Rollo rolled off her and lay on his back, panting hard. "I have to say, Imp. With a little practice, you could be a decent fuck."
If she thought her legs could hold her, Kara would've jumped up and stamped on his face. Unfortunately all her limbs had been turned to water and even turning her head to look at him, made her vision swim. "It didn't help you."
His mouth turned up into a grin and he reached out and found her hand. Kara almost jumped out of her skin at his touch, then relaxed as his feeling of contentment washed over her. She should be angry. He'd forced himself on her. He'd defiled her. He'd…. He'd made her…
She could feel his amusement at her attempt at indignation-it was becoming harder and harder to hide her feelings from him. Letting go of her hand, he turned on to his side and raised himself onto one elbow. He laid his free hand on her cheek. "It was just a fuck, Kara. We both knew it had to happen, and don't pretend you didn't enjoy it."
The cold was starting to encroach on the warm languidity, and, yet again, Rollo had turned into an arrogant arsehole. Kara slapped his hand away. "Have you ever even tried to be nice?"
His laugh reawoke those, still tingling and slightly sore, parts, deep inside her. "I'm a berserker, Imp. I wasn't put on this earth to be nice."
"Well, I suggest you try." Kara sat up and began to scramble to her feet. "Because I can assure you, that if you don't, it won't be happening again."
"Kara."
She ignored him and started to pull on her clothes. What a fool she'd been, giving herself so easily.. so willingly to him. She needed his forgiveness, needed him to take her as his woman. Needed him to love her enough to want her at his side, until the end of time.
"Kara."
It didn't matter how many times she told herself that she'd had no choice, Kara knew she'd opened her legs as eagerly as one of his whores. She had wanted him, and Rollo had known it.
"Kara!"
She should have made him wait until he was crazed with desire, until he was so entranced by her that he would have agreed to anything. She should have….
"Kara!"
With a sigh, she turned around. Rollo was laying, flat on his back on the steaming mud, with a stupid grin, and a massive erection.
"I'm stuck." He didn't look, in the slightest way, perturbed by his predicament. "All the blood seems to have gone to my cock."
"Then you can stay there until it returns to your limbs." She pulled her tunic over her head and fastened her belt. "You can stay there and rot, for all I care."
"And you can prowl this realm, unseen." He lifted his head slightly and squinted at her. "All the time dreaming of my big fat cock inside you."
She had to admit, he had a point. But Kara wasn't going to let him off that easily. She snorted. "You flatter yourself, Rollo Lothbrok. It really isn't that impressive."
~oOo~
Rollo really was stuck. All his ills had disappeared when he was inside her, but now they were back with a vengeance, and he didn't even have the strength to sit up. If Kara abandoned him now, there was a good chance he'd be dead before anyone found him.
His stupid cock obviously didn't care about the situation he found himself in, and sprang back to life at the sight of the Valkyrie as she dressed herself. And it didn't care that it was going to anger her more.
He hated to do this, but he needed Kara's help. "Please, Kara."
She walked towards him and crouched down. "Why should I help you?"
She shouldn't. He'd forced himself upon her. He'd hurt her. If she turned her back on him, he'd have no one to blame but himself. Kara was right, he wasn't worthy. He didn't deserve her compassion. He forced himself to look into those fathomless pools of blue. He was going to have to apologize. Again.
"I'm sorry."
"What for? For bullying me? For all the insults?" She leaned closer. "For raping me?"
He swallowed down a retort-that had been no rape, and she knew it. He'd felt what she'd felt. They had been so intertwined that he hadn't known which were her feelings, and which were his own. He knew that if she'd wanted him to stop, he would have been no more capable of continuing than he was able to stand. But he had wanted to exert his strength over her, had wanted to prove to both of them that she didn't hold him in her thrall.
But the fact was, she did.
He was laying, flat on his back, naked in oozing mud, and was more vulnerable than he'd ever been in his life. "I'm sorry for everything."
Kara sighed, then kissed him.
Rollo felt his body arch as his poor, beleaguered lungs filled with air and blood rushed to his limbs. "Kara."
She hadn't needed to drag him to his feet; her touch was enough. The connection between them was now stronger than ever, and Rollo was acutely aware of how much her aid hurt her. He also knew that if she took her hand away, he would fall back to his knees.
She knew it too as she led him to that flat rock, and waited for him to sit down before retrieving his cloak. Rollo hung his head as she slipped the cloak over his shoulders and fastened the clip. "I will never be whole again, will I?" The despair returned and wormed its way into his heart. "I will never enter Valhalla."
"Yes you will." Her kiss was soft... too soft. And yet it sent his head spinning with want for her. "With me at your side."
