Keeping my head down was easier said than done. For the next couple of days, I tried helping Helga without confronting any other Viking. I still hadn't seen any of the people captured that first attack, and I was starting to get a sinking feeling that they had been sent to Norway, like Hvitserk had said that first time we had met. Poor Cecily…

Two days after my conversation with Ivar, I woke up to the feeling of my insides writhing. As I sat up in my bed, I froze the minute I felt something wet between my thighs. I sucked in my breath and pulled up the blanket I had been underneath. The red mess was a familiar sight, I guessed, and possibly a welcome.

I didn't want to imagine what would've happened to me if I had ended up pregnant here.

"Helga?" I said as I approached her. I quickly explained my situation and the older woman didn't hesitate to help me, finding a clean dress for me and giving me rags to clean myself up.

Helga nodded to herself once I was finished. "Well, at least we know that now."

I looked over to her. "What do you mean?"

She blinked and hesitated before coming clean. "Floki told me that the sons of Ragnar were worried about you being pregnant; Bjorn in particular. If you were with child, Bjorn would've been more keen to use you as hostage."

"Am I not a hostage right now?" I asked. Helga smiled slightly and shrugged.

"If you were truly a hostage, Augusta, I don't think you'd be spending time with me."

She had a point, I realized. That just raised more questions as to what my true role here was.

That same evening, Sigurd walked right up to me while I helped Helga build the tent (a skill I'd been slowly getting better at).

"You're needed." Sigurd said to me. He glanced over to Helga. "How are you, Helga? I can send someone over to help you in Augusta's absence."

Helga smiled warmly and shook her head. "I'll manage, Sigurd."

Sigurd turned back to me, his mismatched eyes narrowed. "C'mon then. We're in a bit of a rush." I blinked and hurried after Sigurd, trying to keep up with the fast pace he was setting.

"So what do you need?" I asked after a moment of awkward silence. I was on the side of Sigurd's abnormal eye, and he glanced at me briefly before turning forward again.

"You're a translator, aren't you?" He asked dryly. I blinked at him and he snorted. "It's getting better though, your accent. Talking with Helga must be helping."

Was that why I had been sent straight to Helga? I didn't get an answer before Sigurd led the way into a large tent, already filled with all of his brothers, Halfdan and his brother, Harald, Floki, and a woman warrior I had learned was named Svanhild.

Harald and Halfdan, the closest to the tent's entrance, both nodded curtly at me as I entered. I barely had time to nod back before Bjorn stalked past Sigurd and to me.

"Come," Bjorn ordered. Unlike his brother, Sigurd, Bjorn waited for me to acknowledge and move forward before he led the way. Bjorn kept himself at my side as he led me to the far end of the tent, where I noticed someone I hadn't spotted earlier.

The man was on his knees, his hands tied behind his back. He looked like he hadn't been beaten yet, though there were a few bruises on his face underneath his eye. I glanced to the man to Bjorn to the crowd of people waiting. I made eye contact with Ivar; his blue eyes narrowed.

I looked back to Bjorn. "What do you want to know from him?" I asked.

"The colors he wears." Bjorn replied, speaking to me as if we were speaking of something mundane. "They belong to a royal house, yes?"

I looked back down to the man. He was wearing a doublet of crimson and gold-the colors King Aelle was so fond of. The man looked up to me and Bjorn and his dark eyes narrowed at me.

"You look familiar…?" He said softly. Bjorn ignored him and kept his eyes on me.

"King Aelle usually uses those colors for some of his higher born subjects." I explained, shifting my feet under everyone's gazes. "This man might possibly be a member of the king's court. Where'd you capture him?"

"You don't need to know," Harald was saying right as Hvitserk spoke.

"He was riding with a small guard." Hvitserk spoke right over Harald. The man with tattoos on his face glared hard at Hvitserk and curled his lip at him.

"He was better dressed than the people at the inn you were at, Augusta." Ubbe explained further. He gave me a shrug and nudged the closest brother-Ivar-with his elbow. "We figured he might be someone of importance."

I gave Bjorn a nervous glance before stepping in front of him and slowly crouching down to be right in front of the man who was probably a lord of some sort.

"Hi," I started in his own language. He blinked and made sudden eye contact with me. "They need to know your name. And who you are."

The man stared at me for a long moment and at first I thought he wasn't going to say anything, but then, "I am Theobald of Northumbria. I serve his majesty, King Aelle. He sent me with a message to his cousin, Kenton the Duke of Bamburgh."

I blinked and for a moment, I felt my heart stop. "What-what was the message?"

Theobald looked to somewhere over my shoulder, where I assumed the Vikings were watching him like a hawk. When he looked back to me, he sighed. "I don't want to die, my lady."

"Just tell me what the message was." I said again. I didn't want to promise that he'd be safe; not with these people behind me.

Theobald sighed heavily and shook his head before looking back to me. "The Duke's wife was supposed to get to the king's castle this morning. Queen Ealhswith was so worried this morning, she was bedridden for the rest of the day."

I stood up and turned to Bjorn. "He's a messenger of King Aelle's. I was supposed to arrive there this morning. The king and queen sent him to tell the duke that I hadn't arrived."

Harald and Halfdan looked at each other. Floki made a small hissing noise to himself while Hvitserk muttered something to Sigurd and Svanhild. Ivar was still staring at me.

Bjorn nodded at my words before turning back to Theobald, who was crying. "Ask him how far we are from their castle and city." I mirrored Bjorn and repeated the question in Saxon.

Theobald stopped crying long enough to stare hard at me. "How could you join sides with them?" He asked quietly. I felt my body stiffen as Theobald shifted too. "They killed the guard escorting me to Bamburgh. They're slaughtering our people! You're even dressed like them!"

