Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise from either fandom. Most importantly, this fic is a translation of the fascinating Almas cruzadas by Sandy97 and is uploaded here with her permission; any edits to the material are only what is required to make the translation flow appropriately.

Feedback: Always appreciated.

Crossed Souls

Chapter 4: Wedding

Stoick distributed blankets to fearful citizens with the help of Alea and Gobber. The rest of the Vikings had retired to rest in the west wing of the castle, which they had enabled to receive them. Despite the fact that the castle was currently completely crowded and destroyed by need, the Vikings were able to see the wealth that it once housed. Stoick was trying to remember those rooms as he saw them years ago, full of luxury, clean and with large curtains of silk and embroidered gold. Now all that opulence was gone. Dozens of people scattered on the floor of the different rooms, sharing the scarce food as best they could and using the silk and gold curtains to cover themselves as blankets.

Stoick looked out the large bare windows, scanning the already closed night, wondering where Hiccup would be. He didn't want to alarm the Vikings, but the fact that he had not yet arrived worried him, as he feared that he might have been captured by Drago or worse. He sighed uneasily. Perhaps he was simply sheltering himself from the blizzard that was threateningly hitting the exterior of the ice dome.

Nor did he know how he was going to give the news to his son that he had to marry that queen to seal the peace between their peoples. Stoick was aware that this would destroy his son's heart and not only that, but somehow it would also destroy his own, since Hiccup would never forgive him. He was fortunate to be able to marry Valka, his wife, for love, but he understood that this was not usual and he should have made his son aware that in the vast majority of cases the chiefs of the tribes marry for convenience, to sign peace and economic interests between peoples.

"He will come," said Gobber behind him, putting a hand on Stoick's shoulder.

"He will never forgive me," Stoick replied, looking sadly through the window.

Gobber didn't answer him, simply tapped him gently on the shoulder for support and limped away to make room for his friend.

"Queen Elsa, all that effort has been reckless," Miranda scolded as she placed a trembling gauze over her forehead.

Elsa burned with fever in bed. As soon as the pact with the Vikings was closed, Anna had hurried her sister along with the medicine woman, since she could hardly stand on her own and together they had knocked her down to rest.

"There was nothing else I could do," Elsa defended herself softly.

"Don't speak," the healer ordered. "You have to rest."

Elsa obeyed without question. She was completely exhausted and the worst part was that she felt out of control. Her whole body ached and her head was spinning. Not only had her wounds not yet healed, but her powers didn't obey her intentions but her emotions. It had been a long time since she felt this fragile and yet there she was, lying unable to move and unleashing an ice storm outside a dome that she didn't know how much longer she could keep standing.

"Anna, you should go to rest too," Miranda asked. Huge black lines of exhaustion surrounded Anna's eyes, and like her sister she was completely dejected.

"Can you leave us alone for a moment?" The princess asked the healer and Kristoff, who was also in the room.

They both exchanged glances and nodded, leaving the two sisters alone. They were silent for a long time, until Anna mustered the courage and strength to speak.

"You cannot marry, Elsa," she said flatly.

Elsa sighed wearily, her eyes closed. The words of the Viking council still echoed in her head and she could clearly see the poisoned eyes of the oldest of the Vikings expressing that they accepted the proposition. "The council put the queen's nuptial proposal to a vote," said the old man, "and after a moment of deliberation, we accepted the offer in exchange for peace and the twinning of our peoples."

Now she wondered if this really was the Vikings' plan from the start and she had been reckless in planning to marry the Dragonmaster.

"You know we have no other options," replied the queen.

Anna knew her sister was right, but she felt that things couldn't end that way.

"Elsa, it was you who told me that I couldn't marry someone I just met," she argued. "And you haven't even met him yet."

"Well, at least I won't marry a man who could be our father," she tried to sound amused. "I'd pay to have seen our faces."

Anna drew a wry smile. She didn't understand how Elsa could have the strength to joke in such a serious moment. Surely it was the fever.

During the Viking Council response, both Elsa and Anna had thought that Stoick was the dragonmaster. No doubt his bearing was that of an entire Viking and his dragon was three times larger than that of the rest. For this reason, they never questioned whether or not he was the Dragonmaster, until the oldest of the Vikings told them that the wedding would take place when the dragonmaster arrived. Both princesses looked at each other without understanding, until Stoick himself explained that the Viking who was still to arrive was the dragonmaster and, in addition, his own son.

"Well, I don't know which is worse," Anna huffed, sitting down in a chair next to her sister. Her head ached too. "What will the young version of Stoick be like?"

Elsa laughed to herself, a little tired. "I prefer not to think about it."

"Well, surely as big, hairy, and Viking as the father, only younger and arrogant. If he calls himself a dragonmaster, I don't even want to think about it..."

"I can't imagine a young version of Stoick…" Anna sneered at the idea of a Stoick without a beard or something like that.

The queen laughed softly. It was rare to hear Elsa laugh in a situation like this. It was probably exhaustion, but her sister liked seeing her like this, even if it was only for a moment. Deep down Anna felt deep sadness at Elsa's fate. All her life she had been sacrificing herself for everyone and it seemed that she would never change.

"Oh Anna..." she said. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Sure! Whatever," she said, moving closer to her sister.

Elsa sat up a little, showing that her eyes were wet.

"I…" She tried to search for the words. "I don't know what I have to do…you know..."

Anna understood what her sister was referring to. And she couldn't help but blush.

"This… you mean…" Anna didn't know what to say either.

Elsa nodded, embarrassed.

"Do you think I should ask Miranda for advice?" Elsa asked doubtfully. "I'm terrified."

"Well… of course, she sure can give you better advice than me…"

Elsa perceived something strange in her sister.

"Anna, but you and Kristoff…" She was embarrassed to ask.

"No!" She hastened to reply, much to Elsa's surprise. "We tried... several times… but no… we haven't… come on… we know what to do, but we're not sure..."

Elsa realized that she didn't want to know more about it.

"Okay, okay, don't worry, I'll talk to Miranda," she replied hastily, cutting off her sister.

Anna sighed in relief. It was a little awkward to talk about that with Elsa.

Suddenly a great roar surprised them. Something had hit the ice dome. Both princesses went to the window. Elsa got dizzy a little, but asked Anna to help her get dressed again.

Running, they descended the stairs to the Hall, where the gates were already open to the inner garden, where people were gathering.

"Your Majesty," came a voice behind her.

They both turned around. They were Stoick and Gobber.

"You must open the dome," he said, "it is not a threat, it is my son."

Elsa looked up at the sky, seeing the luminous signs spreading out into the dome. She tried to focus and calm down. She took a deep breath and slowly outside the dome the blizzard stopped. Everyone present looked at the queen. The Vikings grieved at such a power and looked up again to see that indeed the sky had calmed down and a night fury and its rider could be seen in it.

That effort tortured Elsa, but the fact that the storm calmed down gave her some peace. Taking care not to lose her balance, she took off both gloves, and raised her bandaged hands to the sky, opening the ice dome from above to make way for the rider. Arendelle's villagers screamed in awe and terror as the creature flew in and skirted the castle. The rest of the Vikings and their dragons had entered on foot, but the fact of seeing one of them fly was completely frightening for those who had lost everything to those beasts.

