Queen of Hearts - Vikings

Chapter 26

I strolled outside and saw few people there. It was the early hours of the morning, the sun had not yet risen but it's light was becoming barely visible. I listened to the howling of the wind and the gentle hum of insects. The moon was disappearing behind a bed of meadows in the distance and I could smell the lush green grass from here.

Then I heard a sound that wasn't of nature but was still equally familiar. Ivar. I looked down to see him sat in front of me with the same confusion that I held on my face.

"What are you doing?" I asked curiously.

"I could ask you the same thing." He stated in return.

I looked at him unamused. My icy eyes just stared at the boy in front of me, awaiting a better response. However, Ivar and I had always been equally stubborn so we both just remained there staring at eachother and waiting for the other to explain themselves.

It was a solid ten minutes before either one of us spoke again. "Would you stop staring and just tell me!" Ivar exclaimed, mildly exasperated by the situation.

I couldn't help but crack a smile at his response. "I just decided to go on a walk." I shrugged casually.

At this point, he was staring at me again. Then, out of nowhere, he almost woke up the entire settlement by shouting, "I waited ten minutes to hear you were going on a walk!"

"Okay, in fairness, that's just because of your own damn stubbornness." I replied with a chuckle. Soon the world fell silent again and all that could be heard was the gentle swaying of leaves in the wind. "What were you doing?"

"I haven't been able to sleep since I found out about Floki." He shrugged solemnly.

My eyes widened a little at his words, "What about him?"

At this point, I could see Ivar shifting uncomfortably as though he knew he'd screwed up. I awaited a response as he looked around to see if anyone was there to help him get out of this situation. "He's uhm- he's leaving." He muttered barely audibly.

My face dropped at those words, my heart almost tearing in two. I thought that after Helga I would at least have Floki, I would at least have the only man I'd known as my father. But now he was leaving, and I was going to be alone with the crushing loss of both my parents. "He's what?!"

"He's leaving." Ivar spoke louder this time, ensuring that I'd properly heard him.

I could feel tears brewing in my eyes, an ocean ready to be unleashed. I refused to cry though. I refused to be weak. Instead, my crystal eyes just glimmered with the water that I held back within them. My vision was slightly blurred as I refused to let go of my tears. "He's leaving me?" I whispered.

I could see Ivar's reaction, dread and worry completely consuming him as he tried to figure out something to say. I couldn't stay here, I knew that I couldn't hold back my wave emotions for much longer. So, instead of facing them, I took off in the opposite direction. I wanted to be alone, I wanted to let all my emotions flow out without anyone in the world knowing. As I sprinted into the distance, I could hear Ivar calling after me. I didn't care though, it didn't stop me.

When I finally stopped, I was in the middle of nowhere. I was so far away from everyone else that I let my tears flow freely and my sobs became as Lou's as I wished. I didn't have to muffle my cries here, I didn't have to pretend to be strong. I didn't have to pretend to be anything. In the dark, empty, loneliness, I was whatever I wanted to be. And for now, I just wanted to be me again.

It felt like centuries before I heard another noise. The sun had not yet risen but I knew that it would soon. Soon, I would have to say goodbye to not only Bjorn... But Floki, the man who raised me. Floki was all I had left, all that was tethering me to this agonizing world. My tears still stained my cheeks but they no longer spilled out of my eyes like an almighty waterfall.

I heard a twig crack behind me and my head jolted up. Who would interrupt me in such a moment, who had even found me? My face softened slightly when I saw Ivar crawl over to me.

"Please, never run off like that again." He spoke out of breath.

I smiled slightly at his comment, making him look as gleeful as a little boy with his first weapon.

"Why did you follow me?" I questioned weakly.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." He answered.

I turned to face him, my eyes filled with fresh tears, "Why? I thought you hated me still."

"Signy, I could never you." He spoke as though this was obvious, as though anyone in the world could see that. In all honesty, nothing was ever obvious with that boy. Quite often he eluded even me. But in that moment, it was exactly what I needed to here. He pulled me into him and I gently rested my head on his shoulder, hot tears streaming down my face.

"I don't know who I am anymore, Ivar. I don't know what to do." I weeped.

Somehow, he managed to calm me down with the simple words that he spoke before falling back into silence. "It's okay, we'll figure it out... Together."

And slowly, for the first time since Helga had died, I fell into a peaceful sleep.

Omg. I just wanted to say:
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 10K READS ON THIS GARBAGE. I was totally not expecting this because I thought the story was just kind of rushed but Y'ALL ARE AMAZING and I'm SO grateful to each and every one of you who took time out of your day to read my insane ramblings. The majority of this book is shit I randomly thought of at 3am but
I don't know what to say
I'm overwhelmed by the support and I'm just so glad that y'all like this story. Even though I think it's awful, I've put a lot of time and effort into all of my books and seeing the recognition for this one is super uplifting. Thank you all so much and I will try my best to keep updating regularly.

Tell me in the comments what ya think is gonna end up happening. I wanna knowwwwww

-Rhiannon