Kewnthirth's breakfast table was as lavish as I had imagined. The queen had invited me to breakfast to discuss the plans going forward, and when I arrived I saw that her children were all there too. I sat directly across from the queen and her younger two daughters were on either side of her.

"Berenice!" Kwenthrith exclaimed. "You're missing your mouth, my love." I watched as Kwenthrith picked up a napkin and wiped her five year old's face. The little girl was dark haired like her mother but her eyes were dark green instead of Kwenthrith's bright blue.

Kwenthrith saw me staring and smiled. "Berenice and Coventina have the same father, you know. I have heard the whispers of the courts; but there are three fathers instead of the four." I looked around the table from the younger two to the older two sitting on either side of me. Magnus was the only blond one and stuck out like a sore thumb. Verona, the oldest girl, looked familiar with her dark hair and hazel eyes.

"I wanted to ask you what sort of life my son Magnus will have." Kwenthrith finally got to the point. "As I'm sure you remember, he is engaged to a highborn Viking lady."

"I remember, your Grace." I replied evenly. I looked at Magnus and he smiled back at me. "Your Grace, the issue with marriage arrangements with Vikings is that they never truly do arranged marriages. Ubbe and I have a girl in mind, but if we go to Kattegat and tell her she is betrothed a Saxon born, half Viking who lives across the sea, she won't be compelled to honor it."

Kwenthrith nodded thoughtfully at that. "I see, Augusta. So for Magnus to truly be accepted by his Viking wife, he'd need to go there." She stopped and looked at Magnus, who was staring at his plate.

Did he have any need to say anything? We were talking about his fate, his future. I glanced around at the other children, Berenice and Coventina were having their own discussion across their mother and Verona was throwing glances at me every now and then. The more I looked at her the more familiar she looked, but I couldn't place why.

"Magnus," Kwenthrith said, drawing the boy's attention to her. "What do you think? Augusta thinks you'd have to travel to Norway to marry your future wife."

Magnus blinked his blue eyes and threw me a quick glance. "Would I be able to come home? I know nothing about the Vikings and their way of life."

"Neither did Augusta over there." Kwenthrith pointed out. "And she will be going as well." She paused and looked at me. "You are going to Norway, yes?"

I sighed deeply and nodded. Kwenthrith stared at me for a moment before looking back to Magnus. "My love, we have discussed this-"

"And I don't want to go!" Magnus snapped, his fists hitting the table and causing everything on it to shake. I blinked at the sudden emotion, this being the most I had ever seen Magnus emote. I ended up making quick eye contact with Verona and she shook her head slightly at me.

Kwenthrith's eyes had narrowed dangerously at her son. She flashed me a rather large smile. "Augusta, would you mind leaving us? I will be sure to catch up with you later."

"Of course," I replied, hurrying out of the room to leave the family to deal with their own troubles. I let out a long sigh when I shut the door, wondering how Kwenthrith was going to convince Magnus to come along to Norway. Then again, she could just order him to come. Ubbe and I were going to have to think of something if we wanted Siggy Bjornsdottir to remain unmarried.

I had just made it down to the main hall when I found a cluster of thralls and Saxon servants. They kept themselves rather separate I noticed, with the Viking thralls speaking loudly about the Saxons and the Saxons trying to clean and pointedly ignoring their northern counterparts. Freydis and her redheaded friend were in the middle of laughing about something when Freydis spotted me, her eyes narrowing instantly.

Daisy was among the Saxons, and she was kneeling in order to scrub the stone floor. She straightened up, reaching around the rub at her lower back. Should she be bending over? I had no idea and decided to pointedly ignore Freydis and went over to help Daisy.

"Are you okay?" I asked the moment I was close enough. Daisy looked up at me with wide eyes, looking momentarily terrified at being addressed directly. I knelt down to sit beside her and she looked at me as if I was mad. "Should you be kneeling this much? You know, considering the baby?" I pointed to her belly.

Daisy looked down at her belly and exhaled hard. "I am fine, Lady Augusta. My back just hurts whenever I work for too long."