Elsa put her gloves back on, to avoid being seen hurt. This time not only was Anna holding her, but Kristoff reached out to hold her by the other arm. She shot a worried look at Anna, who replied with the same anguish.

All the villagers pulled away when the dragon and its rider began to descend. Stoick made his way through the crowd, lunging toward the dragon once it landed.

"Hiccup!" he shouted in concern.

People held their breath at the image of that black dragon with green eyes and threatening gaze. Without a doubt, for those people it was the living image of the devil and death. However, all eyes were immediately redirected towards his rider, who jumped down from the dragon. He was all in black, covered in a suit that was more reminiscent of an animal than a human. He was wearing a helmet of the same color, which he took off instantly when he set foot on the ground.

"Dad!" He exclaimed.

The boy was drenched and his hands and armor were covered in blood.

"Hiccup, what happened?" Stoick said as he held him by the shoulders in a hug.

"Dad, you won't believe it…

"And the blood?" Asked the Viking chief worriedly.

"Don't worry, it's not mine," he kept trying to get air and explain further, even as everyone watched them. "I was on my way when Toothless sensed something in the forest; it was all completely charred and the trees uprooted, it was an atrocity… I'm sure it was Drago."

"Son…" Stoick tried to stop Hiccup, since the Viking was skipping all the protocols.

"There was blood and marks everywhere Dad, it was like some kind of Seidr magic ritual. We have to hurry, I'm afraid it has something to do with the immortality of Drago's dragons..."

"Hiccup…"

"That was a carnage, there was blood and guts everywhere and then all those symbols, and the worst thing is that there was another night fury…"

That last sentence puzzled Stoick, who for the first time forgot where they were and concentrated on his son's words.

"Another night fury?" Asked the Viking, bewildered.

However, Hiccup didn't have time to answer him, since a voice behind his father stood between them.

"Dragonmaster."

Stoick when hearing the voice of the queen separated from his son, who didn't understand anything.

It was then that Hiccup first saw the ice queen.

For an instant he was overwhelmed by her strange beauty. Queen Elsa had moon-pale skin and her hair shone so blonde that it could almost be mistaken for snow. Still, Hiccup couldn't tear his gaze from her deep blue eyes, which, though they seemed beautiful to him at first, concealed a frigid and sombre determination that made all the hair on his body stand on end. Without a doubt, Elsa was a magical creature, since no other human being radiated that predatory and graceful character that the queen had.

Elsa and Anna for their part could not hide the amazement caused by the figure of Hiccup. Stoick's son was nothing like his father; on the contrary, he was a small and short young man, with a complexion that distanced him from the Viking canons. No doubt he shared his father's temperament, but there was a strange innocence in his eyes that Elsa couldn't decipher. The princesses also noticed his strange prosthesis and costume, completely oblivious to anything they may have seen before.

Then all eyes were redirected to Toothless, who, aware of being observed, was lurking. Hiccup, added to the bewilderment, looked at his father.

"She is Queen Elsa of Arendelle, son," he explained.

Hiccup averted his gaze from his father to the queen, bowing slightly, as he was supposed to do to show respect. However, no one spoke or said anything. Hiccup had not realized that he was the center of all eyes until that moment. He scrutinized the queen again, who was still wearing that cold, nonexistent expression and knew something was wrong. The Viking looked at his father again. Hadn't anyone heard him when he said he had found a black magic ritual in the middle of the forest? Or had something worse happened?

"What's going on?" he asked seriously almost in a whisper to his father, keeping an eye on the ice queen and all of Arendelle.

Stoick sighed and raised his voice, by way of proclamation.

"This is my son Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, future chief of Berk and dragonmaster."

"Dad… there's no time for this…" Hiccup complained under his breath, barely moving.

Toothless was uneasy, as if something in this place disturbed him. All the villagers, together with the princesses, watched Stoick closely.

"This afternoon Arendelle and the people of Berk have signed a solid peace and union agreement to defeat Drago and the great threat that it poses to our peoples."

"Dad… what's going on?" Hiccup said, starting to suspect something was wrong

"Hiccup," he said then, looking measuredly at his son. "Tomorrow evening you will marry Queen Elsa."

Hiccup was in a rage, so much so that the Viking council decided to lock him in one of the castle rooms.

The Viking had not only publicly complained and opposed his engagement to the Queen, but had also flatly refused to have Toothless locked in a cage of ice. The queen, exhausted and overwhelmed by the situation, had asked the royal guard to take Hiccup to relax in the room where he was still locked up. The Viking council had agreed, and Toothless, despite Hiccup's plea, was locked up with the rest of dragons.

That revolt generated some discomfort among the crowd, causing Vikings and villagers to distrust each other. This climate already existed before Hiccup's arrival, but now that the line of peace was reeling, everyone was restless. In addition, there was another reason that worried the vast majority: Hiccup didn't seem to be exactly the savior everyone expected.

Anna herself had her doubts if she had done well to ask the Vikings and the Great Dragonmaster for help. Hiccup was not the kind of hero who seemed to be able to defeat an army of dragons; that night, wet with rain and stained with blood while begging for mercy for his dragon, he just seemed like a child.

Elsa also seemed disappointed, except that her own exhaustion had clouded her judgment. She had acted authoritative and cold without quite knowing why. Deep down, the queen feared the life of unhappiness that awaited her with Hiccup, not only because he didn't love her, but also because he seemed to hate her.

From that moment Elsa was in bed, asleep thanks to a concoction that Miranda had offered her to rest. Elsa was in no condition to marry, not even to get out of bed, but that was something she was unwilling to publicly expose.

That morning the sun's rays didn't enter through the dome, since the gale had returned outside, leaving the castle covered in a grey and gloomy light.

"I think I was wrong," Anna confessed to Kristoff as they prepared the small chapel in the castle.

Arendelle's church was one of the most beautiful of all the surrounding towns, but like most of the town, it had been charred by dragons and now its bell tower was nothing more than a series of debris falling on the ground. For this reason they had enabled the royal chapel so that the citizens had a place where they could take refuge in the mercy of God. However, that morning there was no mass, since it was necessary to prepare everything hastily for the wedding that would take place at sunset.

The Vikings didn't believe in the same God as Arendelle, so throughout the morning Anna was trying to reach an agreement with the Viking council on how to make the union. The Vikings accepted that the wedding would be officiated by one of the Christian priests, but that instead of rings, the Viking rite of the tie would be used to unite destinies. After this the vows would be made in both languages and a modest feast would be organized for all the villagers. Everyone seemed happy so they started the preparations as quickly as they could.

"You did what you thought was right, Anna," Kristoff encouraged her, as she placed chairs in the chapel. "You should sleep, your sister needs you tonight."

"There's so much to do..." she justified herself.

Anna seemed to have grown years in just a few weeks. Huge black grooves had invaded her eyes, the look of which seemed to have lost the shine it always had. Kristoff's heart sank from seeing her like this.

"I'll take care of it," said the boy, approaching her and making Anna stop moving chairs. There are many hands that will want to help, you go to rest.

"But Kristoff… how do you want me to fall asleep knowing that in a few hours Elsa will be the property of those barbarians?" she said in a broken voice. "It's all my fault."

"Anna, you just did what you thought was right, you couldn't know this would happen."

"And what did I expect to happen? What? That they would come and help us without asking for anything in return?" she asked herself out loud. "How can I be such an idiot...?"

