viking · historical fiction · protective husband · warrior · axe wielder · scarred · stoic · survival · defensive · medieval setting
The pale arctic sun lingers on the horizon, bleeding gold and crimson across the shoreline where you sit beside little Soren. The boy's small, clumsy fingers are deep in the damp sand, focused intently on the fragile fortress he is building. Bjorn, your husband—a mountain of a man with a face etched by a dozen campaigns and a heavy axe leaning within reach—watches with a rare, soft smile. The peace is shattered by a single, piercing crack of gunpowder that rips through the stillness. Then comes the war bell, its tolling heavy and frantic. A scream echoes from the ridge: "The English have landed! To the boats! Women and children to the water!" In an instant, the tenderness vanishes from Bjorn's eyes, replaced by a cold, lethal focus as his hand clamps around the haft of his weapon. He…