"How long have you been at this?" I asked, gesturing to the other servants scrubbing at the floor. "What even happened that needs this many people needs to clean?"

Daisy let out a small huff of amusement. "Lots of people walking in and out, means a lot of dirt gets tracked in. Did you need something, my lady?"

I shook my head. "Not really. I just-I've been seeing what's happening with you and Hvitserk from the outside. And I wanted to know if you needed help translating anything." I paused and groaned slightly. "I'm sorry, this made more sense in my head."

Daisy laughed again. "You are kind, my lady. And he did try to tell me something at the wedding, but it is hard when everything he says sounds like nonsense."

I thought about what the Viking language sounded like to someone who didn't understand and I let out my own huff of laughter. "It does sound like nonsense if you don't understand it." I agreed.

Daisy nodded and she paused for a moment before continuing. "My lady, you speak both languages, yes?" I nodded and Daisy shifted on her knees. "I was wondering if you would be able to help us understand each other. I wouldn't ask if I had any other way."

"I can help," I replied, giving her a friendly smile. "Come on, let's go find him." I had to help her to her feet, her belly weighing her down. As Daisy and I started to walk away, several servants and thralls watched, expressions ranging from guarded to outright confused. I ignored them and led Daisy towards the stairs that'll lead to where the Vikings usually stayed.

"Do you know if it's a boy or girl?" I asked, feeling silly for asking.

"I hope for a girl." Daisy replied without hesitating. When I looked confused, she smiled. "Sons of servants are ambitious and leave their mothers sooner. Daughters, they stay and help their mother as much as they can."

I frowned and felt a sharp pang of sadness. "My own mother was a servant, you know. She died when I was seven years old."

"I am sorry to hear that." Daisy said. "My parents, well, my father left before I was born and my mother died when I was around nine years. I am not entirely sure."

The moment she said her father left, I tightened my jaw and shook my head slightly. I didn't want Hvitserk to become a bad story for this girl. She was kind and laughed easily. I didn't want Hvitserk to become the Ecbert in Constance's story.

When we came closer to the sitting room where the sons of Ragnar usually sat, I had Daisy wait for me in the corridor when I entered. Hvitserk was in there along with Ivar and Sigurd. They looked up when I entered. "Hello, Augusta!" Ivar exclaimed cheerfully, immediately telling me that he was drunk. "Tell me, what do you think about the way Sigurd is turning his back on his culture?"

"We can discuss that later," I told him, running my hand through his loose and unbraided hair the moment I was close enough to him. Ivar responded by wrapping an arm around my waist and yanking me close to him. Sigurd threw a pillow at Ivar, a drunk smile on his face. Hvitserk was the most sober looking one, but he was still sprawled out on the floors carpet and watching me with bright green eyes. "Hvitserk, can I talk to you? About Daisy?"

Hvitserk immediately sobered up even more and he rolled onto his stomach and looked up at me. "Yeah, what happened? Is she okay?"

"She's fine," I replied. Ivar was now pressing his face into my side, and I absentmindedly scratched the scalp. "I just agreed to translate for the both of you so that you can figure out what you're both doing."

Hvitserk stared at me for a long moment while Sigurd gulped more wine from a flagon. Then Hvitserk nodded and stood up unsteadily. I untangled myself from Ivar with some level of difficulty while Sigurd and Hvitserk watched with different levels of amusement. When Hvitserk and I entered the corridor to where Daisy was, he paused for a moment before approaching her.

"I want to speak first, Runa." Hvitserk told me. Daisy blinked for some reason the moment she heard my Viking name. I stayed a few feet away from them, letting them have what appeared to be privacy.

"I've given it thought," Hvitserk started, and I echoed everything he said in Saxon so that Daisy could understand. "A lot of thought actually. And I'm sorry it's taken me so fucking long to come around and say this. But you can come to Kattegat with me and my family, we don't have to get married, I know you don't really want to get married anyway. But you are carrying my son, my family. You're a part of my family now, Daisy, and I think you could be happy in Kattegat with us."