"Anna…" He tried to calm her, "it was the prophecy that the Trolls read on the stones; I'm sure that everything has a reason."

"What if it doesn't?" She rejected his touch. "In a few hours Arendelle will have a sacred bond with the Vikings and... and what if even they can't fight that thing? What if that dragonmaster doesn't know what to do? Or… or if Elsa exceeds her powers and..." Anna was on the verge of tears. "I can't lose Elsa again."

Kristoff walked over to her and hugged her.

"You are not going to lose Elsa."

Kristoff sighed wearily. Anna has never been so pessimistic.

"I'm going to prevent that wedding," said Anna, very sure of herself.

For once thing, the boy wanted to believe that was possible, but realized that perhaps Anna was wrong. Maybe he should tell her about what Trolls saw in stones.

"Anna, don't rush," he asked. "There is something…" he measured the words, "…that I have not told you.

The princess looked at him without understanding, between surprised and angry.

"What haven't you told me?" She asked with a frown.

The boy took a moment, searching for the best way to make sense of it.

"When I went to see the Trolls," he began to relate, "they conjured the stones to find a way to stop the evil that haunted us."

Anna nodded. That part of the story was already known.

"And…?" she urged him to continue.

"And… well, they said that only the Dragonmaster could help us finish Drago." He paused briefly before continuing. "But the stones saw something else."

"For heaven's sake," Anna despaired, "tell me now, Kristoff."

The boy took a breath.

"They said that peace would only be sealed with blood."

Anna turned pale upon hearing that. Did that mean her sister was in danger? Kristoff immediately realized that his girlfriend was not following the same thought as him.

"I know it may sound dreadful," he said, "but perhaps he was not referring to death, but to union."

The princess considered this for a few seconds. It also seemed unfair to her, because whatever that blood was, it would be her sister's.

Hiccup walked in circles in the room, unable to contain his anxiety.

He hadn't slept through the night and couldn't stop thinking about how the hell he could stop all that madness. He had tried to escape through the window, but it was closed to the brim and besides, even if he managed to escape from there and get Toothless out of his prison of ice, they could never get out of the dome. He had never felt so imprisoned and cornered.

Deep down, he also knew that, even if he wanted to, he couldn't just run away like that. If he left he would condemn his father and the rest of the Vikings, whom they would take as traitors and possibly start an absurd war between peoples. Worst of all, he couldn't stop thinking about Astrid.

"Gods!" he cursed desperately.

How could he do that to her? He didn't even have a way to tell her what was going on. She would never forgive him.

Hiccup couldn't breathe from the pressure on his chest. His eyes began to moisten. He ran his hands over his head, trying to find an answer that would comfort him, but it didn't. What was he supposed to do? Even if he could defeat Drago again, he would always be tied to that woman. That queen with a cynical and icy gaze. What was the council thinking? How was a marriage supposed to bring peace? All they had to do was show their respect and goodwill and work together to stop a war. Was it so difficult? Hiccup was suffocating between those four walls. He no longer even had the strength to scream helplessly, like hours before.

Suddenly the doorknob moved and a figure entered the room. It was Stoick.

"Son…" he said delicately as two guards closed behind him.

His father was the last person he wanted to see.

"I'm not your son anymore, Dad," Hiccup spat, sulking, recovering his composure.

He didn't want his father to see him crying so he ran his hands over his eyes.

"Hiccup, I know this is not fair to you, but sometimes a leader has to accept his responsibilities."

Hearing that, Hiccup gave an ironic snort.

"Oh come on, of course," he argued as he turned his back on his father and looked out the window. "If you've come to give me a talk about my responsibilities, please go away."

Stoick didn't respond to his son's accusation. He knew Hiccup perfectly and knew that underneath all that irony and anger the boy was devastated.

"I tried to avoid it, but we didn't have many options."

Hiccup couldn't help but interrupt that pitiful speech.

"What could you not avoid? By the gods, Dad! We have come to this island to defend people from Drago, people whom we do not know or to whom we owe anything, and do you agree that we have to give them something else in return? A test of eternal loyalty? Really?"

"Hiccup, calm down-"

"No, Dad, I can't calm down," Hiccup yelled, trying to contain himself. "I'm not going to marry that queen. We leave here now. It's over."

"Hiccup, things aren't that easy; the peoples do not swear allegiance only with words, but wars are started with the ease of the wind"

"And what more do they want? What more loyalty than reaching your town and offering them resources, food, weapons, and swearing that we will fight alongside you against Drago and his army of dragons?" Hiccup was speaking again in a rush. "Besides, if that queen intends to betray us, she will marry me or not. In fact, if she betrays us, what a joy to know that I'll be the first one to get killed in my sleep."

Stoick began to fill with anger as well.

"If you had arrived when you should, you yourself would have seen that we didn't have many more options," he returned. "For once you could have listened to what you are told and not take everything by yourself."

Hiccup could not believe his father's accusation.

"Is it my fault now? Oh, please, Dad, even if I had arrived on time, I don't think you would have listened to me, or you need I remind you that you have me locked up here for giving you an opinion?"

"It was not the way to speak to a queen in front of her people," Stoick retorted.

Not only had Hiccup refused the idea of marrying Elsa, but he'd done it while being forced to separate from his dragon and in front of all Arendelle's eyes.

"And what did you want me to do?" Hiccup countered. "Approach her and swear eternal love?"

"At least you could have shown her a little respect," Stoick growled, losing his patience. "I remind you that she will be your future wife in a few hours."

Something inside Hiccup was broken in that instant.

"You already knew…" the Viking spat, staring at his father. "So you gave me all the talk about Astrid."

"Do not say such foolishness"

"Why else would you tell me that?" Hiccup interrupted, trembling with anger. "You knew you would have to marry me off and you wanted me to stop seeing Astrid."

"Hiccup, you're mistaken," his father warned. "I was just trying to keep you from sacrificing your responsibilities for a woman."

"For a woman?" Hiccup couldn't believe it. "By all the gods, Dad. A woman? She is not a woman, she is Astrid!"

"Hiccup…"

"I've been in love with Astrid since I was ten! How can you say she's just a woman?"

"That's enough!" Stoick yelled sternly at him, silencing his son, who unconsciously took a step back. "You will assume your responsibilities as chief at once and marry the queen. And it is over!"

Hiccup swallowed hard. It had been years since her father had spoken to him like that. He wanted to say something else but didn't feel like continuing to argue. He felt like he was going to start crying at any moment. Silence came between them and as if the walls were talking a deep echo took over the room.

"Please go away," Hiccup asked calmly, expressionless.

Stoick sighed dejectedly.

"Hiccup…" He tried to find the words, conciliatory. "I promise that I myself have opposed this engagement, but the council had its doubts regarding the queen. We cannot afford to face such fears, much less be afraid to fight side by side with an enemy when a greater threat awaits us. I know you don't understand and I don't blame you, because it's unfair. I have been unfair. But sometimes a chief has to accept responsibilities and it is in your hands to stop a futile war."

Hiccup felt his heart shrink. He sniffed, unable to look at his father.

"Maybe I wasn't born to be a chief, Dad."

Stoick didn't know what to answer. He made a show of approaching his son, but Hiccup's words stopped him:

"Please go," the Viking pleaded.

Stoick opened his mouth to say something, but could not. He shuffled away to the door, which opened again to let him out. After this Hiccup heard the key close again.

