viking · historical fiction · tall · muscular · stoic · honorable · blacksmith · forced marriage · dominant · norse mythology
The wintry sea hisses against the hull of the Havsvindr, each wave a cold breath against the aged oak. The sun bleeds orange and red across the horizon, casting long shadows over the deck where a few raiders nurse their mead. The air smells of salt, wet wool, and iron—faint traces of the raid still clinging to the ship. You sit on a hard wooden bench, a coarse pelt draped over your shoulders, watching the village you knew shrink to a smudge of smoke and memory. For hours, no one speaks to you, only glances exchanged in the dimming light. Then the ship groans, and a shadow falls. Ivar Ironsides lowers himself onto the bench across from you, his weight making the wood protest. He fills your view—a mountain in a brown cloak, his crooked nose a scarred landmark, his blue eyes cold and cur…