Beauty and the Beast
NOTES BEFORE YOU READ:
I'm Italian, my English probably won't be perfect.
I'm not used to write of a OCC Ivar, this is my first try.
This is part one of three
They were sitting on a rock, near a cliff.
The view above them was stunning: the ocean spread for miles, if you tried to look at the line of the horizon no lands were visible, just an amazing amount of dark water.
Some spurts wetted their faces, making them shiver.
He was used to this, he was borne in the cold lands, but she visibly shuddered for her own lands were warmer.
"Are you freezing?": Ivar asked worried.
Jía, the French girl, nodded embarrassed.
He smiled and took her in a hug under his protective arm.
He had released her from slavery a month earlier when he decided he wanted to love her as more than a simple slave.
She leaned her head on his shoulder briefly closing her eyes and inspiring the cold breeze of the north wind.
"This is Njörd, the god of the sea, the wind and the cyclones. He is the father of Freyr and Freyja. There is a reason why he decided that our Sea and wind must be so cold, we just don't know his reason yet. I'll ask him eventually, when I'll reach Valhalla.": he explained softly stroking her hair and caressing her face.
"Then I hope you'll find out late in time. I don't want you to reach Valhalla any soon.": she grabbed one of his hands in hers and squeezed with affection.
"Why?"
"Because, if I understand it right, you'll reach Valhalla when you die in battle or in a brave way. And I don't want you to die. I want you here Ivar": she smiled.
Her life changed the moment she was taken during a raid near Paris.
Björn, Ivar's brother captured her while she was praying in a church and he decided not to kill her, she was to be sold as a slave.
The queen bought her because one of her sons just married a slave, and they needed a replacement.
She was afraid at first, she feared to be mistreated, she dreaded to be used or abused, she didn't want to live in a stable.
She was also terrified of him at first: the first time they met she was serving ale at the queen's table and he crawled towards them with the help of two pointed sticks.
She knew he was called Ivar the boneless and that everyone feared him.
They said he was ruthless, merciless and violent, everyone said that he loved to torture and to kill innocent people, that he was cruel and evil.
Form the moment he know he liked her.
Why?
Because she looked at him with a look of respect and fear, and that was good, but she never looked at him with disgust, disdain or pity.
She had treated him well, never judged him, never disrespected him, and she had also stood up for him when his brothers teased him.
At first he was annoyed with her protective behavior: he didn't need a girl to defend him, but then he started to appreciate it, after all she was risking her life for him.
A month passed and they became everyday closer, they started to talk a lot, he taught her his language, he gave her better food and better clothes, he let her sleep in his room, and then in his bed, with furry heavy blankets to protect her from the cold, he forbade his brothers to use her, he protected her form Sigurd sexual advance, he made her have hot baths in his bathtub, he taught her how to fight and gifted her with a beautiful knife, he even cuddled her when she had nightmares of her homeland being destroyed.
A month later he gave her freedom but kept her in his house and room.
She could have escaped, changed life and married someone but she decided to remain by his side, as a companion and a lover.
And that day was their big day.
"You never feared me, why?": he asked with pure curiosity.
"Because you were never frightful, not to me. Where everybody saw cruelty, I saw sadness, where everybody saw rage, I saw hope, where everybody saw a ruthless man I just saw a boy that was trying to prove himself, where everybody saw anger, I saw a lot of pain and suffering. And most of all where everybody saw an heartless ruler I saw someone who needed to be loved, someone who craved for affection even if he denied it. That's why.": she put her arms around his waist and laid her head across his lap.
He caressed her hair with slight movements, he played with them, braided them and untied them, careful not to pull them too much.
"I saw something in you. The first day, I mean. You were different from the other captives. You were... you": he couldn't find another word to describe her.
Ivar was afraid. It was the big day, and he didn't know where to start, he was afraid to receive a refusal, he was afraid to seem stupid.
"Why are you still with me? What can I give to you? Or better, what can a cripple give to you, Jía?"
She put her hand up to his face, stroking his cheeks lovingly.