"Augusta?" Bjorn's voice sounded from beside me. I flinched at the sound and hurried to my knees in front of Theobald.

"I need you to answer the question." I pleaded with him. "How far are we from King-"

"Oh Lord," Theobald interrupted me with his soft voice. "Augusta?" The sound of my own name sent a wave of cold down my back. Theobald looked back to Bjorn and then back to me. "He called you Augusta-that's the duke's wife's name-"

"What's he saying, Augusta?" Ivar's voice came from behind me.

Theobald entire demeanor had changed from scared to angry, furious even. He shifted his knees so that he was a little closer. "You...you...you traitorous hag!" He screeched and I barely had time to react before he rammed his head forward and into my face.

I let out a cry of pain as he came in contact hard with my nose. There was a flurry of movement I didn't see, but I felt Bjorn launch forward and onto Theobald, followed quickly by the dull sounds of flesh hitting flesh.

A pair of hands grabbed onto me and pulled me backwards. The moment I felt legs sprawled underneath me was the moment I knew it was Ivar who had dragged me away. I blinked several times as everything calmed back down again. Bjorn had gotten off Theobald, and Ubbe and Sigurd had both moved to their older brothers shoulder. Svanhild had a hand on the hilt of her sword, while the brothers remained at the tent's opening, looking fairly amused. Floki was glaring slightly at me and Ivar, while Hvitserk calmly strode over and held out his hands.

"Get off the floor, Augusta." Hvitserk said calmly. I felt Ivar's hands pat my sides as he released them and I took Hvitserk's hands. He pulled me to my feet and patted my shoulder briefly before letting go of my hands and looking down to Ivar. "You want help, brother?"

Ivar didn't get to reply because Hvitserk was already moving forward and lifting his younger brother under his arms and leaning him against the chair Ivar had been sitting in earlier. Svanhild approached me and grabbed my chin.

"Your nose is broken." She observed before letting me go. "You'll live."

I looked back to Theobald, and the messenger was still on the ground, his face now bloody. Bjorn left Theobald and looked to me. "I take it as he wasn't telling you about the castle?"

I shook my head, and then paused due to the room suddenly spinning. "He heard you say my name and recognized me. That's why...that happened." Bjorn nodded and glanced at the unconscious Theobald.

"I don't think he'll be awake for more questioning." Bjorn said, his voice raising slightly to address the rest of the tent. Sensing the dismissal, Svanhild left first and Harald and Halfdan left after her. Bjorn watched them leave before turning to me. "You did good, Augusta. We'll figure out something for your name later. You can go back to Helga, see if she can take care of your nose."

I tentatively touched my nose and immediately regretted it. Blood was on my fingertips when I pulled my hand away. I felt Ivar's hand grab at my elbow.

"Follow me." Ivar said shortly before heaving himself to the ground and dragging himself away. I glanced back to the others, but none of them were really paying attention to me anymore. I went after Ivar right as he was exiting the tent.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Not far." Ivar replied as he dragged himself into a neighboring tent. I glanced around at the other Vikings before I entered the tent. None of them were paying attention.

I was clearly in Ivar's own living space. He heaved himself onto his bed and patted the spot beside him. I sat down beside him and he reached out before stopping himself.

"I'm about to grab your face." He said matter-of-factly. "To see how bad your nose is."

"Oh, okay." I said, feeling my face heat up as he took ahold of my jaw and pulling it closer to him. I focused my gaze on Ivar's chin, not knowing what else to look at right now. Ivar used the sleeve from his free hand to wipe away the blood, as gently as he could. I couldn't help but stare at that sleeve when he finally pulled that hand away, keeping his other hand locked on my jaw and keeping my face angled towards him. I risked a glance at Ivar's eyes and saw that he was staring intently at my nose.

"It's not broken." Ivar finally said. "Svanhild knows nothing." The way he said her name was bitter, the same way he said Kenton's name. I blinked at that as he gently let go of my face.

"You don't like her?" I asked.

"She's a representative." Ivar said coldly. "Lagertha couldn't make it, so she sent Svanhild and a few dozen others to fight for Ragnar's death." If he said Kenton and Svanhild's names with spite, it was nothing compared to the heat he had reserved for this Lagertha.

"What did Lagertha do?" I asked. "You clearly hate her for some reason."

Ivar locked eyes with me and I forced myself not to back down from the fire that was burning blue in his eyes.

"She murdered my mother." Ivar said in a dark voice. "Killed her in cold blood for the throne in Kattegat." Ivar stopped and, underneath all the rage he was feeling, I could see the grief that was there.

I thought of Constance, dead before her time, always motherly and kind to her child. Judith came to mind, how she loved both Aethelred and Alfred. I felt my hands lift up before I stopped myself. Ivar had noticed the small movement and frowned at me.

"I'm going to hug you." I told him, echoing his way of speaking back to him. "From someone who lost their mother to another. Is that okay?"

Ivar had the decency to look surprised before nodding. I didn't allow myself to feel any sort of awkward before rushing forward and hugging him. There was a slight pause before Ivar's arms wrapped around my back and I felt him press his face into my shoulder. I smiled to myself for a moment, realizing that this was...nice.

When Ivar and I finally let go of each other, I moved back a little, back to my original spot. "I truly am sorry about your mother, Ivar." I said. Ivar nodded jerkily as I stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to Helga. I'm sure she's wondering what became of me."

Ivar opened his mouth to argue probably, before closing it and nodding. I bid him a quick goodnight before hurrying out of the tent. Why was my heart racing? A hug was a downgrade from him pinning me down the other night, I told myself.

Even so, the fact didn't stop the smile I had to fight off my aching face as I went back to Helga's tent.