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Kattegat, 9th century
"We still have to assume that Ivar has found somewhere to hide and that he means to attack us at any point." Ubbe declared calmly, looking between his brothers for the first time in many years. Although he wasn't sure what to say to Hvitserk, how to feel about his betrayals, he still loved his little brother and that would never change.
"Where would he go, brother? Even his own wife killed herself because she could not bare what he had done." Bjorn responded. "Who would take him in?"
In the corner of the room, Hvitserk sat with bloodshot ears from tears and mead. He shook feverishly, cup pressed to his lips as he listened to them. A small laugh escaped him, one that turned all attention in the room towards the grieving Ragnarsson. "She's not dead."
"Hvitserk-" Ubbe began, trying to talk reason, but his brother quickly cut him off.
"I'm not crazy, Ubbe." He spoke sternly, though Bjorn looked at him in a way that told him perhaps he was. "She's been gone before. She always comes back."
"Hvitserk, she jumped into the Fjord." Gunnhild interjected bluntly. "She's not coming back."
Though his heart ached with the loss of his beloved Thora, she wasn't the only one who's death he blamed himself for.
"He got her killed. And he'll do the same thing to you." He could hear his own voice in his head and wished for once he had not been right.
He'd told her that day in England that she would end up just like Signy. He'd told her that Ivar would get her killed. Now, he'd lost another friend because he didn't stay and protect her. He'd told her that she made him better, but he was sure that he'd said the same thing to Signy before her. Perhaps if he'd stayed with them, neither of them would be gotten themselves killed for Ivar. Perhaps he could've saved them.
Thora was her best friend. He knew in his bones that Ailbe would've never let her die. And so now they were both gone, and Ivar's hands were drenched in blood.
But even as he blamed himself, as he tortured his already anguished mind, he couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the end. He couldn't explain it, this overwhelming feeling, but he knew that he was fated to kill Ivar. And he knew that he would see Queen Ailbe again.
But as he went through his thoughts in his head, one thought slipped out from him. "What about Aslaug?"
Ubbe furrowed his brows again, "Mother has been dead for years, brother."
"No." Hvitserk dismissed, his mind jumbled and confused by mushrooms and alcohol. "No, not mother. The baby, Ivar's baby."