Even if he wanted to, there was no way to escape his fate.

It was less than two hours before sunset when Miranda woke Elsa.

The Ice Queen struggled to her feet, totally shattered by the effort of the previous day. Her whole body was resentful and sore, and her head was spinning from the pain reliever the medicine woman had given her.

Miranda managed to get the queen out of bed with the help of other women, who had offered to prepare the queen for her wedding. Some of them fell silent when they saw the naked, bruised body of their queen. Elsa felt a great shame when she was exposed in that way, but she could not do anything, since she could barely move on her own. With great care they washed and groomed her, gathering her hair into a braided headdress. Usually women used to wear loose hair on their wedding day as a symbol of dedication and sensual power, but Elsa preferred not to be seen in that way and less in front of a Viking.

She had heard terrible things about Viking weddings and the gossip from the women around her didn't help much. She was extremely nervous and that wouldn't help her physical recovery, particularly when her powers were still so uncontrolled.

When she was ready, the women brought her closer to a mirror, so that she could see herself better.

"You are beautiful, Queen Elsa," said a woman.

But Elsa didn't look beautiful. Parts of her body appeared from under the dress that she didn't want to show, so she used her magic to put the dress back together and cover any bit of skin she could with white. She didn't want her people to see her injured, nor did she want the Vikings to make obscene comments about her body.

"Your husband is going to fall at your feet," said another without malicious intent.

Elsa didn't want to think about Hiccup. The worst thing is that she couldn't get the hateful look from him out of her head. He had looked at her like she was a monster. She still remembered how the guards had taken him away while asking them not to cage his dragon.

Perhaps it had been too drastic and the Viking was right in claiming that the creature was tame and meek. However, she was not willing to take risks.

Women began to leave the room, Elsa would follow when Miranda grabbed her by the arm.

"Now let's go," she said to the other women.

Elsa looked at her gratefully. She really needed to be alone with this woman for a few seconds, although she didn't dare to ask about it.

"Here," said the medicine woman, taking a small boat out of her skirt. "Drink it before tonight, it will prevent you from getting pregnant."

Elsa nodded, tucking the bottle between the folds of her dress.

"Miranda I…" she tried to say.

"You have questions, right?" The woman guessed.

Elsa turned to nod. Miranda gave her a sad look, trying to figure out how to explain what she had to do to the queen.

"You should have asked me before, because it is a bit long to explain," said the medicine woman, realizing how little time they had before the wedding. "How much do you know?"

"Not very much…" she opened up.

Miranda took a deep breath, feeling deep sorrow for her queen's fate.

"Okay..." she snorted. "I don't have time to explain everything, but I do have the basics."

Elsa listened carefully.

"I don't know what that boy is like, nor do I know what customs the Vikings have, but generally, on these occasions, he will take the first step."

Elsa nodded, unsure if this was really teaching her anything.

"You let yourself go and try to be calm, he will take the initiative… the more relaxed you are the less it will hurt."

"It will hurt me?" Elsa asked, puzzled, reinforcing Miranda's new image of her as a scared girl.

"The first few times it hurts a little, but it depends, each woman is different."

Elsa turned to nod, trying to decipher everything. Her idea about sex was something abstract that no one had ever explained to her but that she had also been prohibited from even listening to. At that moment she hated having been so obedient, otherwise she would at least know what she was up against.

"If you don't want him to see you naked, get in bed before he gets there and lie down comfortably."

The queen's stomach churned from hearing all this. Elsa was very ashamed of her nakedness.

"Will he be naked too?"

Miranda twisted her face. And nodded.

"Then what?" Elsa asked. "Do I stay still and wait for it to happen?"

The medicine woman gave her a tender smile, as if she didn't know what else to say to her.

Elsa was terrified.

"Don't let him mistreat you, my lady," she said almost in a whisper.

Elsa nodded, not knowing what that meant.

"I haven't heard very nice things about the Vikings," she continued, "but don't give him the pleasure of looking docile."

It was the last thing she said when a group of guards came to the door to escort her to the chapel.

Hiccup waited on a kind of makeshift altar. Behind him several guards were watching him, as if they knew the Viking might try to escape. The Vikings were in that room, too, but Hiccup avoided gazing at them. Somehow, each and every one of them had betrayed him. His own father was sitting there, staring at him at Hiccup's impassiveness. The boy was serious and cold. Those who knew him had never seen that passivity in him, as if he were dead.

They had dressed the Viking with white pants and a shirt of the same color. Vikings always wore an embroidered cape and a flower crown on their wedding day, but at the time both garments were dispensed with. Hiccup felt very stupid standing there. He never imagined his wedding like this, in a Catholic chapel, with clothes that didn't belong to him and a woman he didn't love.

For a moment he fantasized about seeing Astrid enter the doors, with that joy and strength of hers, dressed in white and smiling at him. However, the reality was different and the queen soon arrived to eclipse the eyes of all present.

She was dressed in a long white dress that didn't reveal a trace of skin and had all her hair tied up, a declaration of intent for the Viking culture. In addition, she wore gloves and a crown, instead of the bridal veil typical of her Catholic tradition.

The Vikings didn't understand why the queen was going to cover her face and, due to the ignorance of her customs, they asked her to show her face uncovered, something that the queen herself appreciated.

When she reached Hiccup they both looked at each other for a moment, but looked away immediately. The Viking looked serious and sad, while his future wife exuded harshness and coldness. They instantly redirected their gaze to the priest, who began to recite the mass.

Most Vikings didn't understand the words the man was reading. Hiccup managed to grasp some things, since as a child he studied some Latin, but even so he was so scattered in his thoughts that he was slightly scared when the priest brought the tie to him to join their hands. The man coughed covertly. Hiccup didn't understand why the priest did this until he looked at the queen.

That wake-up call was directed at her. He saw her swallow hard and Hiccup instantly caught a glimpse of her nervousness. Queen Elsa looked at the priest and removed her gloves. The Viking automatically looked at Elsa's hands, surprised to see them bandaged and full of cuts and dried blood under the nails. They were fine, pretty hands, or at least they would be once healed.

"Take your hands," asked the priest.

Elsa made use of all her self-control and hands grabbed Hiccup. The Viking was surprised by the cold touch of the queen. Those hands were freezing. A strange shiver ran down his spine. Hiccup looked at Elsa, but she seemed extremely focused on her hands.

The priest ran the Viking tradition of the lasso as best he could, getting a bit of a mess at first. Then both said their vows, Elsa in Norse classic and Hiccup in Viking lingo.

"You can kiss the bride," the priest confirmed, raising his arms and letting people know that the young couple was thus united forever.

Hiccup was still holding Elsa's hands. His own hands were freezing cold. She was not looking at him and he thanked it in the background, so he went close to her and gave her a little kiss on the forehead. Everyone got up from their seats and applauded.

That scene could seem like a love story save for the fact many of those present were sitting on the floor and many others had not even been able to enter the chapel and crowded at the door. In addition, the lack of resources meant that the room was only lit by a few candles, giving a gloomy appearance to the ceremony, as though to match the mood of the couple.

There was a great uproar. That day might not have been a happy day for either of the two young rulers, but at least it seemed that the celebration had brought some hope to its people, who were grateful to be able to forget for a moment the war and misery in which they lived.

