"Sometimes a deal with the devil is better than no deal at all."

~ Lawrence Hill

"The deal is this. Aelle gives us twenty-five percent of his annual revenue in exchange for Aethelwulf's safe return." Ragnar knocked his knuckles against the surface of his desk. He glanced up to gauge his sons' reactions.

Björn seemed to accept this deal. He'd always had an unfailing faith in Ragnar. Ubbe and Hvitserk looked contemplative and Sigurd was too busy eyeing Ivar to provide a reaction regarding the deal. Ivar had his fingers steepled together and looked pensive.

"Is twenty-five percent enough to make up for what we lost?" Ubbe asked. Ragnar straightened. "It is. We lost," He splayed his hands in front of him, looking to Björn. "Five million dollars." Björn supplied. Ragnar nodded. "Five million dollars." Ragnar sat back and spread his fingertips across the top of the desk, his hand arched up.

"Aelle pulls in, roughly, one hundred million a year, give or take, so," He shrugged nonchalantly as his son leaned forward with renewed interest. "He'd be giving us around twenty-five million dollars which is five times what we lost. We'd be making money off this deal." Ragnar finished with a flourish of his hand and sat back in his chair, the leather groaned against his weight.

"I don't trust him," Ivar spoke up. Ragnar glanced up at his youngest son and regarded him with practical eyes.

Ivar had been on edge since they met for breakfast this morning. He and Aaline had sat with everyone else and kept up the languid conversation but they were careful not to interact with each other. They didn't touch each other and they made a point not to speak to each other. Björn told him that Ivar and Aaline had not shared a bed last night and that Ivar was up until the early hours torturing Aethelwulf.

This worried Ragnar.

Ragnar truly felt that Aaline and Ivar would be good together. He saw similar traits in them and they were both such independent spirits. He knew that his son was difficult but he hoped that their wedding night would be a good place to start learning more about each other. Clearly, they were not of the same mindset.

Ragnar nodded. "I do not trust him either, my son, but we are trying to make peace. We have something Aelle wants and he has something that we want. It is a mutually beneficial agreement. We will have precautions in place but I feel that this will be good for us."

Ivar nodded but did not look convinced. He dropped his hands into his lap and looked away, his jaw clenched tightly. Sigurd snorted and shook his head. Ivar slowly brought his head back around to his brother but said nothing.

Ragnar eyed his older son and cleared his throat. "Is there something you want to say, Sigurd?" His tone was not polite and was filled with a heavy warning that strongly implied that Ragnar wished for Sigurd to remain silent. Sigurd was not much for reading into his father's warnings and spoke anyway.

"Ivar just pissed because his new wife kicked him out of their bed last night."

All the brother's tensed and Ivar's nostrils flared. Ragnar rapped his knuckles sharply against the desk and pointed a threatening finger at Sigurd. "None of that. Not today. We need to discuss meeting places for Aelle."

Ubbe shifted in his seat, straightening his jacket. "We should make it public. Somewhere with lots of bystanders, innocent people so he'd be less likely to try something." Ragnar nodded, looking up towards Björn.

"I agree with Ubbe. The more public the better. It'd be harder for him to get away with something that way. He'd be more likely to do what he said than go back on it." Björn shifted his feet and nodded once as if he was reassuring himself.

Ragnar looked back at his other sons. "Anyone else?" When no one made a move to speak, Ragnar nodded and stood up. "Excellent." He buttoned his jacket. "Hvitserk, I want you to do some research, find a place nearby that is public but not so much so that Aelle gets nervous. Ubbe, Sigurd, compile a team of our most trusted men to complete the deal. Björn, once we have our place, I want you to call Aelle and remind him that he has," Ragnar looked at the calendar on his desktop. "Nine days to come up with the money before our deal is rescinded. Ivar,"

Ivar stood when his name was called and waited for his instruction. He didn't have a good feeling.

Ragnar stepped in front of his youngest son and placed his hands on his shoulders. He smiled and brought his hands up to Ivar's face, cupping his cheeks and stroking his thumbs over the bones. "Talk to your wife." He patted Ivar's cheek with affection before he could brush him off.

Sigurd snorted and Ivar turned to watch his father leave, seething.

.

Aaline was shadowboxing when Ivar came in. She didn't see him so he leaned against the wall and watched her for a while.

His anger over last night had dissipated. He understood the reasons behind her anxiety and swore to himself that he would figure out what had happened to her. She'd clearly been assaulted in the past. She said to him that no man would touch her without her permission again so someone had done it once already.

Ivar felt a boiling anger roll beneath his skin and he shook it off. There were two kinds of people in this world that Ivar hated: liars and rapists. The worst kind of people. One you could never trust, never get close to for fear of their betrayal. The other was a coward who thrived on power over defenseless women.

Power was something Ivar understood but there was something so much more satisfying about gaining it from more powerful men than yourself. Taking power from someone who already had tasted better than taking it from someone who didn't.

Aaline was his now, anyway. Whether she liked it or not, he had a responsibility to her. She was his to protect and care for. He would find out who had hurt her and he would make them suffer. He just had to wait for her to come to him. He couldn't force her to tell him, that would just push her away. No, he'd wait until she was ready and willing.

"Are you just going to stand there or do you intend on joining me?" Ivar snapped his eyes up when she spoke. She had stopped shadow boxing and was staring at him with her hands at her sides.

She didn't look angry which Ivar took as a good sign. She also didn't look apologetic with Ivar admired. He was not sorry for the things he said and did the night before and he'd lose respect for her if she was.

