1492
"Why don't we?" Hvitserk asked, turning away from the horizon to look at Danika.
"Why don't we what?" she responded, confused.
"Have a wedding? A fun one, for us?"
"Right now? Here? Is this because of what Columbus said?"
"Here. Or when we get back to Italy. Wherever you want."
A smile crept across her features, lit by the rising morning sun and he couldn't help but mirror it.
"Okay."
"Okay what?" he chuckled.
"Okay, let's get married, Hvitserk Son of Ragnar. Properly this time."
1493
If only it were so simple. Hvitserk supposed it could have been. Danika swore up and down that she'd be just as happy with the first priest they encountered after landing once again in Spain, but Hvitserk had other ideas. A feast for one thing. Danika in a nice dress. A new sword.
"I'm just going to go and get it back," he growled through clenched teeth, when she told him about the incident with the guard at the Palos gate.
"He's either broken it, sold it, or melted it down by now. It's a fair trade to have you back, Hvitserk," she declared. His anger ebbed away, no matter how much he wanted to hold onto it.
"A wedding without a sword. What kind of wedding is that then?"
"I'll get you a new one, beloved husband," she drawled, catching onto his joke. He poked her chest in turn.
"That is your job, isn't it?"
"Indeed. You just need to go rob a grave. I'm sure DaVinci can help you with that."
Grave-robbing was the last thing on his mind when Leonardo saw them darkening his doorstep. They were both in his arms before they could get a word out about their adventure.
"Leo, we need to breathe!" Danika protested with a smile, hugging back.
"If my embrace kills you, I'll apologize after the fact, and not before," he said, finally releasing them, "It brings me great joy to see you both well."
"As if we could ever be unwell, Athelstan," Hvitserk clapped hand to DaVinci's back.
"It was never a question of well, it was a question of whether or not I'd be seeing you. Now get inside before we draw any further attention." He ushered them into his apartments and to a chest in the corner. He began to pull things out indiscriminately, before removing the false bottom he had installed. He pulled out Danika's duffle which she promptly checked for all its contents. Finding everything in acceptable order she breathed a sigh of relief.
"I hope you don't mind…" Leonardo plied gently.
"As long as you keep your mouth shut, I don't mind that you looked," Danika cut him off.
"I must say the armor in there is terribly outdated. Tartan and leather, really?" DaVinci commented.
"Hey!" Hvitserk grabbed the bag and held it to his chest protectively, "I managed to stay alive with it, maybe you all have just become bad fighters. Anyway do you know any graves with swords that I could borrow."
"Borrow?" His eyebrows shot up. "Are you going to return it when you're done with it? Doing what with it?"
"Oh, we are getting married...again." Hvitserk answered with his impish smile.
"Why did I ask?"
"Because you're a genius with overzealous curiosity?" Danika offered as an explanation.
"Why must you be right?" DaVinci chuckled and tipped his head back.
In any case, weddings are expensive affairs. Columbus had, unsurprisingly, not paid them for their work on the return voyage. Perhaps he suspected them (rightfully) of orchestrating the sinking of the Santa Maria. Or maybe he was just a dick. Coin toss, really. So that meant it was back to work.
1497
"I have a job for you. Giuliano. If you're interested, that is. There's extra money in it for you." Cesare Borgia approached Hvitserk after his duty ended for the day. Hvitserk stood up from where he was relacing his boot.
"You had my attention at extra money, your Eminence." The Borgia boy had been promoted from bishop to cardinal, but the power hadn't dulled his mind or his sword skills. He and Hvitserk duelled often, and the Cardinal was getting better. Hvitserk didn't go easy on him anymore. He didn't dare.
"I thought that might do it." Cesare smiled.
Not far away in the sumptuous apartments afforded to the papal family, Danika was dressing the hair of the equally sumptuous Lucrezia Borgia. The blonde woman's desirable figure was outmatched only by the radiance of her face. Danika combed and set her hair with golden netting while Lucrezia gazed emptily in the mirror.
"Does your hair displease you, my lady?" Danika asked, pinning the remaining golden curls in place, hoping she wouldn't have to do the whole thing over again.
"It is not my hair, but my life which displeases me," Lucrezia responded, before falling into sullen silence again.
Danika's lips twitched into a grin at the bold words of Lucrezia, who turned in her chair to confront the offending smile.
"Does my plight amuse you?" she frowned.
"Not at all, my lady, but your words remind me of a former mistress I had in...France. She was a formidable woman, and she too was not afraid to speak her mind."
Placated, Lucrezia turned to face the mirror again as Danika began to fasten ropes of pearls around her elegant neck.
"I should like to be formidable," the 17-year-old Borgia daughter crossed her arms, though heaven forbid she slouch. Danika clasped the last necklace around her elegant neck and rested her hands on her shoulders in an attempt at comfort, thinking about what history told of Lucrezia with a knowing smile.
