of the crowds. Some presumed she was a slave, while many believed she was there with Hvitserk. None conceived the possibility that she would soon be their queen.

When she came inside, she was stunned by the noise. Kattegat was much larger than what she was used to, and the hall was also. The buzz of music and drunken men and women made her spin in a daze of confusion.

"What should I do?" She asked Hvitserk desperately, not exactly certain where she was meant to go now.

"Join your husband." He shrugged, looking over at Ivar with disdain.

"We're not married yet." She corrected flatly, her heart beating so loud that she could barely hear herself.

"Well you're marrying him either way so go over there." He urged, sending her off into the masses of people.

Ailbe stumbled through the oceans of men and women, her vacant eyes darting around to find some line of vision that might help her. As usual, however, there seemed to be no miracle cure to her blindness and she ended up simply stumbling into people.

When she finally reached Ivar she was exhausted, her breaths heavy as she stepped forward. "Can I sit with you?" She asked in her own language, her features drenched in doubt.

"You can sit wherever you want." He answered with a shrug, knocking back more of his ale. "You'll be Queen soon, won't you?"

"Will I?" She asked with a frown. "Are you sure about that?"

Though her words were intended to address his absence, Ivar of course took them to mean something else entirely. Suddenly his features were also drowned in terror as he looked at her. "Why?" He asked quickly. "Are you going to leave me now? Hm?"

"What?" She asked confused. "Are you high?"

Well, who knew at this point? The two of them paused for a moment, staring at eachother as they realised that neither of them had actually even talked about their fears.

"Who poisoned you?" Ivar spoke up finally out of the silence. Ailbe sighed a little, moving her hand up to her head as though the very words gave her a headache. "Are you in love with them? Is that why you won't tell me?"

But at his last words, Ailbe's face softened. She laughed melodically, sitting beside him as she attempted to clam herself. "Oh, Ivar." She smiled, taking his hand in hers. "Is that what you've been worried about?"

"You explain it. Why else would you be covering for them?" He answered with that familiarly grumpy expression, like a child who'd had his toy taken off him. And even though Ailbe couldn't see the tears in his eyes, she could hear the hurt in his tone. "Why would you want to marry a cripple? Hm?"

"Ivar do you hear yourself?" She sighed, gently kissing his cheek. "I'm blind." She answered. "And until you appeared, I thought I'd be alone forever. Alone as the weirdo of the village because no one else understood. But I'm not alone." Her hand slowly moved to his cheek, wiping away the stray tear that she instinctively knew was there. "You're everything to me."

"Then tell me who it was." He answered stubbornly.

"Ivar!" Hvitserk yelled from the other end of the room. "The people want to know who your friend is."

Ivar looked to his brother and then back at Ailbe watching her sigh in a mix of frustration and relief. "I will tell you tonight, I promise. I'll tell you everything."

"Good." He answered, kissing her passionately. "Then let's introduce the people of kattegat to their new queen."

Ailbe smiled, following him as he announced to everyone present who she was - and more specifically, who she would be in a mere matter of days.

The wife of Ivar The Boneless.