Chapter 1: Married

If only her father had listened to her. For years now she had been sending out messengers, calling for meetings, telling them all to join forces and unite against their common foe but pride won over, pride and lust for glory. Every King wanted to be known as The King to stop Harald's conquests. Every Earl dared only to follow their own Kings. In the end, everyone lost their lands and their heads and now the army was here at their door in Rogaland.

"King Arnarson, I beg you to consider agreeing to the peace talks."

"We all know what they want. They will accept nothing else." Arnarson's thick fingers clutched the arms of his throne in desperation, his skin shining of sweat and his beard and hair greasy and matted from days of fighting for his kingdom.

"Father." She spoke over the grumblings around her. All the smaller leaders of their land were there in their Great Hall, trying to advise the King. Earl Eyjolf was on one knee before Arnarson, trying to get his lifelong friend to listen to reason. But she knew her father, she knew how much his throne mattered to him. He would need a stronger push towards the right direction. "The peace talks may be the only way to save our family line. I am your only child and I have no children. I am out there, fighting every day and if this continues, we will both die and all of this struggle would've been for nothing. Is that how you want to be remembered? The King of one of the many petty lands that Harald easily conquered? Or do you want the chance to find another way to remain in history? I know which I would choose."

There was a long moment of silence before mumbles of encouragement came from the men and women in the Hall.

"She speaks fair."

"Please hear reason, King."

"There is no chance of victory here."

"Alright!" The King shouted. "I will invite that son of a whore into my home and I will accept his terms. But you!" His finger shot up and pointed at her. Her back straightened, instincts taking over as her fingers twitched towards her sword. "You, my daughter, have gone unmarried long enough! Yes, you're without child, because of your own stubbornness, having refused all the grand offers I gathered for you! I will offer Harald your hand in marriage to sweeten the deal and hopefully we can all stay here living in our homeland, under his rule."

She could barely hear the end of his last sentence, so loud was the pounding in her ears. "Father-"

"You will not refuse me anymore! You wanted to save us so badly, you will make this sacrifice! Do you understand!?"

This was it. She knew she'd been fortunate to have a father who'd let her be unmarried for so long when offers had been coming since she became sixteen, to have a father who let her go into battle, become a shieldmaiden, become a leader of her own shieldmaidens and the defender of their kingdom. All of this, he had let happen when she was his sole heir, his only child and his only hope of a continued bloodline. She'd been fortunate for far too long.

It was time to accept her duty.

"Yes, father. I understand and I will do as you ask."

The message arrived as they were preparing for another attack. His brother grinned while reading it.

"What is it?" He asked, grabbing Harald's shoulder to get his attention.

His brother let out a boisterous laugh that echoed in the silent camp, their army waiting for the King's command.

Instead of answering him, Harald addressed his people, "We've won! Arnarson has invited me into his Great Hall for talks of peace! He says he will agree to yield his kingdom to me but asks to meet and discuss further terms! Tonight we celebrate in Rogaland, the newest addition to my kingdom of Norway!"

Everyone cheered loudly, joyous and proud.

He, however, remained wary. "What are these terms he wishes to speak of? What exactly did the message say?" He whispered this to his brother, once again grabbing his shoulder.

"The terms are about him and his Earls staying here, to rule over the land in my name, to answer to me as their King but for much else to stay the same." Harald copied his softer tone.

"Brother, that sounds risky. How would we trust them not to gather a larger army, to declare themselves a kingdom again?"

Harald looked at him with a mysterious smile. He hated that smile, it always left him feeling as if he had missed something.

"He offers an alliance in the form of a marriage. He offers me a wife."

It didn't take him long to realise who. "His daughter? The shieldmaiden?"

"Yes." Harald was still smirking, eyes glinting with glee.

"Aren't you obsessing over that princess of yours, or are you finally ready to let that go?"

Harald laughed, "He's offered her to me but you know I must turn her down. I've made a promise to my princess and I intend to keep it."

"But then..." And finally the joke hit him in the head and left him reeling. "You can't be considering-" Harald grasped his arms and shook him.

"You need a woman, brother! And she would be a great asset to our army when we join Bjorn this year. She commands a hundred shieldmaiden, all of them known for their ferocious strength, handpicked to defend their land by Svana herself. They're the only reason it's taken us days to get them to surrender, you know this too."