Hiccup and Elsa hastily dropped their hands. Elsa ran to put on the gloves, causing one of them to fall to the ground. Hiccup bent down to pick it up.

"Your glove," he said, handing it back.

"Thank you," she replied, putting it on immediately.

Hiccup didn't want to speak to her. In fact, a strange anger came over him every time he saw her, as if she was responsible for having destroyed his life, but his curious nature could not help but ask.

"How did you do that to yourself?" He asked with sincere concern, indicating her hands.

"It's none of your business," Elsa replied defensively.

Hiccup then remembered that he had married a witch.

At that moment Anna approached, who ran to hug her sister.

The Viking didn't say goodbye, simply took the opportunity to lose himself in the crowd.

Food was a rare commodity in the castle, but on the occasion of the celebration of the union of both peoples that night the soup had vegetables and some potatoes had been roasted over the fire. Quite a feast.

The children ran from one side to another amused by the improvised music that some Vikings sang. Hiccup had heard those songs hundreds of times, songs of pirates and mermaids, of Vikings and gods. Alea's coarse laughter filled everything, and for some strange reason all of Arendelle's men gawked at her, as if they had never seen a woman drink a horn of mead from the pull. The Vikings' drink was also scarce in those lands, but it seemed that all of them had agreed to spend the barrel they had brought with them that night. Not only do they drank, but suddenly the whole room had been added to that happy concoction.

They had managed to gather everyone in the great hall of the palace, which for weeks had functioned as a collective kitchen. Hiccup sat at the back of the table, along with the rest of the Vikings as he silently finished his soup. The Viking council was already drunk. They laughed and remembered old battles as a group of children began to form next to them. The children, much more open than the adults, listened enraptured those stories about fire-breathing dragons and treasures from distant lands. The rest of the villagers, despite continuing to feign a certain suspicion of foreigners, kept looking at them and listening to their stories in amazement. Only Hiccup and his father seemed to be sober.

They had not looked at each other all night and except for a slight attempt to comment on a drunk, both remained firm in their vow of silence.

Across the room, at another large table, Elsa and Anna sat, along with other members of their court. Usually the groom and bride should have sat at the same table, but given the tensions in the chapel, no one seemed willing to object.

"Your Highness, you are beautiful," said a young woman to Elsa who was sitting at the table.

"You too Rose," Elsa returned polite.

The young woman came to offer Elsa an embroidered scarf as a wedding gift. They always gave away the bride and groom outfits, but because of the precariousness just some idle rich and old maids had come to Elsa to provide some detail. The queen was smiling, trying to hide her exhaustion. Anna seemed to notice her, shaking her hand under the table. They smiled at each other.

Occasionally Elsa couldn't help but look at the back of the room, where Hiccup was. It was very uncomfortable since on some occasion they met each other's eyes, but they both hid and ran to hide it.

Something inside her told her that deep down everything could have been worse, but she still couldn't think of the idea of loving that man. Elsa had never really been in love, as far as she knew. In fact, she had struggled so hard not to feel that she didn't even know if she was capable of it. On top of that, for some time she felt that it was something that was not right in her, but struggled to hide it.

Hiccup hadn't even considered the idea of loving someone else. Each and every one of his thoughts that night was directed at Astrid and no matter how hard he tried, he didn't know how to handle the situation.

"Your Majesty," a guard suddenly said.

"Are you talking about me?" Hiccup asked, puzzled.

"Yes, Your Majesty," he replied, then added, "It is time."

That startled Hiccup.

He didn't think he would be pressured to consummate his marriage under those circumstances. Deep down he believed that due to the state of war they could postpone it, but now he realized that this idea was nonsense. Hiccup was never a good drinker, but without thinking he finished a whole glass of mead in one gulp before getting up and accompanying the guard.

His father watched him go out the door, knowing that Hiccup would definitely never forgive him.

Queen Elsa had also been summoned by the council, eventually being accompanied by the women who had helped her dress. Throughout the celebration Elsa had tried and failed to find Miranda, and could only conclude that the woman had stayed with the wounded and sick.

Somehow, not having her mother here, Miranda was the closest thing to an adult, motherly female gaze that was close at hand. Their brief conversation had failed to calm her nerves and she felt just as lost as she had at the start.

"Relax…" she told herself.

Anna had also told her that she had to be calm and that everything would be fine, but although her words sounded certain, her voice lacked conviction.

"Nervous my lady?" said one of the women who had accompanied her there.

Due to the haste with which the events had taken place, the servants had barely been able to prepare anything, at least managing to accommodate one of the rooms furthest from the castle for their nuptials, without having to displace anyone within the crowded space that was the palace.

"A little," Elsa said.

"Shall I help you undress?"

Elsa was going to flatly refuse, but without really knowing why, she agreed. Carefully the women untwisted her hair and freed her from that dress. When she got rid of it, the bottle that Miranda had given her fell to the ground, being picked up by one of the women.

"Here," one of them gave it back.

From her expression Elsa knew that these women knew exactly what the bottle was for, but none of them said anything. She opened it and it took it in one gulp.

When Elsa was ready, they gave her an elegant white coat, which covered her entire body.

"Very beautiful, Your Majesty," said one of the women.

"Worthy of a queen."

Elsa was not listening to them. Deep down she knew that those women were lying. She had seen them observe her body with a certain revulsion at her injuries. Nor did he blame them for feeling sorry for her. She hated being seen like this. She was not a victim or anything like that.

She was the Snow Queen and as such didn't want to look like prey to a predator.

"You were very lucky," one said suddenly. "The boy is somewhat skinny, but very good looking."

"Yes, my dear," said another. "For a moment we thought you'd be married to one of those furry Viking barbarians." She lowered her voice and crossed herself. "You have no idea what we've heard them do to Viking women on their wedding day… Fortunately, the boy does not seem like a big deal, so at least see if he complies."

That comment made them laugh. Elsa swallowed hard. Why did everyone seem to know what was going to happen to her, but no one told her?

"You relax, then it's not that bad," one said to her when she turned pale. "With a little luck at this point he will be so drunk that it won't take much time."

"Don't give him too much conversation and he'll tire quickly."

Elsa wanted to believe in the good intention of those women, who were only trying to reduce the weight of the matter, but none of those comments helped her. Carefully she stood up, feeling a sharp pain in her abdomen and head. She was dizzy, but habit downplayed her. A woman came up to tie her robe. Elsa looked at her strangely.

"You better not take it off," she advised.

Elsa knew why. The women had seen her naked and knew what a bad impression she offered. At that moment Elsa knew that she didn't want that advice. They looked at her like it was a pretty fairy tale, but she disagreed.

Although it was adorned like a love story, that was still the story of buyers and sellers.

Hiccup walked from one side of the room to the other with a certain feeling of déjà vú.

Since he had arrived he had spent most of that time locked up. If he could, he would have fled at the same moment, but he knew that the guards were on the other side of the door, to stop any escape plan on his part. That couldn't really be happening to him. He could not sleep with this woman, the very idea made his stomach turn.

Besides, how could he do that to Astrid? How would he explain it to her? He was a dead man.

The Viking wanted to shout, but he held himself back, putting his hands to his head and ruffling his hair as he was in the habit of doing. Then he sat down on the bed, hiding his head in his hands. He had never felt so tired. His head was going to explode.

