If updates are coming too fast, let me know. I have a tendency to get obsessed with things and just want to work on it until it's done, but I know many people don't go to FF everyday, and I don't want readers to fall behind.

"Open for me", he says, gently nudging my knees apart. "I know I must hurt you, to consummate our marriage, but I promise I will be as quick as possible and hurt you as little as possible."

He'll be quick about it? Not if I have anything to say about it.

He touches my sweet spot that is already engorged and jumping around with happiness to be near him again. He has enough experience with women to know what he's doing. He rubs his finger over my nub in a circle. Then takes it away, and puts his finger in his mouth. "You're delicious. I have never desired a woman as I desire you." Now wet, his finger returns to rub me again and again.

I'm aching and moaning, it's been too long. I can hear frustrated moans from my own lips. "Relax, min kärlek, you'll orgasm faster. Wait until you feel your body tingle, shudder, and explode. I will give you that a thousand times a day. Min kvinna. My woman. Tell me you're mine."

Oh Eric. I nearly roll my eyes. "I'm yours", I sigh against his shoulder. His eyes bright, he kisses me. "Min kvinna. Min kvinna." He licks down my neck. Then he weighs each of my breasts in his hands. "Min kvinna imponerar mig." My woman impresses me. I have to remember this is a different place and time and that women here would be thrilled for their husbands to say they were pleased with their wife's body.

He takes each nipple in my mouth and sucks gently with soft untried lips. Human. Eric. Sucking on me. My hips buck. I need him inside me NOW.

I reach around and grab his ass, pushing him closer.

He inserts one finger, then another. "You're ready for me, min kärlek, I promise you in time, your body will welcome me."

He's huge, and he knows it and goes slow. Luckily his size is always such a shock, there's no need to act like I don't think he'll fit. I always think he's not going to fit.

Inch by inch, he pushes carefully, asking "All you all right? Am I hurting you?" This Eric is human, and doesn't have the patience or experience of the other. He's dying to bury himself inside me and is having a more difficult time going slow.

"That's wonderful ,min kärlek." I've never called him "my love" before, and it seems to send him into a frenzy.

"Min!" he cries out. However primal and possessive my Eric can be, this guy leaves him in the dust.

It's bizarre. I'm making love with a stranger, who happens to be my husband. This Eric is different. It's clear he has experience with women, but it's a different world from the modern day Eric with a thousand years experience, whose mix of passion and precision is an art form. The man who can please any woman – at 100mph if you prefer. The Eric with the goody room in the basement, the Eric who has seen and done everything that can be done. I know that Eric. But this Eric is flawed, human, and I love him more than I ever dreamed possible.

"Take me, husband", I whisper into his ear. Two can play this game. I can feel him extend blissfully inside me, and I just lie back on the furs and sigh. Filled. This man was born to be inside me. He starts to move, and I clamp my hands on his perfect round bottom, and rock with him. It's amazing to keep up with Eric, and know he's not going at a snail's pace not to hurt me. Guess there's no Dark Ages GQ, their loss.

"I'm yours, make me come", I whisper him.

"Sookie!" he roars as he comes hard inside me with my name on his lips. Simply witnessing this makes me follow him twice.

I'm momentarily shocked. I'm used to sex with Eric, but his….you know….is usually something like room temperature. He explodes inside me now, not only warm, but hot as fire. Then he comes again, immediately. I wonder about the implications.

"I love you" he says. Ah. I think my heart stopped.

"I love you too", I whisper in his ear. "From the first moment I saw you on that…."

Throne. Oh god, it's his father's! Now that I have a second to think about it, they're the same! Identical. How did he find it again?

"Huh?" he asks, nuzzling my neck.

"Nevermind. I love you too", I answer, and kiss him.

This is a new world. As I walk through the village, everyone is assembled to officially meet me, their new Princess. I feel like I'm on a school trip to a natural history museum. "To the right, kids, you'll see an accurate representation of an Iron Age Viking village."

Everyone paid their homage, a little girl handed me some wilted flowers, and I cried, and then we were done.

We don't cuddle for long during the day. Eric went back to the fields to take in as many crops as possible. And I returned to the house to help Vallandra and the servants anyway I could. I knew the men were in the fields to give the women and children their best chance at having as much food as possible…because they were leaving soon. There was always something to do – breakfast, lunch, and dinner, sweeping up the dirty rushes, and replacing them with new straw, directing the servants, washing dishes, repairing clothes…I wouldn't be sunbathing until I woke up.

I found out from Vallandra that Eric loved a particular bread treat, baked with honey they collected every summer. When he was 4, he would refuse to touch anything else. I made one every day, running down the supply, but in the summer I would have nothing else to do but restock. The summer. When I would lose him. I dismissed it, I would be awake by then.

Every afternoon, Eric, would leave the wheat fields, and sneak inside, golden as Apollo from the sun and wheat dust. He'd take my hand quietly as I slipped out of the kitchen we hid in the corner.

"And why have you interrupted my hard work?" I ask.

"I want my treat, woman", he whispers against my ear and pulls me into an unpracticed kiss that makes my knees weak. "I want this one too", he says, taking the pastry out of my hand and biting.

He chews and pulls me into another kiss. "If I stay another second, I'll stay all day."