Even leaning heavily on Kara and with her hand on his back, Rollo needed all his concentration just to put one step in front of the other. His bare feet snagged small rocks and roots as they dragged along the ground, and were numb with cold. His shoulder was aching after his recent exertions, but was being drowned out by the shooting pains that were running along his spine.
With every step, Rollo's mood grew more sour. How was he ever going to get to Valhalla? Maybe if he was young like Bjorn, there would've been a chance. But soon the last of the ice would be melted, and the raids would begin. Even if he took everything Kara had, he doubted he would even be strong enough to walk unaided to the waters edge to watch them sail away.
Beside him, Kara was concentrating as hard as him. Even if he couldn't feel her pain-an echo of his own-and if her despair wasn't as real to him as his, Rollo would have known by the set of her jaw and downcast eyes. His eyes fell on a fallen tree and he gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I think we need to rest."
~oOo~
While it was a relief to sit for a while, Kara wasn't quite ready to break her connection with him. She removed her hand from his back and, linking her fingers with his, pondered her fate. She'd taken a mortal as a lover, and had denied herself the chance to ever again, collect the fallen. She could no longer call herself a Valkyrie, but she was still an immortal. For now, at least.
Rollo picked up on her mood and kissed her temple. After everything that had happened, that small act of unthinking affection, threw her. That their lives now, were forever linked, could no longer be denied. But she didn't expect him to be happy about it. And if she, was honest, it wasn't something she relished.
"I forgive you."
"What?"
"I forgive you. You don't have to stay, Valkyrie." He ran his thumb across the back of her hand. "We both know that I will never have enough breath inside me to blow a horn, much less fight. My legs…" he curled his lip in disgust, "will never carry me into battle."
"You want me to go?" Kara didn't know whether she was afraid or angry. "You've fucked me, so now you want me gone? I am not one of your whores to be cast aside."
For a fleeting moment, his eyes flashed angrily, but then dulled as he sighed and released her hand. "I'm releasing you of your burdon. I'm setting you free." There was no humour in his laugh. "I'm trying to be nice."
"You don't get to release me of my obligation, Rollo. Only Odin can do that. You and I are bound together until…." Her mouth clamped shut.
Rollo leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs. "I will crawl onto the battlefield, if I have to. I will die with my axe in my hand. You have healed me enough, and I forgive you. Your work is done."
"And if I said I wanted to stay?"
"I wouldn't believe you." There was something unnerving about his expression. "At my side. What exactly do you mean by that, Valkyrie? What secrets are you still keeping?"
"I… I'm not."
"Ah, there she is." His tone was mocking, but lacked the vitriol that had been there before. "My lying, conniving, little imp." Rollo sat back and stretched with a wince. "I know you're keeping something from me. You try hard to conceal it, but I know you, Imp, and I can feel it."
Sometimes attack is the best form of defence. And Kara didn't think that admitting, that unless he took her with him to Valhalla as his wife, it's great doors would be forever closed to her, was prudent. She drew herself up and lifted her chin. "You will never enter Valhalla without my help. Of course, if you believe yourself healed, now I have your forgiveness, I'm sure Odin will welcome me back with open arms." She stood and kissed him. "And I'm sure he will overlook your little…" she raised an eyebrow. "Indiscretion." She smiled. "Although, I was always one of his favourites. I always brought him the best warriors and now, because of you, I will not be permitted to carry out that task. Still. No matter. You are healed, so you don't need me…" She turned as if to walk away.
"Stop playing games, Imp." He sounded tired. "I have no heart for them."
"This is no game, Rollo."
"No it isn't." His eyes were cold as he pushed himself to his feet and stood on shaky legs. "Look at me. Look what you did to me. Do I not deserve the truth? What did you really mean when you said that it was Odin's wish that we enter Valhalla at each other's side? Tell me, Imp." His hand shot out and he grabbed her hair. "Tell me that what I'm thinking is wrong."
"You're hurting me."
"I'll hurt you more, Valkyrie." He yanked her hair harder. "What is my destiny?"
"I… I told you. You will enter Valhalla with me at your side."
For a moment, she thought he was going to accept what she told him. But then his other hand grabbed her throat. "As what, Imp? As what?"
"As your wife."
He laughed so hard that he had to sit back down and catch his breath. "I have a wife, Imp. And even if I didn't, I would never marry you."
"Then you will never enter my father's halls."
His eyes bored into hers and narrowed. "I don't believe you. I don't need you to enter Valhalla. You need me. That is your punishment." He laughed again. "You must have really angered Odin, because I am telling you now, we will never be married."