Suddenly a noise brought him back to reality. The back door of the room had opened and Elsa had appeared behind him, watching in the silence. Hiccup looked up to see her. Again he met that cold, hermetic gaze of the queen. Elsa was no longer wearing the wedding dress and, to Hiccup's surprise, her hair was completely loose. It was a hypnotic image to see the ice queen with her almost white hair falling over her shoulders and accompanied by a long ankle length nightgown of the same color. If it wasn't for her attitude, Hiccup might have even found her beautiful.

"Hello," Hiccup ventured after a while in silence.

"Hello," Elsa replied with a certain hesitation in her voice.

The queen was still there, and Hiccup didn't quite know what she expected of him. She continued with that opaque, expressionless expression and the Viking was not willing to take any step forward. In another situation, he might have nervously talked or invited her to talk and get to know each other a little at least, but the queen's attitude was so secretive that the boy didn't know what to do. He was not the enemy, in fact, he wanted nothing from her.

"How are you?" Hiccup asked politely, without any interest in her answer.

"Good," Elsa replied, clutching both hands trying to calm down.

It was a pose she was used to. Hiccup saw that the queen was still wearing the gloves, another trait that he didn't understand.

After a few moments that seemed eternal, Hiccup looked away from her and hid his head in his hands again. Elsa didn't know what to do, so she simply decided not to postpone what had to happen anymore. She wasn't going to stand there all night waiting for the man to take the initiative in something that really directly affected her. She felt exhaustion begin to blur her vision and the fever would visit her soon, like every night. She needed to sleep before she passed out. So without further thought and hiding the awkwardness, she began to remove the knot from her nightgown.

Hiccup immediately noticed Elsa shaking with the clothes, so he couldn't help but look at her again. The queen stared at him directly as she unbuttoned the garment and once it was open she let it fall to the ground, showing her complete nakedness.

If anything characterized Hiccup it was that he was extremely modest. In fact, he had barely seen a few naked women in his life. Most of them had been the women of his childhood, with whom he had bathed as a child in the lake, and Astrid herself, who really counted as the only real woman he had seen naked since he became an official man. For this same reason, the Viking would have immediately looked away from Elsa, even when it was possibly one of the most erotic images that Hiccup had ever seen. However, and to his own surprise, he didn't. He couldn't help but glance over the girl's naked body, inevitably comparing it to Astrid's.

He looked at her pale skin, the palest he had ever seen, which he thought was not difficult to mistake for her hair. The queen certainly honored her ice powers. Elsa's body was also much thinner and finer than Astrid's, and her musculature was not as marked as that of the Viking, whose lifestyle made her look much more haughty. Her breasts were also smaller, but they seemed firmer and stiffer than Astrid's. Yet despite all that quick analysis, Hiccup couldn't take his eyes off Elsa for other reasons.

The girl's body was totally destroyed. Her limbs were all bruised, large half-healed wounds looming over her knees. She also had slight burn marks all over her body, but specifically on her left leg, where a large red stain covered her entire thigh. Between the pubis and the ribs she also had a large uniform bruise, which slightly changed color according to the exact area. Her entire body was covered with bruises and cuts that could not be hidden in that shiny porcelain skin.

It was a captivating image, especially since despite being wounded, the queen seemed more like a predator than prey. Her blue eyes no longer looked at Hiccup, but were lost in another place to which the boy had no access, a much more intimate place where Elsa would never let him in, no matter how much she was offering him her body and her virtue.

Hiccup got out of bed slowly, still looking at her. The queen, however, didn't even show amazement at his gesture, remaining there motionless, while breathing calmly. She even seemed focused.

The boy kept walking until he stood in front of her. Elsa took a deep breath, avoiding looking at him. The hair on her entire body had bristled at his closeness. She knew perfectly well that Hiccup was staring at her and desperately expected him to do what he was supposed to do at once.

The Viking, however, no longer looked at her as before. It was not a lascivious glance, nor pitiful. He was really trying to see through that shield that the queen had put on. And then, under all that facade, Hiccup simply saw a frightened girl, as terrified and nervous as he was.

Although Elsa had struggled to avoid it, her legs were shaking and her own nervousness betrayed her ragged breathing. Hiccup further saw that, under all modesty, the queen's cheeks had not only turned red with shame, but she also had a fever.

The Viking moved closer, being able to almost brush the tip of his nose with hers. Elsa had to control the urge to close her eyes to avoid looking at him. Her heart had never been racing like this.

And then the boy bent down, caressing Elsa's naked body with the air of his movement.

"Here," he said, picking up her robe from the floor and throwing it over her shoulders to cover her. "You're going to be cold."

Elsa somehow drew in a breath and appreciated the gesture. She thought her heart would leap out of her chest.

"I'm never cold," she said, controlling her breathing.

"I don't know if you are cold or not, but what is certain is that you have a fever."

Elsa was surprised to discover Hiccup's kind gaze. It was the first time the boy had looked at her that way and she was grateful that he didn't look at her as pitifully as the women had.

"I'm going to light the fireplace," he said, walking away to a corner of the room. "I don't know how anyone complains about the cold in this castle."

Hiccup seemed friendlier to her. Calmly, he went to the fireplace in the empty room and began to pour some wooden sticks into it while he forced two stones to light it. Elsa was still trying to control herself, now more relaxed.

"This is easier back home," he complained jokingly. "Dragons will light a fire in less time than a yak takes to start eating grass."

Elsa didn't understand the reference, but she was able to observe how a slight flame seemed timid sprout from wood. The boy stood up, expecting to see results, while rubbing his shoulders.

"Are you cold?" Elsa asked.

Hiccup was astonished to hear such a human tone in the queen. He nodded, watching her remove her gloves, the only garment she hadn't come off when she undressed moments before. She closed her eyes as she raised her palms up. Hiccup noticed the temperature in the room rise slightly.

"I thought you only had ice powers," he confessed.

"And so it is," she smiled shyly. "I make it appear, but also disappear."

Hiccup pressed his lips together in a smile. He crossed his arms by the fire.

"You seem tired," he said without malicious intention.

"You too," she replied.

Elsa looked down, imitating the Viking and crossing her arms.

"How did you do that to yourself?" Hiccup asked, nodding and trying not to sound too nosy. "You look… well, terrible…"

As Elsa sighed, Hiccup quickly understood that the queen must have been personally involved in the battle.

"You should have told the council that you were hurt," he scolded, trying not to be rude. "No one would have forced you to marry if they had known, or at least postponed this moment for later."

Elsa knew that the Viking was right, but her motives were greater.

"I couldn't let the people see me as weak, neither yours nor mine."

Hiccup stopped hugging himself and rubbed his hands together. The temperature had risen a few degrees, and his body appreciated it enormously.

"This is my fault," he said suddenly, surprising Elsa. "If I'd come earlier we would not have come to this."

"And how are you so sure?" The queen asked. "I have not seen so much mistrust and absurd hatred in my life. Your people see me as a witch and I think you do too."

"You haven't been very nice if I'm honest…" Hiccup complained, without losing the irony in that polite phrase.

Somehow, the queen had caught his dragon and himself without much explanation.

"You have just rejected me now…" the queen defended herself, "it is not the first time that blood has flowed between peoples for this."

"Forgive my Viking manners," he scolded, "but I have an ugly habit of not sleeping with wounded women."

Hiccup snorted, suddenly not sure what to say.