"I think you will be, my lady."
"It is hard to be formidable in the presence of those already so formidable." Lucrezia stood and walked to her wardrobe where she and Danika began to rifle through her many dresses. Her grip on the fabric grew increasingly tense until Danika gently removed her hands from the clothing lest she rip each one as she roughly pushed them aside.
"I assure you, my lady, you are quite formidable."
"My father and brothers would disagree. My only power is my marriage, and even that is so easily stripped from me. Once this annulment is finalized I shall be put on display one again like meat in the butcher's window."
"That is the nature of power, my lady. It is never given, always taken."
"So the only option then, is to take it for myself, in whatever way I can."
Danika withdrew a scarlet dress from the wardrobe and held it up for inspection. "Let us move away from such upsetting talk. The day is young and so are we. Let us go for a walk and enjoy the admiring eyes of those men who cannot have us and cannot hurt us. For though it is currently the duty of men to pursue, we are not prey. We are the predator who is smart enough to make prey come to them. "
Finally Lucrezia smiled.
"Power."
Danika nodded.
That night, Danika and Hvitserk traded whispers.
Hvitserk lightly kissed the tip of her nose and murmured, "this extra job from the Cardinal should be enough. I counted what we had this morning." Danika hummed softly, drifting off to the sound of his voice and paying no mind to his words.
"Daaaniiiii," he chirped. She hummed again but opened her eyes, struggling to focus on the face which lay so close to her own.
"I heard you. I was just thinking about the sword I'm going to get you that's all."
"Thinking or dreaming?"
"Does it matter, since it was about you?" she brushed at the floppy strands of hair which kept falling over his brow.
"You weren't thinking about me, you were thinking about swords."
"Semantics." She rolled over and nestled herself closer until she could feel his heartbeat through her back. He squeezed her stomach and set one final kiss on the back of her neck. This time he was almost asleep when her voice brought him back.
"Be careful, Hvitserk. Borgias are...formidable."
His response was more breath than voice.
"So are we, örlög mÍn."
In the darkness, Hvitserk crept through the alleys until he reached the place where Cesare had instructed he wait. It was underneath an archway and the cobbled street narrowed to a thin bottleneck. Rolling up his sleeves to ease the oppression of the heat and humidity of early summer, Hvitserk listened for the sound of hoofbeats.
"It is time to put your great height and strength to good use, Giuliano de Florencia. An enemy of his Holiness is expected to be riding through that archway sometime Sunday night. You will knock him from his horse when he passes through. He will not see you since you will be hiding on the other side of the wall."
"And you want me to kill him?"
"No. Just knock him from his horse. The rest will be taken care of."
Just knock a man from his horse. What an odd request. But nonetheless Hvitserk had his back to the described wall as the faintest sliver of a moon cut through the endless darkness of the sky. The sound of hooves on stone alerted him to his task. He took one fleeting look around the corner to judge the rider's distance and speed. Turning back he counted the horse's strides.
5.
He stopped leaning against the wall.
4.
He braced his feet in a wide stance.
3.
He pulled his arm back, fist closed firmly.
2.
He took a breath in.
1.
The horse and rider surged into view through the archway. Like thread through the eye of a needle, Hvitserk darted his arm through the gap between the horse's neck and the rider's torso and twisted his body forward. The rider did not release the reins and the sudden pull caused the horse to rear up on its hind legs. This combined with the strength of Hvitserk's outstretched arm caused the rider to tumble to the ground, landing soundly on his back. The man was dressed nicely, with a fine cape and a velvet shirt. Shaking out his arm, Hvitserk lifted the hood of the stunned man to find the face of Juan. Juan Borgia.
"I wish you hadn't done that Giuliano," Cesare grumbled, stepping out from a doorway, his red cardinal robes gone in favor of trousers and a black cloak with a fine shirt and jacket underneath.
"This is your brother."
"This is your brother, your Eminence," Cesare corrected.
"You said this was an enemy of the Holy Father. This is the Gonfalonier of the Church! A good man, a good soldier."
"Who says he can't be all these things at once? You've done your job now step away." Cesare moved forward, pulling a knife from behind his cloak.
"You'll regret this, you're his brother," Hvitserk warned.
"Remember your place, soldier." Cesare's eyes flicked over Hvitserk's shoulder. His shadow.
Hvitserk turned just in time to divert a masked Micheletto's attack. The man rebounded but Hvitserk kept control of the short blade. But while Hvitserk was occupied with Micheletto, Cesare pounced on his brother before Juan could even get wind back in the chest.
It was over in a matter of seconds.