He walks backwards, taking another bite, and winking at me.

I didn't see his parents watching.

"They're happy in each other", Vallandra says, with a content sigh.

"She spoils him", Ulfrick complains.

"You spoiled him first. She LOVES him. Truly, this is more than we ever could have hoped for him."

"I don't trust her yet."

"Oh bah", Vallandra says, and pulls him into her arms.

I passed the next couple of months by helping the cook during the day, feeding the lifestock, planting more vegetables.

It's indescribable to be held by a human Eric. I press my ear against his chest and listen to his heartbeat. Steady, healthy, and strong. His arms are warm and his breath tickles my neck. If we spend our days apart, we certainly spend every second of the night together. I lay in his arms every night in front of the fire, naked and happy. He makes love so tenderly. He kisses every inch of my body, like I'm a goddess. He laps at my nipples, licks my neck, tickles me everywhere. Nothing could be more perfect. Except that the one thing everyone wants hasn't happened.

The first week in May. I've been forcing it out of my mind for weeks. Why haven't I woken up?

There is crying and fear in the village. Is there enough food? We have lots of meat to salt. Fish doesn't keep, but I'm confident, I can handle that myself.

Newlyweds cling to each other. Mothers cry, holding their sons. Freida told me fully a third of the men don't return. But only when I hear his parents whispering in the throne room do I understand they're holding it up for me.

"Vallandra, we need to leave! But we can't until she's pregnant. What would happen if both of us were killed in battle? There has to be an heir!"

"Never say such a thing!" she cries.

"I'm sorry", he says, "Eric won't fall in battle. He never lets anyone get the better of him. I've always believed that boy will live forever."

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were proud of him", Vallandra says, but he keeps talking.

"On the other hand, I'm a tired old man. We have to plan, anything could happen, and we need a male heir. As it is, we could do little more than confirm it before we go. Anything can happen, she could lose it just as fast."

I cover my mouth with my hand. Pregnancies, and babies, were lost every day in this time. So were mothers. This is a cold, hard place.

If Eric fell in battle…I have to keep reminding myself this is a dream, as real as it feels. He's my reason for living. Oh please, Odin, I don't know you, but hear me, keep him safe.

When we're alone at night, Eric tells me the men are leaving the next day. The words cut through me and I try to talk without crying, but it's useless. "Don't go", I say, "Eric please, it's dangerous."

"I'll be fine", he says, kissing me, as if I'm hilarious. "Oh sweetheart! Min kärlek, don't worry for me. I never lose. I never give up. I don't think I know how."

Some things really never change.

"You have to be strong", he says, tucking my head under his chin, "You have to look after the other women. My mother, the servants, and you have to take care of those whose husbands fall."

I burst into tears again. "My sweet love",he murmurs, and picks me up. He rocks me like a child. "I will be back, I promise you."

"Next year", I whisper through my tears. He hangs on tighter. "Please don't leave me." I burst into tears.

He squeezes his eyes closed. "Please don't ask that, min kärlek. I can't stay while my men go. While my father goes. They need me. Are you going to…."

It's his turn to be speechless.

"Will you…it's going to be so long, and you're so upset. If you're going to leave me, tell me now."

"Baby, however you break my heart, that's one I'll never do", I say, burying my face in his chest.

"Baby?"

"It's a term of endearment – a love term – where I come from."

"Baby. I like it. I'll never break your heart, my darling. I promise I'll keep pushing the men harder, we'll get back sooner."

"I'm so sorry", I wail. His parents had a discussion with him – he immediately knows what I'm talking about.

"It's not your fault. You've done nothing wrong. Sometimes it takes it time. I'll be back, min kärlek."

I can't fall asleep that night. I don't want to keep him up, but he snuggles me all night long, kissing my cheek. We make love until we're both exhausted.

"No!"

He holds me so tight, we're one. The morning sun is shining. "You'll be all right, you'll be all right", he keeps saying in my ear.

The men are assembled, have bid farewell to their own wives and children. I won't let him go, I can't. I can't stay here, in this cold dismal place, feeding ducks, while he may be dying in the mud somewhere. There's nothing for me, no warmth, no love, no reason for being. And those women I judged for walking away – I understand them much better now.

I can see Ulfrick flash an irritated look at Vallandra. He's already on horseback.

"I have to go."

"Then take me with you."

I simply can't be parted from him. From his smile, his warm arms, his love. I laugh through my tears remembering a different place and time.

Maybe I'll grow on you.

I'd prefer cancer.

He smiles. "What a fearsome little Viking you would make. I must go now Sookie." He pulls me into a fierce kiss. "I love you. Tell me you love me. That you'll be waiting."

I can't stop crying long enough to speak. "Mamma", he says, and Vallandra comes over and pulls me away from him.

"No…"

"Good-bye", he calls, and they start to ride away.

"I'll be waiting, min kärlek." I call after him. His own throat is filled with emotion, so he smacks his hand over his heart and nods.

The next morning is cold and windy. For the first time, I seem to realize I'm sleeping alone on a pallet in what is essentially a huge hut in the middle of Dark Ages Sweden, with no heat, no medicine, and no help. With Eric, I didn't notice anything but him. I hate it here.

Wake up, wake up, wake up. But I can't. I'm here and he's gone, and there is no sun.