untitled vikings snippet (pg, ot3)
First real stab at writing this fandom. ~350 words, Ragnar/Lagertha/Athelstan, no spoilers for latest episode.
*****
She has never lain with another man. She was young when she found Ragnar; no man before him had come close to her expectations, and no man since has begun to compare with him. There have been many other men who desired her, but she has rebuffed them all, with sharp words or sharper actions as needed.
She knows, too, that Ragnar does not take other women to his bed. It is not because of what she would do to him if she found out - though she would, indeed, make him regret it, pay for it in a million painful ways - but rather a measure of his respect for her. Their marriage is a partnership; within it they stand beside each other.
Athelstan is not, she knows, aware of these facts. He does not know that when they offered him a place in their bed it was an extraordinary offer. She would not have ever expected to feel desire for a man so different (for Athelstan is no warrior, but soft and gentle in a way that has been designed and guided by his people in much the way they have raised Bjorn to be strong and fierce). And yet she does feel something for him: the way he smiles, his well-made form, his curiosity and stubborness, the way he cares for her children and works hard and rarely complains. She sees the way he watches her husband, almost constantly, with a fascination and admiration and hunger that only grows as the days pass. He is Ragnar's treasure, this slave, and yet she is not jealous, for Ragnar brought him home to her and their family, to be part of them. Already he is fixed there among them, fitted into place for all his differences and strangeness.
There is no sting in Athelstan's rejection, not when his eyes follow Ragnar through any room, not when he has grown so easy and constant by her side, day by day. It is a matter of time, she thinks; for his god is far away, and faith is a thin blanket when companionship and care and comfort beckon so close and so warm.
This entry was originally posted at http://schmerica.dreamwidth.org/1267016.html. Feel free to comment there.
*****
She has never lain with another man. She was young when she found Ragnar; no man before him had come close to her expectations, and no man since has begun to compare with him. There have been many other men who desired her, but she has rebuffed them all, with sharp words or sharper actions as needed.
She knows, too, that Ragnar does not take other women to his bed. It is not because of what she would do to him if she found out - though she would, indeed, make him regret it, pay for it in a million painful ways - but rather a measure of his respect for her. Their marriage is a partnership; within it they stand beside each other.
Athelstan is not, she knows, aware of these facts. He does not know that when they offered him a place in their bed it was an extraordinary offer. She would not have ever expected to feel desire for a man so different (for Athelstan is no warrior, but soft and gentle in a way that has been designed and guided by his people in much the way they have raised Bjorn to be strong and fierce). And yet she does feel something for him: the way he smiles, his well-made form, his curiosity and stubborness, the way he cares for her children and works hard and rarely complains. She sees the way he watches her husband, almost constantly, with a fascination and admiration and hunger that only grows as the days pass. He is Ragnar's treasure, this slave, and yet she is not jealous, for Ragnar brought him home to her and their family, to be part of them. Already he is fixed there among them, fitted into place for all his differences and strangeness.
There is no sting in Athelstan's rejection, not when his eyes follow Ragnar through any room, not when he has grown so easy and constant by her side, day by day. It is a matter of time, she thinks; for his god is far away, and faith is a thin blanket when companionship and care and comfort beckon so close and so warm.
This entry was originally posted at http://schmerica.dreamwidth.org/1267016.html. Feel free to comment there.