"I don't want a wife." He forced out through gritted teeth.

Harald remained unswayed and clapped him on the shoulder, "It can be in name only, brother. From what I've heard, she's not been looking for a husband either so you already have something in common." And then he turned to find his horse, his laugh blending in with the cheers still going on around them.

Halfdan did not feel like celebrating.

He had seen her on the battlefield, yelling commands at her fighters, blocking arrows with ease and slamming her shield into her enemies with a force to be reckoned with it. He didn't look at her as a woman then, he only saw her as an obstacle.

Now, he opened his eyes, his mind and observed his future wife.

She was tall, taller than him, her shoulders strong and arms wide from muscle. Her golden brown hair was pulled up in a single high braid, her sea-green eyes were big and intense, her nose straight but short and her mouth of average size and shaped like a bow. Her body was all strength and force but combined with ample breasts and wide hips she looked like how he imagined their goddesses looked like. A fighter, a mother and a wife all in one.

If this was about a quick tumble in a tent, he would be looking forward to it, very much so. But he'd never seen himself as a man to settle down, to have children, to share a bed with the same woman every night. That was his brother's dream. His was yet unrevealed to him and he didn't want to give up the search for it.

So he settled on a disinterested glare and let Harald do all the talking.

Svana tried to see good in this. The man standing before her and her father in their Great Hall was not ugly. His face was covered in beautiful tattoos and she admired him for having gone through the painful process of getting them there. His hair was long, his beard regal and his eyes clear and not unkind. He looked like a good husband. Maybe he would be a good husband.

She hoped.

"I offer thanks to you, Arnarson for your gracious offer. And I praise you for having such a fine and fierce daughter, any man would feel lucky to have her as his wife."

She squinted, forcing away the urge to roll her eyes at the empty compliments.

"Alas, I will have to turn it down."

Her father shot up from his throne. "What!?"

Harald quickly held up his hands in a gesture of placation, "I am not turning down the offer of terms. A marriage to unite us and to remain sure of your loyalty to me as your King; that is what I've come to accept. Sadly, I've promised myself to another and I'm a man of my word. My brother, however, is also without wife and would gladly take my place."

She stared in shock at the man standing next to Harald. Dark eyes glared back at her in a face devoid of emotion.

"Father-" she spoke without knowing what she'd say, what she could even say for this to not proceed.

"I accept the change."

Too late.

Halfdan and Svana did not share a word, barely even looked at each other until the next day, when they were wed.

They went through the motions, said the words needed to be said, neither wanting it, both feeling like chains were now wrapped around them, constricting them.

They left towards Svana's room to share the night, leaving everyone's cheers, Harald's encouraging laughter and Arnarson's commanding glare behind them.

Both were gathering their resolve, both were putting together a speech in their heads.

When the door closed, they spoke at the same time after a moment of heavy silence.

"Look-"

"I-"

They shut up and stared each other down.

Svana relented first, unwilling to let this night go badly, knowing her life and the life of her father were still very much in danger if she would not be at least slightly pleasing to this man.

She sighed slowly, turning to go and sit on her bed before gesturing towards Halfdan.

"You first... husband."

His face showed real emotion for the first time before her, crunching up in disgust.

"Please don't call me that ever again."

Svana gave him an uncertain smile, "Alright. Halfdan, then."

He nodded and for the first time she was able to put her own feelings aside and take in all of the nervous energy radiating from the man standing in her room.

Halfdan also let out a long sigh, before beginning to speak.

"I didn't want this. I know you didn't want this. So it can easily be in name only. I'd like to have sex with you, I won't deny that, but I won't force you..." His eyes trailed down her body slowly, his voice growing softer, "I don't think I could force you."

Svana laughed, "At least you're smart."

Halfdan grinned back at her and she dared to hope again. He was saying good things to her and the more she looked at him, the more she saw a man. Not just a man - a fighter, a warrior and a brother of her King.

Honestly, she could do a lot worse.

"Yes, I didn't want this either. But I'm thinking sex would be nice, since all we've done the past few days is battle and my body is tired and aching and sore." She reached up to untangle and release her hair. His eyes followed her movements and then followed the waves of her hair as they reached the bed she was sitting on. His breathing seemed to grow deeper.

"Sex is good when you're sore?" Halfdan asked, eyes now flickering between her hair, her breasts and the hollow between her thighs as she spread her legs and pulled her wedding dress up to fall between them.