"But…" Kara blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall. She would not cry. She was a demi god-an immortal-what man wouldn't want to be married to her? Was she not more beautiful than any woman of this realm? What made him so special, that he thought he had the right to reject her?
"And you can stop that sniveling, Imp." Gods, he was cruel. "I'm wise to your tricks."
All she had to do was walk away. She could shroud herself in raven form and take to the sky. Maybe Odin would forgive her, and even if he didn't, she would survive. She didn't need to saddle herself with this ignorant pig until the end of time. Something fluttered in the pit of her stomach, and she pushed it away. She wouldn't miss the feeling of him inside her.
But he would know what he was rejecting.
"I cannot force you to take me as your wife. And I have no wish to." She smiled as his expression changed. He was far from immune to her power. "Maybe you can heal yourself enough to go back into battle, but you cannot walk down there..." she pointed to the narrow path between the trees, "without my help."
She took a step towards him. "At least accept a parting gift from me."
~oOo~
The part of Rollo that was telling him that the Valkyrie was weaving her magic. That when she had that look in her eye, he was going to pay in some way, was being drowned out by his stupid cock, who didn't care in the slightest. And by a craving that he hadn't experienced for years. Not since he'd tried to drink himself to death following his betrayal of his brother.
Rollo recognised that need. He was never going to forget how, every day, he'd tell himself that, this time, he would stay sober, only to fall into a drunken stupor every night. He hadn't expected to feel it again, but as the Valkyrie bent and brought her mouth close to his, he felt his body crave her essence.
No lips were softer. No breath, sweeter. Rollo closed his eyes as their mouths met and ran his fingers through her hair as she…
No!
Rollo fought as she took her essence from him. The bitch was stealing the very life from him. He pulled his head away, gasping for breath. "You..."
If he had the strength, he'd slap that smug smile off of her face.
"I am a Valkyrie, and you, Rollo, are just a mere mortal. What I deign to give, I can also take away."
Or maybe, fuck her into submission. His cock was in full accord with that plan.
After his initial panic, Rollo realised that she'd actually taken very little from him. And he realised something else. Just as her essence flowed through his veins, now there was something of him inside her. He grinned; she could share his nightmares, now.
He had been genuine in his offer to set her free-for the first time in his sorry life, he'd tried to do the right thing. Even if the thought of a life without her at his side, scared him half to death.
She was arrogant, contradictory, and incited a rage in him like nothing he'd ever experienced. But he'd just had the best sex in his entire life, and there was something else, something he didn't understand . He sat up a little straighter, despite the pain. "I thought you were leaving."
Kara ignored him. Rollo frowned and followed her gaze; walking towards them through the trees, was Siggy and Floki. He grinned at her expression. She didn't look like someone who wasn't jealous.
"Rollo!" Siggy ran to him. "I was so worried." She frowned as she noticed his bare feet and her eyes widened at the realisation that, under his robe he was naked. "What on Earth are you doing? Where are your clothes?"
Rollo was good at a lot of things-he could fight and fuck better than any man-but thinking on his feet wasn't one of them. "I wanted to bathe in the hot springs." He shook his head. "I.. I think the fever returned, I don't remember how I got here."
"I'm impressed. I didn't think one as ignorant as you was capable of quick thinking."
To his surprise, Kara hadn't changed form, but he could hear her words as clearly as if she'd spoken out loud. "Shut up."
Rollo looked up at his wife and felt… nothing. He smiled and touched her face. "My sweet Siggy, I knew you'd come. I… Arrggh!" He all but convulsed at Kara's touch. "Go away."
"You would reject me for her?"
"You're freezing." Siggy pulled his cloak around him. "Floki, we have to get him back to the house." She turned. "Floki!"
Floki was staring, unseeing, at Kara. "I thought… Yes, yes." He seemed to pull himself together. "Come, my friend. Let's get you back into the warm."
Rollo allowed himself to be helped to his feet. "Floki senses you, Imp." He put his arm around Siggy's shoulders. "I have missed you, Wife." It was taking all his self control not to laugh out loud at his little imp's consternation.
"Oh, so I'm your imp now?"
Floki's head shot up. "Can you hear that?"
"I heard nothing. What did you think you heard?"
"I don't know… A whisper."
"Maybe you should stay away from the mushrooms." Rollo suppressed a groan as he tried to lift his left hand to Floki's shoulder, and a gentle warmth from Kara, as she reached out and brushed her hand against his back, eased the pain a little.
Again, Floki stiffened. "Did you feel that?"
"All I can feel is cold, and a strong urge to fuck my wife." Rollo braced himself against the jolt of power, but none was forthcoming. "Are you coming to watch, Imp?"