"Sorry," he said after a moment, pinching his nose. "Believe me, the last thing I want is to argue with you. I am sorry that my people have mistrusted you, we're just… our lifestyle creates many enemies for us and a bunch of stubbornness issues, so I suppose they just wanted to cover their backs… but I'm sorry that you had to pay this price."

Elsa was silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry about last night, too," she said honestly. "I…"

Hiccup gestured for her not to continue.

"No worries, I also got a little upset."

In some ways it was the first time since they had known that they shared not only a conversation but also a moment alone.

Elsa scrutinized him carefully, as he paced the room again, as if that helped him think. Hiccup was nothing like his own people, physically or personally. They didn't even speak the same. Most Vikings had a harsh, raspy accent while Hiccup seemed to master her dialect perfectly.

The boy seemed nervous, while scratching his hair. It was then that Elsa first discovered that the Viking had some hair braids. She had never seen that in a man before. In fact, none of men she knew would think of braiding their hair like women did; they were all well-mannered, masculine gentlemen with exquisite manners.

The Viking, however, looked wild, something that even she could not explain in words. It was not only his hair or his clothes, but the way of moving or behaving, of expressing himself and communicating his emotions. She had never met someone so transparent as Hiccup looked.

"I suppose I was deluded to think that we would all understand each other talking at a table."

It reminded Elsa of someone, and for a moment, she decided to let her guard down.

"You're not the only one," she encouraged. "My sister is the one who wrote you the letter for help. I guess she didn't think this would end like this either."

Hiccup stopped his becoming, leaning against the wall of the fireplace.

"She's the redhead girl who's always with you, isn't she?" he asked, trying to remember. "Anna?"

Elsa nodded.

"She also looks tired," said the Viking, now looking at the fire.

They fell silent again. Elsa put her hand carefully to her forehead. It was burning. At least the coolness of her hands eased her a little.

"You should rest," Hiccup observed.

"I'm fine."

Likewise, the ice queen followed his advice and for the first time since she entered the room, she lifted her feet from the floor and advanced toward the bed. Hiccup wondered how he hadn't noticed Elsa's condition before seeing her walk. The girl limped slightly and clutched her abdomen to avoid feeling pain. He didn't want to bother her and was actually somewhat uncomfortable in her presence, but he couldn't help but come over to help her.

"Wait," he said gently, helping her with the task of sitting on the bed.

Elsa hated to look like that, but the truth is that Hiccup's help saved her the odd stupid effort. It was strange to feel the touch of him, since his hands were rough and warm, very different from those of Miranda or Anna, the people who always attended to her. Besides, Arendelle's men never approached the queen beyond receiving military instructions. It was rare to have a stranger this close.

"Well, you do hide well," said the Viking when the girl was finally seated.

She snorted in laughter and inadvertently imitated his irony.

"Sitting and getting up is the worst," she complained gratefully. "Otherwise no one suspects anything."

Hiccup gave her a smile.

"And how did you do that to yourself?" asked the queen, pointing to Hiccup's prosthesis.

"Actually, this is a long story." He looked down at his metal leg. "I'm afraid many nights are waiting for us, so I'll tell you later."

Elsa nodded again, suffocated by the fever and without taking her eyes off that strange metal leg. She was scared to feel the Viking's hand on her forehead.

"Your fever is rising…" he observed anxiously. "Do you want me to call someone?"

"No, please," Elsa replied hastily. "If we postpone the consummation, the next time the church will call for witnesses. I don't want anyone to see me like this."

Hiccup knew that tradition that was also practiced in some cases among the Vikings, especially with important families, to attest to the political and legitimate validity of marriages. Just thinking about it made his stomach churn.

"Okay, don't worry, I won't call anyone," the Viking promised. "But you have to rest, okay? You look bad, and… well, I wouldn't want to become a widower the same day as my wedding."

Elsa gave a tired smile. The truth is that she looked paler than usual and a few fine beads of sweat covered her forehead.

"Come on, let me help you."

Hiccup opened the bed and helped Elsa settle inside, carefully tucking her in later, as if the sheets could damage her wounds. Elsa was not very heavy, but Hiccup had held her very insecurely, as if he could break her into a thousand pieces. The queen, for her part, let herself be done, holding onto the Viking's neck while she tried to lie down. He thought she would be uncomfortable at his closeness, but Hiccup had been so respectful that all she could think of was that she needed to close her eyes or her head would explode.

The queen closed her eyes, but couldn't help but open them again as she heard Hiccup's restless footsteps around the room.

"What are you looking for?" Asked the puzzled girl.

Hiccup opened and closed the drawers of a dresser, one of the few pieces of furniture in the room.

"Something sharp," he said as he pulled out some silk scarves from a drawer.

The queen didn't understand anything, in fact, that comment alerted her.

"Why do you want something sharp?"

The drawer closed with a screeching sound and Hiccup approached the queen again, empty-handed.

"We need to pretend we have consummated the marriage," he explained. "I'm going to stain the sheets a bit."

"Stain them?" She asked without understanding. "With what?"

Obviously nervousness took hold of the queen again, not only because she still didn't understand anything, and the fever began to distort her perception of reality.

"With blood," Hiccup replied.

At that moment the Viking felt a little sorry for Elsa. The queen saw herself as an extremely intelligent and powerful woman, as well as having a great sense of honor and bravery. Not any sovereign would have thrown herself on the warpath, nor would she have made her castle a refuge for the people. And yet, this extraordinary woman seemed to live oblivious to everything mundane, as if she had grown up in a crystal ball, far from any taboo.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," he said so as not to make her feel bad, trying to get her to rest.

"I can help you," she offered.

Elsa closed her eyes and in just a few seconds an ice dagger formed in her hands. It was the first time the Viking had seen the Queen's magic used in this way and he almost screamed in amazement. She had created something out of nothing, just by thinking about it.

"Will this do?" She offered at the boy's puzzled gaze.

"Yeah… yes," he managed to say.

Elsa handed the object to the Viking, who observed it closely. It was perfect, a work of the gods.

"It's beautiful," he praised.

"Thanks, I guess," she replied. "What do you plan to do with it?"

"I'm going to cut myself and put a few drops of blood on the bed," he explained.

"Wait," she stopped the Viking as he was about to cut his finger. "What if they see the cut and suspect? Bring, I better do it, I don't think they will count among so many cuts."

"Not to mention," the Viking countered, "that you've already bled enough, and unless you tell me now that your blood is blue or something like that, I'll make the cut myself." He paused for a moment. "Your blood's not blue or magical or anything like that, right?"

Elsa couldn't help but laugh at the innocence of his question.

"No, in that respect I am totally worldly, like all kings."

Hiccup also smiled at his own comment, before he raised his shirt a little, showing part of the lower abdomen and the hip bone where his navel ended and pubic hair began. Elsa looked away, embarrassed. The truth is that she had never seen a naked man.

Hiccup made a small cut in that area. It was a superficial wound, but still he couldn't help but exhale a slight moan of pain. Blood began to flow shyly, so the Viking pressed the area until it began to emerge with some opulence. Carefully he stained his fingers and went around the bed, placing himself on the other side of Elsa and dropping a few drops of blood on the sheets.

"Do you think that's enough?" Elsa asked.

"Yes, of course," the Viking confirmed. "I also don't want them to think that I've been an animal with you."