She loved this snuggle moments with him, those were their moments.
"I don't need anything from you. I don't care about what you can or cannot give me. I don't care if you can't use your legs as the other people. I love you Ivar. That's enough for me to know."
"Get up": he commanded with a firm voice but with a hint of fear and excitement in it.
She obeyed bewildered of his improvise change.
She lifted from his legs and stood next to him, looking in his eyes in search for an answer.
"Jía. I love you too. And I want you to carry my children. I want to spend my whole life with you. Do you want to marry me?"
He rummages through his pocket and presented in his hands a beautiful necklace: simple but stunning, composed by a silver chain from where it was hanged an oval blue stone with the rune of love carved into it.
She was speechless, her legs trembled for the joy and the shock of his proposal.
She collapsed to her knees next to him, and her eyes watered with tears of happiness.
"Of course I want to marry you Ivar. But I wonder, what everyone will think? I'm just a former slave, shouldn't you marry a princess or someone who can give you something like political support, lands or an army when you'll need it?"
"Here it doesn't work like in your lands. We still marry for love."
She smiled overwhelmed by her feelings, she took the necklace in her hands and touched it like it was the most precious thing in the world.
"It's so beautiful Ivar"
"Like you. I was looking for something to match your beauty but I could find nothing. That's why I decided to give you something simple."
"It's the most beautiful thing I have ever owned. Will you help me?"
She gave him her back and tied her hair up in a ponytail for him.
He fastened the jewel around her neck and left a tiny kiss on her bare shoulder.
She turned to face him and put her lips on him in a pure kiss, framed by the shattering of the waves in the cliff.
They stayed in that comforting hug for what it seemed to be like hours, knowing that they wouldn't have face the future alone anymore, knowing that they would have had each other to rely on, knowing that nothing od have torn them apart.
After a while they sat again, not leaving their embrace.
Ivar kissed his future wife on her hair and caressed her back with one strong hand.
He was not going to let her go, she changed him, she made him a better person in just a month, she did so much good to him.
"My brothers are going to be jealous. I see the way that they look at you. Ubbe and Sigurd in particular."
"But I'm yours right? Not theirs, just yours. And I've not intention to be shared."
He laughed.
"Like I'll let them do it. I'd rather kill them than share you with them. You're mine Jía. No one can have you but me."
She hugged him tighter and rested her head on his chest, she concentrated on his calming breathing and on his heartbeat that slowly drifted her away in her thoughts.
She was so lucky.
She was about to become the wife of the most handsome Viking in Kattegat, and not just that.
Ivar was handsome, no one could have denied it, but he was also loving, caring and protective, and she liked the fact that he was like this just with her.
"Ivar. There is something that I wish with all myself before the marriage."
"Go on, ask! Let's see if we can do it."
"You know, when you came raiding in my town, you took some gold, some slaves and you killed a lot of people. But not every one of them right? Well, Björn took me, but my family managed to flee. My older sister is dead, she tried to protect me from your brother and the same for my father that resisted Bjorn commands. My my mother and my older brothers are alive, the three of them, and I know for sure that they returned to where we used to live. I want to go back there with you, I'd like to introduce you to them and I wish to tell them that I'm fine, that I found happiness with you, and that the Vikings are my people know. I want to tell them that I'm not a slave anymore, that I found love and that I'm willingly choosing to stay here with you. I want to tell them that we're getting married, and that I'm glad to be here. Can we do that?": she almost begs him.
Ivar clouded and thought for a few minutes.
"We have to sail with just one ship, not more than ten trusty men, you and I included, we'll land in Paris, my uncle Rollo married princess Gisla, we can talk to him. Then we should proceed by horses, and when we'll reach your village you should talk to the chief to let us in safely."
She nodded gladly kissing him again on his lips, this time more passionately.
She was never with a men before.
And Ivar and she never slept together in that meaning.
He was still a bit afraid, but he had no more reasons.
NOTES:
Hi everyone!
This is the part where I beg for reviews so... please review to let me know what do you think! ahah
I hope you liked it :)
See you next Chapter :)
