Page 118 of Shared By the Vikings

Bjorn licked his lips and rubbed his hands together. “Wecan work this out, King Baardsen. We had an arrangement after all.”

The king was silent.

“You promised me your daughter’s maidenhead, remember. You said that I’d be her first and she would bear me many sons.”

“There is no maidenhead to give you.” Ingrid folded her arms. “And my sons will not be the fruit of your seed.”

“What? But—” Bjorn’s mouth dropped open.

“Do you really think, in this life or the next, you would get someone as beautiful, intelligent, and brave as Princess Ingrid?” Tali stepped forward, chest puffed up, fists clenched. “A disgusting old bear like you?”

“Well, I...” Bjorn turned to the king. “These visitors are most—”

“Unfriendly?” Tali said, stepping closer still. “Is that the word you’re looking for?”

Bjorn took a step backward, toward the edge of the peer. His fat cheeks were wobbling. “Ja, u-u-unfriendly.”

“Can you blame me for not wanting to be your friend,” Tali said, “a man who wishes to put his hands and cock on my woman,inmy woman.”

“But I thought—?”

“She was marrying Erik and Raud?Ja, she is, and also Gunnvar and me. This is a woman who requires four Viking warriors to care for her, so you never stood a chance, did you, Bjorn? Despite your fat size you’re not even half a warrior.”

“Well, I never, of all the—”

Tali shoved Bjorn in the chest.

Bjorn took a final step back, his heels now hanging off the edge of the pier. He circled his arms and lurched forward then shoved his ass out. His balance spent, he began to fall. He let out a yelp, then his big frame was lost to a huge splash. He went beneath the surface of the fjord, the sound instantly drowned out by the great guffaws of the crowd.

Tali swiped his palms together and turned to Ingrid. “Problem solved.”

“That was one way to do it,” she said.

The king watched Bjorn surface then let out a sigh. “Your maidenhead has gone, daughter?”

“Ja.”

“To who?”

She tipped her chin. The crowd had gone silent, clearly keen to hear the details of who she’d lain with. “All of these men. I gave them all my maidenhead.”

“All of them?” a woman to her right said, astonishment in her voice.

“Ja.” Ingrid nodded. “I love them all, and as a princess I can take them all as my husbands. That is my right.”

“This is true,” the king said. He raked his hand through his hair. It was thinner than when Ingrid had last seen him. “Four husbands?”

“It is my wish.”

“Then I guess you will have it.”

“And we will live here.” She pointed at the spur. “We will build a house, the land there is fertile and we have brought livestock.”

One of the goats let out a loud bleat, right on cue.

“It would make me happy to have you in Ravndal,” the king said. His mouth was downturned, his jaw tense.

“So why do you not look happy?” She stepped up to him and took his hands. “Tell me, Father, please? I will do anything to make up for the trouble I have caused.” She squeezed his fingers.

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