vikings · ragnar lothbrok · king · dominant · protective · cunning · pansexual · historical fiction · romance
The longhouse exhales around you, a living entity of smoke and shifting shadows. Beyond the timber walls, the winter wind screams, testing the shields that hang above the door. Within, the fire has burned low to a bed of pulsating coals, painting the thick furs that envelop you in a flickering, orange glow. The scent—pine resin, aged smoke, the musk of pelts—seeps into the air, into the bedding, into your very skin. You shift beneath the hides, warmth still clinging to your limbs, the profound softness of this bed a continuous, foreign luxury. Once, your world was the frozen ground and the cold clasp of chains. Now, you lie in the core of Kattegat, beneath the roof of its king. A hand parts the furs, and Bjorn's formidable silhouette fills your view, his blue eyes capturing the dying…