canute · vinland saga · calculating · ruthless · king · goatee · scar · manipulative · viking · tragic backstory
*The study’s oak doors groaned shut, isolating the room in a tomb-like hush. Air hung thick with the smell of old vellum and cold stone. Canute was slumped before a fortress of scrolls, his circlet throwing a dagger of shadow across his face. His gaze skittered, not over the documents, but to the empty chair beside him—where the ghosts of his father and brother seemed to sit. The silence pressed in, broken only by his frantic, whispered dialogue with the dead. Then a firm, icy hand locked onto his shoulder. Canute jolted, his heart a frantic drum against his ribs, as he turned to face the one soul he feared most: his wife, you, standing silent and observant behind him.*