Hvitserk got the upper hand and shoved Micheletto back. Cesare stood up from his place next to Juan and nodded to Micheletto, who moved forward, threw the body over the horse and walked both back through the archway and into the night.
"I misjudged you." Hvitserk faced him, prepared for another swift attack. Perhaps you are not like Heahmund at all.
"Only God can judge me, and I have the Pope on my side." Cesare smiled slyly and went once more behind his cloak. Hvitserk tense but Cesare only pulled out a small satchel. He walked forward and pressed into Hvitserk's hand.
"For your service, as promised."
Hvitserk closed his hand around the coins, prepared to throw them back in Cesare's face. But he instead felt a sharp, if familiar sensation, in his chest.
"For your silence."
Cesare withdrew both with the gold and the knife and followed Micheletto through the archway.
"What in Odin's name was I thinking!" Hvitserk stormed into the apartment just as dawn was breaking. Danika dashed in from the bedroom at the sound of his less-than-happy entrance, her dress not yet entirely laced and her hair still loose about her face.
"What has you worked up enough to invoke the old gods?" she asked, rubbing her eyes before catching sight of his blood soaked shirt which he promptly stripped off, walking into their room to fetch a clean one.
"That son of a bitch stabbed me!"
"The mark?"
"No! The Cardinal!"
Danika facepalmed and swiped her hand down across her eyes.
Hvitserk reappeared in clean clothes now looking more tired than angry. Danika slid a plate with pieces of cut apple in front of him. If it were possible to chew angrily, Hvitserk was doing it. She wove her fingers into his hair, massaging the top of his head until he stopped chomping at the apple like he wanted to break his own teeth. He eventually leaned back in the chair so that he was looking up at her.
"I did warn you…" she ran her thumbs over his closed eyes, working her way out towards his temples. He set his hands over hers, pulling them down so they were resting on his chest and she was leaning on his shoulder.
"I know. But why is that every man I end up near is just another incarnation of Ivar? Am I being punished for something?" he complained.
Danika wrapped her arms tighter around him, "I think you are there to better them more than they are here to punish you. Every Ivar needs his Hvitserk. Imagine how much worse he might have been without you."
"No, it definitely feels like I'm punished," he whined. Danika drummed her hands on his chest before straightening up and going to finish dressing for work. When she returned he was still sitting in that chair, thoughts off somewhere far away.
"Why don't you get some sleep. No use going into work when they think you're dead."
"No, I suppose not."
1498
"You look lovely, sweet sister." Cesare remarked as Danika put the final touches on Lucrezia's deep blue wedding dress, before silently stepping away. Lucrezia looked snidely through the mirror at her brother.
"Ironic is it not, a blue dress? Blue is the color of purity and chastity. This is, after all, my second marriage."
"And your first was annulled on the grounds of impotence, so fear not it is hardly uncalled for," Cesare laughed. Lucrezia rolled her eyes but smiled all the same, "Tell that to our newest baby brother."
"If only Juan were here to witness your beauty on this day," he added. Now Lucrezia stopped smiling.
"That was one joke too far, Cesare."
"Hardly, for he would not want you to be sad. Not today," he chastised, but took his leave. Only when he was safely gone did Lucrezia look over her shoulder to Danika, who was standing in the corner arms behind her back doing her best to look unobtrusive.
"Are you married?"
Danika pursed her lips before saying, "No, my lady. Not yet."
"Betrothed then?"
"In a way."
"Well then I pray your wedding day is happier than mine."
"Your wedding day is not yet done, my lady. Best not scare any happiness away before it arrives."
That night the Vatican was bathed in music and festivity as the drunken revellers of the Borgia wedding spilled from the closed doors of papal palace and into the streets. Lucrezia herself had drunk her fair share, for celebration or for courage it made no difference, but she was walking with a lilt as she made her way arm-in-arm with Danika through the halls towards the rooms designated for the bridal pair. They made their way through an interior garden when Lucrezia stumbled. She was heavier than Danika, and as Danika rushed to catch her before she fell, another set of arms appeared on Lucrezia's other side.
"What are you doing here?" Danika hissed at Hvitserk who now had his hands under Lucrezia's right arm.
"Snuck in through the crowd," Hvitserk shrugged, "Athelstan has some news, and he implied it was rather urgent."
"Can't say I'm ever sad to see your face," Danika admitted as they began to half carry the bride.
"Your face…" Lucrezia slurred, staring up at Hvitserk through half closed eyes.
They were steps away from the bridal suite when a voice echoed through the marble hall, "Lucrezia!"
"Quick, hide!" Danika didn't need to tell him twice. Danika took the weight of Lucrezia as Hvitserk darted behind the plinth of a recessed statue. Just in time for Cesare Borgia to appear around the corner in his bright red Cardinal robes. Sighing, he took up Hvitserk's place under Lucrezia's right arm. Together, he and Danika successfully got Lucrezia into the room. Danika rushed to pour the girl some water so as to help sober her up, but Cesare grabbed her wrist and took the pitcher from her hand.
