Destiny Enslaved (editing)

Part 10

It wasn't smooth like that on her face and neck.

Etched like carvings into a fine wood. It was cut deep- beyond our tattoos depth. And unlike our tattoos, her expression showed her vulnerable shame- this wasn't her choice. They had added insult to injury as they used body paint to highlight different areas in black and gold, whilst leaving patches of the carved scars blank; they were red and angry from mistreatment. My mistreatment was part of that pain realised and it was like a cold dagger to my chest.

In that moment it all clicked. She didn't seem like her people because they weren't her people. She hated these people. For doing things like this to her.

She couldn't look at me.

The ice in my chest melted from my rage- she was a decoration for the rich. She – a beautiful, pure creature lost and out of place in this debauch world of mine- she had been held for who knew how long, dressed in dolls clothes that clearly she wanted rid of.

How long had she been a bird in a cage?

With out my permission, my free hand had risen to meet hers. It hovered above her arm with my finger weakly lowering to touch her skin. To trace those designs of pain- I wanted to erase them. but I couldn't instead y mind fumbled with the thought of replacing that pain with pleasure and happiness.

The slightest kissing of our skin made her jump backwards like a skittish animal. It startled me from my strange thoughts.

I looked at the veil and the way she bunched her skirts. It would be good if I could find her some better clothes.

I moved away from the strange air that had descended. She had shrunk away and I couldn't do anything. It infuriated me.

So I kept to my original purpose; the treasure. And Odin did we find treasure. Thankfully we amongst the treasures of this city I found a stock of luxurious clothes that looked to belong to princes and princesses. There was a selection of dresses but I chose the male garments- they were just as beautiful and they looked to be easier to move in.

While there was work to be done and I had already found her a gift the girl stood gawking at the walls. Truly they were beautifully decorated with gold- but we couldn't take walls back to kattegat.

So in a move reminiscent of my youth I scrunched the outfit, complete with soft britches, and threw it for it to sail into her face.

''change'' I said with a straight face as I turned around to let the grin spring forth at her face when the cloth had hit her out of nowhere. A melancholy settled over me as I remember Gydda. How we played as if we hated each other one day only to curl up by the fire together that night.

I shook off the feeling. It wasn't time for that. I walked back to move more chests that were to be loaded into the centre of the room, plucking another veil from a pile of gold, then I noticed she was gone.

A jolt of panic shot through my blood- had she made her escape?

My eyes searched the room as my ears tuned to distant footsteps. But the foot falls were heavy and getting closer. My eyes circled the room and I found a twisting shadow behind one of the columns. I strode over with a bubbling anger that I couldn't explain.

But she had hidden from me. why had she hidden?

As I swung my head around the marble column I saw why she had hidden. She stood in the britches and the overly large shirt. My eyes trailed down her now disguised body to her bare shins. They were toned muscle wrapped in the designs- they must have covered the majority of her body down to a flower on each foot.