"Sex is good when you want to sleep but your aching body is keeping you awake."

"Oh I ache. I ache very much right now."

She grinned, growing excited at his interest.

"Then remove your clothes."

They had been married for a month when Svana and her shieldmaidens joined King Harald to sail towards Kattegat. She was given three separate ships for her warriors, and pride almost swallowed her whole when she saw her colors decorating them, their white shields with black stripes contrasting strongly against the brown of the ship.

She was excited and eager. They were going far south to somewhere new and foreign. And there would be battle, fighting, raiding. She had been the defender of her father's kingdom since she turned eighteen but she'd never gone on raids. And her blood sang at the thought of what lay ahead.

She knew men who were angry, she knew men who were cold and then there were those who just enjoyed killing for the sake of killing. Svana considered herself something different. Her anger was fleeting, she never lacked kindness and warmth to share with the people she cared for and pointless easy kills bored her. But a battle, a desperate fight for one's life and to come out of it victorious, having slain your foes and proven yourself to be better than them - that was what she lived for.

She hoped the new lands would be full of enemies who fought differently, used unfamiliar tactics and foreign weapons. She felt the need to prove herself to be better than them, to slay everyone who stood in her path to victory.

Her shieldmaidens were in charge of her ships as she herself travelled with Halfdan and the King. Her husband didn't really feel like one as their marriage had settled into one of alliance and name only. He often slept far from their bed and sometimes so did she, both having agreed they didn't care about fidelity.

Which is why she was flirting heavily with one of the rowers and enjoying his bashful grins in response to her admiring his form, when Harald approached her. His manner was stern, official and she pulled herself up to respond appropriately.

"Svana, may I have a word?" He nodded towards the bow of the ship where if they spoke quietly, some privacy could be preserved.

"Yes, King." She shuffled after him, hefting up her coat of furs so it would better cover her shoulders.

"I have noticed that you haven't been showing..." He paused, humming in thought, "Loyalty to my brother."

Her brow rose in surprise. She hadn't expected this, of all things. "I... haven't. Halfdan and I have an agreement. He doesn't care."

Harald's jaw clenched in constrained anger as he whispered to her harshly, "But I do!"

"I don't understand," she replied, uneasy now and feeling like someone had pulled the ground out from under her. She thought the marriage over and done with, nothing she had to continue on worrying about.

"You will stop whoring yourself around. The three of us know what this marriage really is, but to everyone else you are a wife to him, a true loyal wife that honors and respects her husband. During this raid, especially, you will be by his side and support him, showing Bjorn that we have a strong shieldmaiden with us as a true ally."

"So this is all about appearances." She summarized, frowning at her King in confusion. "And if I was more discreet?"

Harald wet his mouth slyly and then laughed, "If you want to risk being discovered, go ahead. But know that if rumors start flying around and I find out, well, your father will quite literally, lose his head."

Svana breathed in deep and centered herself. She very much wanted to spit in her King's face, but she knew he was serious. Her father's life... as well as her own, were in his hands now.

She was his puppet.

"And Halfdan? I don't think he'll like this whole, appearing to be loyal thing."

Harald chuckled, then laughed, then roared with humor, gathering everyone's attention, "Oh no, he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to." He clasped her on the shoulder, winking, a seemingly friendly gesture that would appear to others as if they were joking around. "These terms are for you and you alone." With that, he left her.

Svana swallowed down a growl, held back the urge to grab a shield and bash Harald's face in. It took her a few moments before she dared to turn around and was then met with Halfdan's confused expression.

"What was that all about?"

Mindful of everyone's stares, including Harald's, she drew her husband closer and touched her forehead to his. Halfdan's wide eyes and fearful look made her laugh softly, before she leaned down to kiss him and to whisper against his mouth, "I have been ordered to seem as a devoted wife."

He quickly took in the information and most likely figured out the details on his own, knowing his brother well. "It wasn't my idea." He whispered back frantically.

Svana was touched as he actually seemed concerned that she would be angry with him.

"I know," she smiled back and Halfdan relaxed. Then tensed up again.

"This is too weird, though."

She laughed and released him, gave one last look at the handsome rower and tried to settle her mind, to get used to the idea of never straying from her marriage bed.

Surrounded by strong warriors, it was really, really hard.

a/n: svana is 6 years older than ivar