"Leave her to me."
Danika hesitated, but upon remembering that Lucrezia had nothing to fear from her murderer brother, nodded and made to leave but Cesare did not let go. He leaned forward, looking slightly down towards her.
"I saw you before. You are a good maid to my sister. What is your name?" he asked in a low voice.
Keeping her eyes down, as much to show required deference as to hide her disgust at his closeness. Her free hand, hidden behind her curled into a tight fist, but she did not flinch back, gave no sign, showed no weakness.
"Daniella."
"Daniella...thank you. You are dismissed for the night."
He took the pitcher and backed away but not before moving his face past her hair. She was gone before he'd even crossed the room to his sister, to the waiting Hvitserk and the other side of the garden wall.
"You have a problem," Leonardo informed them. Hvitserk explained that DaVinci couldn't risk being seen going to and from their apartment anymore, so they rendezvoused in the shadows of one of the busier night districts of the city, where people would be coming and going for many hours yet.
"I'm assuming you're referencing a specific problem." Danika said, leaning on a barrel. Beside her, Hvitserk rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, casting his gaze around in case they were followed, though unsure why they would be.
"Let's just say rumors of your little transoceanic adventure have made their way to Italy from Spain. Normally idle talk would be of no concern, but I'd like to remind you that immortality of any kind piques the interest of the church, and as you two ought to well know, the current pope is-"
"Spanish," Hvitserk finished with understanding.
"Spain…" Danika winced.
"The Hammer of Heretics, the Sword of Rome," Hvitserk slammed his fist against the wall, "If we can expect anything like the Inquisition, this could become a very big problem if they decide to target us."
After the pressure of the night Danika cracked and coughed to cover a hollow laugh. Leo and Hvitserk gave her quizzical looks, "I apologize, this is hardly the time. It'll make sense in 600 years." She composed herself, "Alright then, so we leave. Do they even know it's us?"
She began to pace back and forth, mentally tallying what would need to be done and where they might go next. Hvitserk stepped into her path, stopping her repetitive steps, and Leonardo shook his head ruefully.
"So far as I know they don't, but Cesare does know that you were on that ship, Saverio. When you disappeared, excuses needed to be made, and I never expected the truth to become so troublesome."
Hvitserk took Danika's hand. "Even if they don't know now, our disappearance would only alert them to us. And even then we'd never make it out of Europe and to the sea with the church on our backs. Their reach is too extensive. As much as you want to flee Dani it would not be wise."
She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips tightly together. After a moment she nodded in agreement.
"You're right. We can't run. If we want to be sure that we'll be left alone we need to fight back."
"Even if you can't die, you can't exactly fight the whole clergy, their mercenaries, and whatever else their money can buy," Leonardo pointed out, "So what is it you intend to do?"
"You mean the genius hasn't discovered a solution yet?" Hvitserk teased, but Leonardo only looked back seriously.
"As much as I dislike it, if we want to guarantee our security, we will have to fight the Borgias in their own way," Hvitserk concluded. "Beat them at their own game."
"And what game would that be?" Leonardo inquired, doubtful.
"Blackmail," Danika declared, catching on.
"And I know exactly what secret to use," Hvitserk quietly said.
A/N:
I have a question I would like to put to the fandom: How on earth did the Vikings fandom reach the consensus that HVITSERK, of all people?!, was a playboy, himbo who has made his way around the whole town twice?! I mean, where is the evidence? In the whole series, we have seen him with literally only two women (weird goddess notwithstanding) and never given even a hint of an impression that he was unfaithful to either one. In fact he seemed genuinely devoted and caring towards them both and yet 8 out of every 10 tumblr imagines that I see make him out to be the worst skirt chaser in all of Kattegat. If anyone deserves that title, it should be Mr. Bjorm "I'm on wife number 5 and half" Ironside! Thank you for coming to my TedTalk I'd love to see your thoughts on the matter in the reviews.
History Time! No one knows who murdered Juan Borgia, although it seemed like everyone in Italy had a motive for doing so, including his other brother Gioffre since Juan was supposedly sleeping with Gioffre's wife. They found the body of the 23 year old gonfalonier in the Tiber river with a slit throat and nothing short of 9 stab wounds. Nothing on Giuliano Medici's 19 but still impressive. Lucrezia's first marriage to Giovanni Sforza was indeed annulled on grounds of impotence although it had more to do with the fact that Sforza was no longer politically advantageous for her father Rodrigo.
As always I welcome your questions, thoughts, criticisms, and more in the reviews.