He was the conqueror. She was the sacrifice.
He was powerful. She was unexpected.
He was certain. She was uncertainty.
He formed a nation. She formed his world.
Together they would make history.
▪︎°▪︎°▪︎°▪︎
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vii. Bloody Business
"Where is she?" Halfdan spoke up curiously, breaking the silence that came with a cool foggy morning.
Harald turned to his brother, his eyes bleary with lack of sleep.
He had not had a wink of sleep the previous night as his thoughts always seemed to stray to the golden-haired maiden sleeping in his bed.
What she said to him just before she went to sleep, echoed in his mind the whole night, up until the moment the sun rose early that morning.
Halfdan would agree with him, that he was a fool to ever think that Ellisif would wait for him but Kari, she was the first one to ever tell him that it was not a mistake to beat himself over. It was a mistake, but it should not hinder him.
Ellisif had been ingrained in his being for so long and he was sure that she would not leave him for a while. That much he knew.
But Kari. Kari was starting to creep upon him in the most unexpected of ways. He was drawn to her in a way that he did not understand. Perhaps he was interested in the woman because of her resemblance to the woman he had loved for so long.
After all, they had the same golden hair. But as far as likeness goes, it stopped at the similarity of the shade of their hair.
Harald shook his head, attempting to convince himself of this and almost succeeding when a melodious voice rang out, breaking the silence of the foggy morning.
"Good morning, Halfdan!" Kari greeted, sitting beside his brother and giving Halfdan a bright smile.
Halfdan, the sly bastard, even had the audacity to wink at her. "Good morning, beautiful Kari. How was your sleep?"
"Good, very good. Slept like a baby." She replied, patting down her hair self-consciously.
His brother was flirting. With her. With his Ka-
Shaking himself mentally, Harald glared at her, giving her a pointed look. Kari only returned the look before grabbing the bowl in front of him.
"Oh, thank you. I am starving." She said, spooning a bit of the gloop into her mouth. "Hmm, fish stew. That is delicious."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" He raised a brow, tapping his foot and plastering an expression of impatience on his face.
She shook her head, grinning. "No, I washed my hands before I went here."
He let out an unimpressed scoff. "A 'thank you."
Kari widened her eyes before quickly answering. "You're very welcome."
Harald tried to splutter out a response while Halfdan let out a loud cackle.
Finally, it seemed as if she took pity on him as she let out a tinkling laugh. "Oh, calm yourself, would you. I was only teasing you."
