Queen Of Peace - Ivar The Boneless (book 2)

Chapter 22

"King Harald is coming to Kattegat today." Ivar informed her casually, as though it were no big deal.

But Ailbe's eyes widened dramatically as she listened to her husband. "What?" She exasperated.

It wasn't new to her, finding things out at the last minute. She'd even grown used to it with Ivar. He was intelligent, more intelligent than anyone else she knew, and that led him to often leave out key pieces of information that he didn't see as important.

"What?" He looked to her with a sigh.

"It would've been nice to know that we were meeting a King, Ivar." She answered tiredly.

Recently, of course, she'd begun to gain little sleep. She was restless and yet exhausted. But the small child with her refused to relent and simply allow her to sleep.

"You meet a king everyday, my love." He reminded her gently as he held onto her hands - which had been previously occupied with lacing her dress. "Stop worrying."

Ailbe sighed, giving her husband a small nod before continuing to tie her dress.

The rest of the day was normal. She attended matters between the people, and had somehow managed to rope Thora into helping her. She knew the resentment that had grown between Ivar and Hvitserk. Indeed, she knew the resentment that many held towards her husband and she knew that Thora was included in those people. However, the gentle Queen was not her husband. Though she loved Ivar and harboured no resentment towards his actions as she always understood them, she still had not followed in many of his actions. And even those who hates Ivar could not fully hate their Queen. After all, she was innocent. Her only crime being love.

"What is happening tonight?" Thora asked as she and Ailbe walked back from their final meeting of the day.

Ailbe sighed gently, her lips pursed into a frown. "I believe that we are entertaining King Harald."

"Why?" Thora looked to her friend with concern on her features.

Ailbe gave a shrug, "I do not know. I do not know anything."

"Well, will your husband be expecting Hvitserk to attend?" She questioned, doing little to hide her hate when she mentioned Ivar - though he still remained nameless.

"Probably, yes." Ailbe answered. "Though I'm never certain of anything with Ivar."

Thora gave a small chuckle as she hugged the queen goodbye. "Good luck." She smiled gently.

Ailbe smiled in return at her friend, placing her hand on Thora's arm. "Thank you."

And so they departed from eachother, leaving Ailbe to slowly stroll towards the Great hall.

For Ailbe, being Queen was never her ambition. She'd heard others whisper, other women who talked of how they'd gain Ivar's favour. They clearly hadn't clued on as to how paranoid he was. And yet, somehow, he'd fallen in love with her so quickly. Perhaps he knew that she never much cared for thrones. Perhaps he could see it. She couldn't say it was impossible, it was Ivar after all. But sometimes she hated that, of all the people in the world, she'd fallen in love with a King. Life would've been so much simpler had she loved a farmer or a blacksmith - someone uncomplicated who'd be by her side whenever she needed them.

But the heart wants what the heart wants. And all she knew was that she doubted she could ever love someone as she had loved Ivar.

"Ailbe!" Hvitserk greeted her with a relieved sigh as she entered, making her smile. She could tell by his tone that Ivar had already begun his taunting. Though that often appeared to cease in her presence. "Thank the Gods."

"That bad?" She chuckled. Slowly they walked together to the long table that sat before her and Ivar's thrones.

"If he says one more thing I cannot be held responsible for what I'll do-" Hvitserk spoke with frustration, causing a small chuckle once again from Ailbe.

She smiled to him, "Calm down. If all goes smoothly then you can get back to Thora and I can sleep beside my husband without having to worry about him crawling into the night to kill someone."

"That sounds like a plan." He nodded with a sigh and the two of them took their seats.

"My love," She greeted Ivar gently, placing her hand on his. She quickly noticed the clenched fist beneath her palm and gave a sigh. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He grumbled, glaring at the entire room as he watched every move that was made by everyone present, his sharp gaze seemingly omnipresent.

"Ivar," She whispered, trailing her hand up to cup his cheek and kissing him softly. "Stop worrying." She repeated his words from previously, making him roll his eyes with a small smile.

It wasn't long before King Harald arrived, and Ailbe listened as everyone in the room audibly tensed. There was a silence in the air that could be cut with a knife. Nervously, her head bowed towards the ground as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Of course, as always, this didn't go unnoticed by Ivar and he looked to her with a small frown and concerned eyes. Finally he spoke, oozing enough confidence for the entire room.

"King Harald." He greeted. "It is good to see you."

"King Ivar." Harald greeted with a smile, though his eyes held a spark of something else.

"This is the woman I love more than life, my wife Queen Ailbe." Ivar introduced, squeezing her hand gently in reassurance.

Her lips curved into a shy smile, a crimson blush forming on her cheeks. "It is a pleasure to meet you, King Harald."

At first, Harald and all his men admired her gentle beauty, and the timid blush that flushed her cheeks. But Harald became distracted, his eyes slowly wandering down, and finding a small bump from beneath her dress.

"The pleasure is all mine, Queen Ailbe." He smiled, that odd spark seeming ever brighter in his eyes as his glare aimed towards Ivar. "And it seems congratulations are in order."

At this, Ivar gave a satisfied smirk. The rage in Harald's eyes was enough to make him laugh for weeks. Upon becoming king, no one thought that the cripple would ever had an heir. But he proved them all wrong. And seeing the look on Harald's face was worth it all.