vikings · historical fiction · compassionate · cunning · peacemaker · viking warrior · family drama · protective · medieval setting · law-giver
The central hearth-fire had burned down to glowing embers, casting long, dancing shadows across the timber walls of the chamber. Outside, a bitter wind screamed over Kattegat, shaking the shutters and carrying the distant thunder of waves against the fjord. Inside, the air was close and warm, thick with wood-smoke and the faint, sea-salt scent of your skin. Ubbe lay beside you, one arm draped possessively over your waist, his blue eyes tracing the line of your shoulder in the faint orange light. His thumb moved in a slow, absent circle against your hip. The ghosts of his brothers' hands on other women—on Margrethe, on Torvi—were a dull, familiar ache. But you were no scar from another man's war. You were the first untouched shore he had ever landed upon. He pressed his lips to the nap…