When I finished echoing everything, I looked at Daisy and she was glancing between me and Hvitserk with what looked like worry in her eyes. Finally, she gave Hvitserk a slight smile and shook her head.

"I know nothing about your land or culture or language," She started and threw a pointed glance at me for good measure. I repeated her sentence and Hvitserk looked surprised when he got the translation. Daisy continued, "I have a home here, Hvitserk. I have friends and some family still. I don't want to give all that up for some frozen countryside."

Hvitserk was completely ignoring me now. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'm happy here." Daisy replied once I finished translating. She reached up and cupped Hvitserk's face gently. "You wouldn't be happy here, my dear. And I wouldn't be happy in the north with you." She raised her other hand and used it to pull Hvitserk's head closer to her level and she kissed his forehead.

When Daisy released Hvitserk, she turned to me with an apologetic smile. "Thank you for translating, my lady. I'm sorry I had to drag you into this." Before I could reply, Daisy squeezed Hvitserk's hand before turning away and leaving down the hall, swaying slightly with the weight of her belly.

Hvitserk watched her go with an unreadable expression on his face. I started to shuffle away, feeling awkward, when Hvitserk suddenly grabbed my hand and started to pull me down the corridor in the direction of the stairs.

"Wha-Hvitserk?" I let out a yelp of alarm. "What're you doing?"

"Keep up, Runa." Hvitserk said gruffly, continuing to pull me along. He was walking too fast to be kept up with, so I half walked half got dragged along all the way to the room that Hvitserk had claimed as his own.

Most of the stuff he had brought with him was packed already for the journey across the sea. Hvitserk dropped my hand when we entered the room and dropped to his knees in front of a chest, unlocking it quickly. I stepped closer and gaped at the amount of treasure in it.

"What is all that?" I asked shrilly. Hvitserk glanced up at me and smirked.

"This is my cut of everything we raided, Runa." He explained. "From Northumbria to Wessex to Mercia to here."

"I thought nobody raided anything in Mercia." I said with a frown.

"I may have ignored that along with Earl Frode and a few others." Hvitserk admitted easily. "But this is only a small part of it. I paid those women to spy on the Saxons at York with this gold. You think it'll be enough for Daisy?"

I stared at him for a long moment, floored. "You're going to give all of this to Daisy?"

Hvitserk looked at it for a moment before looking back to me. "Daisy doesn't want to come with us to Kattegat, that's okay. I honestly didn't think she'd come along anyway, but I had to ask her. I tried asking her during the wedding feast, but she couldn't really understand me."

"So why give her half of your campaign money?" I asked, reaching down and picking up a rather heavy looking necklace made of what looked like ure silver and set with fat emeralds, a fortune in itself. "Where'd you even get this?"

"That I got from a jewelry chest at Winchester." Hvitserk took it back from me and put it back into the chest. "I don't know who's it was and I don't really care." He twined the necklace around his fingers, staring at it thoughtfully. "And I want to give it to her to help her with my son." He paused and his eyes flashed for a moment. "Do you know how to free servants, Runa?"

For a moment I was thrown back to when I first met Hvitserk, how cocky he had been. Now here he was, fully willing to give up half of his money to help her with their child. After locking the chest back up, Hvitserk and I took either side of the chest and heaved it back towards the sitting room where Sigurd and Ivar had been left, taking frequent breaks to rest my arms.

Ubbe had joined Sigurd and Ivar when Hvitserk and I got back downstairs. Sigurd and Ivar were both still drunk, still yelling at each other. But they were yelling about Saxon names, so I didn't think it was something that bad.

"What is that?" Ubbe asked, looking like he hadn't touched the wine.

Hvitserk ignored his older brother and stalked up to Sigurd. "I need you to free Daisy."

Sigurd slowly turned his gaze from Ivar to Hvitserk. His mismatched eyes were round and he looked very confused. "How do I do that?"

