Ivar the Boneless Imagines

A Promise

You were there when it happened. When Ivar parted Sigurd from this world, You were at his side beside Hvitserk and Ubbe. Bjorn had left the commotion earlier, so you were the family who remained. A few threatening steps and he fell like a rock in front of the crowd. Along with the brothers, you knelt beside Sigurd with your pregnant stomach heavy against your thighs. As Ubbe desperately shouted 'no!', your eyes met Ivar's.

"What have you done?!" You shrieked, mussing your fingers through his hair once you brought his head onto my lap. Sigurd was just... gone.

The moon was high in the sky when you bathed in the cool waters of the Fjord, humming at the tune of your love's light strumming on the Oud. It was as quiet as the stillness of the moon that illuminated Kattegat. You bring my fingers across the v of you pubic region, washing away remnants of Sigurd and Ivar's sweet seed away. Even at the rustle of the bushes behind you both, you're secure with Sigurd by your side. The silence is cut short as Sigurd sets aside his instrument, motioning you closer.

"I have meant to ask you something, (Y/N). I have not been completely honest with you." Sigurd says as you come to him. He slides you onto his lap with his hands atop of your cool, wet thighs.

"What is it?" You set your head on his shoulder, wet hair chilled by the brisk winds. Sigurd curls his arms about you.

"I wanted to ask you to be my wife. I will do anything. I will make you a home and love you more than he could," Sigurd's lips stained your knuckles in his chaste kiss. How could you say no?

That other 'he' was his brother. The very same brother that trailed after you now, dragging himself through the dirt as you storm away from the scene of Sigurd's funeral site. Ivar had been attempting to garner your attention all day. From the moment you woke up, he's wanted to talk. You evaded his touch and drew away, opting to sleep beside Ubbe despite the fact that your pregnancy kept you up at night.

"Listen to me!" He calls out. You don't miss a beat, weaving through a site of soldiers. It's a mean trick. You know Ivar will take longer to catch up to you, but maybe that's what you want. You don't want to see him.

"I do not want to hear your lies Ivar!" You reply, waddling as quickly as you could. Which in reality wasn't quite fast at all, but you can't bear look at him anymore. In fact, you're not sure how the man dragging himself behind you is the same man that convinced you of something so definite. He convinced you that he was gifted such strength by the gods.

"Are you really going to marry him?" Ivar grunts in his chair as you fix the crown of flowers in your hair, taking the earrings Aslaug had meant for you and clipping them through your ear.

"Well of course, he asked me to marry him. Did you?" You laugh, twirling in your gown. Ivar's lips form a pout. You don't really know what he's so mad about, being that he didn't propose, so you kiss his forehead in a kiss.

"You could find better." He sets his chin down on his fist.

"Better than a prince?" You slide on your shoes. It's every woman's dream to be a princess after all.

"There's always a King, (Y/N)."

"Who?" You say, feigning looking around. Ivar's lips still before he speaks. It finally clicked. He wanted you, not just to keep sleeping with him, but to marry him.

"You?" You suggest, coming to sit beside him. Ivar shrugs his shoulders and withdraws a golden band from his pocket.

"I can give you far more than Sigurd. I'm beloved by the gods."

It wasn't Sigurd you married that night.

Beloved by the gods. You hid away beside Ubbe and Hvitserk thinking for certain that no one would show that you didn't want to see. Perhaps Bjorn but never Ivar. Ubbe held your hand in his, rubbing in light circles to warm your hands.

"How is the baby?" He asks all too concerned like he normally is. You shift to hold the swell of your stomach, drifting back in your seat to finally rest. It had been an awful few days empty of any peace since your former lover passed away.

"He won't stop moving." You drawl out, nodding your head back. Your baby squirmed along in your womb even when Ubbe set his hand against the bump. It had been nonstop with the stress as of late. You only came for Ivar to establish his paternal rights to the child, to give the child the Lothbrok name. It was all marred with a nasty streak of who Ivar really was.

"You could talk to him." Ubbe suggests when dragging across the ground echoes through the room. You turn to find your husband dragging himself in. He climbs onto his chair.

"The only thing I want to speak to Ivar about is a divorce." You snarl, attempting to push yourself up. Ubbe doesn't let you, holding you firmly in place there as Ivar flickers his eyes up to yours. His anger flares again when he shouts,

"You are not divorcing me!"

His fists slam onto the table irately. His brothers all flinch back. Its Ubbe moves his body in front of yours as if shielding yourself from what very well might happen. For a moment you fool yourself into thinking that its Sigurd there, lurching himself into Ivar's face and threatening him for words that he's said.

But its not.

"Are you going to kill me too? And your baby? Like you killed my Sigurd?" You suggest the words hotly. The tears are pricking the corners of your eyes, dribbling down past your jawline at the suggestion. It isn't just that he would flare at you. It's what he did to his family, especially you, in this time. A deep ache settled in Ivar's jaw and before long, his wild eyes begin to soften as more tears drip at first. The dripping becomes a flood down your cheeks as the iron gates that held you so strong, collapsed entirely.

"You can't take this back! You can't fix it Ivar. You took him from me. From our family." The words wrack up your chest, lodging in your throat and forbidding you from speaking further.

"I did not mean to (Y/N). He was my brother. He should not have tempted me saying such lies."

Your eyes came together in a tense squeeze, knowing the things that Ivar said were true. Sigurd was a terrible man when it came to his brother. But they both were. It was how the brothers were. You always knew this would be the end: one or the other would kill each other. Yet... now that it came to fruition, you just couldn't take. You rubbed away the tears with the back of your deep cobalt blue sleeve, wiping the tears away from your face.

"What did he say?" Ubbe intervened with a hand to your back.

"That my son was his. Because (Y/N) was with child soon after our wedding, because I am Boneless."

Ivar's desperate eyes shifted off you, landing on his brother. Both brothers knew you slept with both Ivar and Sigurd as did their brothers. It was never something you hid at all. You loved both. If it would have been the other way around, you would have been just as upset.

"The Seer says it is yours. The only words that you should pay attention to are the gods and mine." You intervene, bringing it all back together. Ivar's words lose momentum as he glances back to you. Whether he you or not, you inch up to the end of your chair and stand with a light frown. As much as you hate to admit it: Sigurd had it coming. But can you forgive him?

"I can't lose either of you too."

You round the table and step forward to Ivar. His blank stare at the table, full of dark guilt turns upon you. His large hand drapes along the heavy curve of your stomach. Compared to Ubbe's touch, this is the one you long for. Ubbe and Hvitserk interact with Bjorn, none of them believing in Ivar's intentions as being just reason to kill Sigurd. You know better than that. If he could control it, he would. He just wanted it all to stop. That's what you tell yourself. Ivar drags himself off the chair, crawling to leave when you walk beside him and waddle your way out after him.

"Are you leaving?"

Are you?

The words bounce around your head. Ivar is unsettled by your silence. Finally you respond back to him, gazing down into the blue of his eyes.

"No. I want to believe you Ivar."

I really do.