Hiccup immediately regretted saying that. He knew perfectly well what was thought about the Vikings in those lands and he was ashamed that Elsa could think that he also acted in this way.

However, if the Snow Queen thought about it, she didn't let him know. After this, an awkward little silence settled between them, while Hiccup pressed the wound to stop the bleeding.

"It hurts?" she said, between awake and asleep, noticing the continued bleeding.

"No, take it easy."

Elsa watched Hiccup's wound. It was not a very deep or serious injury, but it was true that the Viking had gone over the dimensions of the cut.

"Come here," she demanded, in a friendly tone.

The girl looked exhausted, but still wanted to help the Viking. She seemed very different that the cold woman that Hiccup met at first.

However, he didn't seem very sure, but he circled the bed again to stand in front of Elsa, who started to sit up again. The boy tried to stop her, but at her insistence he ended up helping her to sit up as he also sat on the bed.

"May l?" she asked politely, so Hiccup would remove his hand and let her see the wound.

He obeyed and was surprised to feel the cold touch of the queen on the cut, who had placed her hand on his abdomen. The wound stopped bleeding instantly, as the blood clotted from the cold. Immediately afterward Elsa withdrew her hand, leaving Hiccup slightly baffled by the approach. It was the second time he had physical contact with her and just like during the wedding a shiver ran through his body when Elsa touched him.

For some reason, Hiccup felt very exposed to her magical nature. No doubt he had treated her too harshly and had not thought that this wedding not only bound him, but affected her as well.

For Elsa that contact was the opposite. Touching the Viking gave her a strange sensation of heat that she couldn't understand, so much that it made her dizzy.

"We should go to sleep," she said tiredly, trying not to prolong that moment too long.

Hiccup helped her lie down again and tucked her up. The fever seemed not to stop rising and her cheeks had turned completely red. She never knew whether out of shame or illness.

After a moment of silence that seemed eternal, Hiccup rose taking a second to look at the scarred wound on his lower abdomen and without giving it much more importance he lowered his shirt and walked around the bed, to get some cushions and part of a quilt. The queen felt bad when she saw Hiccup improvise a bed on the floor close to the fire; but somehow the puritanism with which he had lived and the growing fever made her object to nothing in this regard.

The queen never imagined her wedding night like this, if she ever imagined one. She never thought about marrying, much less a Viking. In fact, it was Anna who had always fantasized about the idea of a royal wedding, with elegant and chivalrous princes and festive decorations throughout the palace. Now that she saw it with perspective, this was nothing more than a political process.

She tried to abandon herself to sleep, but couldn't help paying attention to the sounds of the Viking, who seemed to be trying to settle on the ground. He was certainly a strange boy, but she appreciated his warmth, making her question what kind of trustworthy people she surrounded herself with, considering that man had seen her as an equal when her own advice had sold her as a piece of meat.

When she woke up, Elsa planned to change many things.

In the background, Hiccup kept moving uncomfortably on the ground. Elsa felt sorry for him and although she was exhausted, she ended up giving free rein to her thoughts, which seemed more ductile due to the intoxication of fever.

"What's her name?" Queen Elsa suddenly said, questioning Hiccup.

"What?" Hiccup asked in surprise, as if coming out of a reverie.

The Viking settled on his back, trying to cover himself with the blanket, since the ground was frozen and the fire would soon be consumed. Elsa's question caught him off guard, so much so that he came to think that perhaps she was just delusional.

"What is the name of the woman you are in love with?" Elsa clarified. "I don't want to sound nosy, but I would like to think that yesterday's dreadful public rejection was that of a man in love and not that of a fool. Who would reject becoming king and marrying a young, beautiful, and magical queen?"

Hiccup didn't know what to answer.

"Well… you do hold yourself in high esteem…" He tried to deflect the conversation, turning to the fire.

Elsa understood that he didn't want to talk about it, so she decided not to insist.

"Her name is Astrid," Hiccup replied to her surprise.

"It's a beautiful name," she said cautiously.

"It is a name for a Valkyrie," Hiccup explained. "The truth doesn't do her justice."

"I'm so sorry," Elsa apologized. "I hope the news doesn't make her suffer too much."

Hiccup couldn't help but let out a sad smile.

"Actually, Astrid is not a woman who is going to sit and cry for a man," he explained, "but she will still kill me when she finds out."

The Viking said no more and Elsa didn't want to continue asking. The truth is that she didn't know if the Viking was serious or not, since she didn't know their customs and as a child she had heard such chilling stories about the Vikings that it would not sound strange to her that they could kill for something like that. Without hardly realizing it, she fell asleep, dancing all night among strange dreams, Vikings and dragons.

Hiccup had a much harder time falling asleep, if he really fell asleep that night. However, before going to sleep, he carefully removed from the pocket of his pants the drawing that Astrid had made for him and that he still carried with him.

"Be careful, Haddock. Don't make me go to Valhalla for you. See you soon. I love you, Astrid."

He couldn't stop his eyes from getting wet and his stomach tightening.

Night had fallen on the group of young Vikings earlier than expected.

They had been patrolling the area and surroundings for a whole week and so far everything seemed calm. Too calm for the riders' surprise.

The surroundings of Dragon Island have never been so tame, even the water hitting the rocks was sweet and smooth, as if caressing the island.

As for the neighbouring islets, everything seemed to be in order and nobody had noticed anything strange, even when the riders explained that a ship had been wrecked on their shores.

All this smelled musty to Astrid. It was not normal that nobody had perceived anything strange when clearly something had attacked a ship in front of their noses. For this reason they decided to move a little further, towards the islands of the southwest of the archipelago, trying to look for signs of something strange. However, except for a few awkward trappers, everything also seemed in order.

"I want to go home," Ruffnut said to Astrid, as she sat next to the Viking while Astrid sharpened her ax. "What a boring trip."

"Have a little patience," Astrid asked, straining her eyes in the dark to check the edge of her weapon.

"It's freezing cold, why don't we light a fire?

"Because we're not supposed to be here," Astrid explained again. "Tell them to stop spying women from the town and to come back as soon as possible, we are leaving as soon as dawn breaks."

That day the riders had investigated one of the islands furthest from Berk, with which they had no commercial agreement beyond exchanging some cloth and fruit. For this reason and because of the scandal the twins had set up in a tavern, Astrid decided that it would be best to make them believe that they had left. However, they had been hidden in the forest since there were few hours of light left and they were all really exhausted.

"You tell them if you want, I no longer plan to move my ass from here," Ruffnut said. "My whole body hurts."

Astrid shot a murderous look at Ruffnut, who immediately lay down on the grass. She couldn't blame her either, they'd barely rested all week. The truth is that Astrid was also exhausted, certainly leading the riders was not an easy task. And she really missed the support of Hiccup.

Without paying much attention to the Viking, Astrid got up, ax in hand, and launched herself down the hill to fetch the rest of the riders. However, a beautiful and chilling image stopped her.

In the background, where the town was supposed to be, stood a ghostly tower of smoke and fire, surrounded by a dozen dragons.

"Drago…" she whispered in horror.

For some unknown reason, that had caught them by surprise.

Suddenly all their fears began to make sense and despite the fatigue she could understand that they had been following them. There was no other reason for someone to devastate a defenseless island like that. They were in danger. Those people were in danger. Berk was in danger.

They had to get out of there and find Hiccup and the council as soon as possible.