"Runa says for a servant to be let out of servitude, they need permission of whoever they serve." Hvitserk explained in a somewhat heated voice. "Daisy works in this castle, therefore she works for you. Get up and free her, Sigurd!"

The door opened again and I turned to see Blaeja enter the room. The day after her wedding, and Blaeja looked beautiful. Her long dark hair was let down and had been brushed until it shone and she looked like there had never been a time she was afraid of these men.

"What is happening?" She asked, coming to stand beside me. "I heard a lot of yelling."

"Well, Ivar and Sigurd were yelling about Saxon names," I explained. "But now Hvitserk is yelling because he wants Daisy freed so that he can provide some steady future for him and his child."

Blaeja blinked and took in the scene in front of her. Ubbe was watching Hvitserk try to yell instructions at his drunk brother, while Ivar kept trying to continue his argument with Sigurd. Then she looked to me. "I may be able to help. It happened rarely, but I watched my father free a few servants."

"That'd be great," I agreed. "Hvitserk! Help me with the chest."

Hvitserk, who had been in the middle of trying to shake sobriety into Sigurd, let go of him and picked up one side of the chest. Ubbe got up after him with a slight groan. "I'll get the other side, Runa." Ubbe said, picking up the other side so that he and Hvitserk could move faster.

Daisy wasn't in the main hall when we got down there. Blaeja and I convinced Ubbe and Hvitserk to wait there while we went and found her, and then we went downstairs to where the servants' lived.

"I've got to ask, Blaeja," I started. "A few weeks ago, you were against Daisy getting any sort of special treatment because of her relationship with Hvitserk. What changed between then and now?"

Blaeja blinked and glanced at me. "I spoke to Sigurd a while ago, discussing the differences between our two cultures. And he explained how bastard children were nothing to really be thought of back in their land. And then I thought about if I was in Daisy's position, I'd want someone to help me too. I didn't know what to do until you explained what Hvitserk was yelling about."

"That's very kind of you, Blaeja." I said. "Are you ready for tonight?"

Blaeja made a humming noise and for a moment looked like she was the opposite of ready. "Sigurd and I talked about it last night after…" She trailed off and turned very pink. "He's settled on a name."

We came into a wide room with long tables and a massive fireplace; surely where the servants ate their meals. This was where we found Daisy, sitting at the far end of one of the tables, staring into a bowl of what looked like gruel and rubbing her rounded belly. Blaeja and I gave each other a single glance before hurrying over to her.

"Hello again, Daisy." I greeted the moment we were in earshot. Daisy looked up at us and got to her feet the moment she saw Blaeja, her brown eyes wide.

"Your Grace!" She quickly knelt a little for Blaeja and she looked at me with worry in her eyes. "What can I help you with?"

Blaeja smiled kindly at her. "Daisy, how long were you serving in this castle?"

Daisy stared at her. "Since I was twelve, your grace."

"And how old are you now?"

She hesitated. "Maybe twenty two. I am not entirely sure, your grace."

Blaeja and Daisy stared at each other for a long moment before Blaeja finally sighed. "There is no official ceremony for what I am telling you, Daisy. But you are no longer in the service of this castle. From this moment on, you are a free woman and you are free to make your own choices for yourself and your child."

Daisy looked stunned. And she openly cried when we brought her upstairs to where Ubbe and Hvitserk were waiting. Hvitserk waved her over and opened the chest for her, picking up gold and silver coins and shoving them into Daisy's hands. She kept shaking her head and kept trying to refuse him, but Hvitserk kept handing her the money she put back.

"This is truly for me?" She asked softly, after several minutes of her and Hvitserk sort of passing money between themselves.

"You are welcome to live here with your child, Daisy." Blaeja told her, gesturing to the castle. "For as long as you'd like."

Daisy blinked and some tears dropped from her eyes. She stepped forward and thanked Blaeja several times, and the future queen took both me and Ubbe back towards the stairs. I glanced over my shoulder at Hvitserk and Daisy together, and despite the fact that she had grabbed his face and kissed him, it seemed more like a goodbye.