Chapter Eighty-five

"Woman!" Ivar growled when Hilda seemed to fall asleep again, and then Hilda snorted, standing a little taller as she leaned against Ivar and laughed. Ivar wrapped Hilda's arm higher around his shoulders as Enid watched, half-smiling, half-laughing to herself when she saw Hilda's feet almost leave the ground.

"Forward!" Hilda shouted, pointing her finger out in front of her and grinning.

Tyr and Freya sighed, their cheeks pink and rosy, their eyes dim and hazy with sleep as they started walking back towards the house again. Enid wrapped Frigga tighter in her cloak, kissing the top of her head and laughing softly to herself, enjoying a warmth in her heart that was new, that had her smiling as she watched Hilda sway, but Enid was glad when they'd made it home, that firepit warming her cheeks and making her shoulders drop right away. Hilda threw herself down on the bench, smiling to herself as her eyes closed and her body went slack.

"Hilda," Ivar kicked at the bench. "There's an extra bed in the loft."

"I like it here," Hilda smiled. "It's perfect."

Enid laughed again, handing Frigga to Freya and catching the fur that the girl threw down to her from the loft, and then she wrapped it around Hilda, not knowing if the woman even noticed, not knowing if she needed it with her face so pink and her skin so hot. She watched Hilda sigh in her sleep, saw that smile fixed on Hilda's lips and felt the one mirrored on her own, and then she went to their room, watching as Ivar blew out the candles and slipped out of his shirt.

She was free. Somehow Enid kept forgetting that, somehow nothing and everything had changed all at once as she wrapped her arms around his waist, burying herself into his back and basking in the warmth of his skin. He loosened her grip on him just a touch, turning and wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head.

"Did you sleep with Gertrud?" she asked, but when he lifted her chin so she looked at him, he was smiling a little, his lips soft against hers as he kissed her, quick, light kisses and laughed.

"Sometimes when we were raiding," he answered, and Enid felt that scowl pinching her skin, felt that sharp burn shoot down to her stomach as she glared up at him and he laughed again, holding her tighter in his arms and kissing her forehead.

"Did you sleep with anyone else?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"A few women," he shrugged. "Helga didn't mind. She wasn't a jealous woman, not like you."

"I'm not-!" Enid started, but then she couldn't finish and all she could do was stare at that smile on his lips, hating and loving it all at once.

"Stay jealous, Enid. I like it," Ivar whispered, kissing her softly and holding her tighter. "I don't know why, but I do. Don't stop."

For a moment that was enough to stifle that fire in her stomach, for a moment she almost found herself smiling and sighing and diving for his chest, but then she wrapped her hand in his braids, tugging on them so sharply he had to lift his chin and bare his neck.

"No one else," she said, her eyes sharp and her forehead furrowing in a tight crease as she watched a smile spread on his lips, a smile that was bright, that was warm and only growing bigger.

"We're not married yet," he said, and that crease on her forehead deepened, her face scrunching up in a scowl, that fire inside her reaching new heights and scorching her skin as she quickly tugged on his braids, his grin growing even wider as he stared down at her.

"No one else," he whispered.

"Ever."

"Only you, Enid," he nodded, and it took her a moment to nod, to give his braids one last tug and lean forward to kiss him.

"Only me," she whispered, and then he lifted her, one arm around her waist, one buried in her hair as he kissed her, not stopping to let her breathe, holding her tighter and tighter until he'd sat her on the bed.

He pushed her back then, kneeling over her as he kicked off his boots and loosened his trousers, and then he hands raced, pulling her dresses up over head. He kissed her, a deep, strong kiss that left her breathless, that left her gasping and her skin tingling, and then she felt him fumbling with her boots, heard the thud of them landing on the wooden floors and the clatter of her knife as it sprang free.

Suddenly she felt it in her hand and she remembered it digging into that man's thigh, the heat of his blood as it came squirting out of him, and Enid smiled, a bright smile that only grew as she pressed her knee into Ivar's side, rolling him over so she sat on top of him. She could feel him up against her, pressing between her legs and she found herself shivering, hot, burning shivers as she reached down and slid him inside her.

That smile on her lips turned into a grin as she heard him gasping and when she looked at him his eyes were closed, his face slack, his body growing more and more tense every time she moved. His hands gripped her then, squeezing her hips as his eyes flicked open, somehow so dark and sharp, somehow shining brighter than she had ever seen them before. He thrust into her, his jaw clenching as he grunted and his hands gripping her tighter, and then he sat up, kissing her on the lips, on the cheeks, on her neck and on her breasts.

"Only you," he gasped.