It was an admirable trait to mean what you said. Few people had it for fear of the outcome but Ivar had never been afraid to speak his mind and follow through on his actions. It looked like Aaline was the same. He knew that they would need to discuss what had happened last night and Aaline's assumptions but that could be tabled for a later date.

Now, he wanted to box with his wife.

He shuffled forward and stepped into the ring. She moved back and made room for him. He eyed her frame before meeting her eyes. "You stand Southpaw but you're right-handed." He had noticed her stance the first time he saw her training but he hadn't said anything up until now.

She nodded. "I'm right-handed but my visions better in my left eye." Ivar nodded and jerked his chin towards her. "Show me." She hesitated before dropping back into her stance. Ivar circled her slowly, pushing and pulling on areas to test her strength and move her into a better position.

He came back around to her front. "Have you always fought southpaw?" She straightened and shook her head. "No, I started orthodoxly but my trainer noticed that I took more hits when I did so he had me try southpaw and I never went back." Ivar grinned and she shared his smile.

He dropped back into his own stance and held his hands up on either side of his face, pushed out towards her. He nodded once and jerked his chin. "Hit me." She tilted her head and eyed him warily, a small smile making its way across her face. He nodded again and she shrugged slightly. She fell back into her stance and began throwing jabs into each of his hands.

Soon enough the gym rang out with their mixed laughter.

.

Ragnar poured two glasses of bourbon. He carried one in each hand as he turned back to his desk. He handed one to Lagertha and set the other down before taking the seat beside her. She smiled at him and tipped the glass before taking a drink.

Ragnar tilted his head towards her before he sat back in his seat, waiting.

She didn't usually stay so late in the night. She had a penthouse apartment across the city that she preferred with Astrid there to warm her bed. There was something on her mind and Ragnar was willing to listen but she had yet to speak.

She was slow to consume her drink, relishing its taste and gathering her thoughts. Ragnar was patient and he would wait.

He and Lagertha had been married for several years and she had been his closest confidant even longer. She was his second-in-command and he made no decisions without her input or advice. She was important to him.

He knew that whatever she wanted to say had something to do with Ivar and Aaline. Aaline had been speaking mostly to Torvi and Sibylle about her marriage to Ivar and Torvi kept nothing from Lagertha. The only reason Ragnar knew that Ivar had not spent the night with Aaline was because Aaline had confided in Torvi and Torvi told Björn and Lagertha. Neither one of them kept anything from Ragnar so he was going to find out from someone.

There was not much else on Lagertha's mind besides Ivar and Aaline. Much like him, she cherished the women that his sons married. Even though Björn was her only living child, she loved the rest of Ragnar's sons like they were her own. She stepped up after Aslaug died and they all appreciated her for it.

She took all the women under her wing, teaching them the workings of Lothbrok men and how to be the wife of a made man. She taught them about the business and about the law, encouraging them to get involved. She was never one to sit on the sidelines and look pretty and she didn't want the rest of the women to do that either.

Some of them were better about taking her advice than others but she cared deeply for them all. She didn't want to see them get hurt and she would be the first to step in if one of the daughters-of-Ragnar was mistreated in any way, even if it was her husband who had mistreated her.

The girls were important to Ragnar and Lagertha and they wanted them all to succeed. They both knew that Ivar and Aaline would be difficult to unravel but they anticipated the challenge.

Lagertha placed her empty glass on the edge of the desk and smiled over at Ragnar. He smiled back and continued to wait.

"I know that Ivar and Aaline's wedding night did not go as expected." Ragnar snorted and shook his head, sitting back in his chair. Lagertha gave him a look that still made Björn shudder but continued on. "Honestly, I don't know what I expected but that wasn't quite what I thought would happen."

Ragnar sighed loudly and slouched low in his seat like a child at the dinner table. "I didn't expect them to have sex but I didn't think she would kick him out." Lagertha arched a perfect blonde eyebrow and cocked her head to the side. Ragnar looked chagrined and shrugged. "What?"

She clucked her tongue and sat up straight, sitting on the edge of her chair like a proper lady. "Is that what Björn told you? That she kicked him out?"

"Well, why else would they sleep in different rooms?" Ragnar was bemused. Björn hadn't gone into great detail but he said that words were exchanged and Ivar slept in his room while Aaline slept in hers, the only sign of her presence having been her crumpled and ripped wedding dress.

Lagertha clucked again and Ragnar huffed. "She was frightened." Lagertha gave him a meaningful look as she picked up his full bourbon glass and began drinking it. "Why?" Ragnar sat up straight and folded his hands. If Aaline was scared of Ivar then they might have a problem.

"I think she thought he would take advantage of her." Ragnar gave Lagertha disbelieving eyes and she cocked her head to the side. "Be honest, Ragnar, knowing her history and the situation, did you really think she wouldn't be afraid."

Ragnar grunted and thought back.

He did a mental catalog of Aaline's history and agreed that it was a plausible reaction. Having known Ivar so little and being thrust into unfamiliar territory, he understood why Aaline would be frightened. "Poor girl." He murmured. Lagertha grunted and drained his bourbon.

"I have a good feeling though." She said. Ragnar looked over at her and grinned. "Do you?" He stood up and took both empty glasses back to the bar cart.

"Yes. They are too similar and too different. They have enough in common to find even footing but are different enough to keep each other on their toes." She nodded, her face distant, lost in the possibilities. Ragnar chuckled as he refilled both glasses.

"Yes, I think this will turn out very well. For both of them." Lagertha said, taking Ragnar's offered glass. They clinked glasses and drank deeply.