[SIC] Free Time (open)

Standing there, looking Rhona straight into the eyes, loosened something up inside of him. His hands started to tingle, just as the rest of his body. It was hard for him to differentiate what was real, and what was caused by the ale. But either way he couldn’t step back from it, he didn’t wanted to lose the game, and..he just didn’t wanted in general. The longer he looked at her, the more he blamed himself for not noticing the extraordinary woman she had turned into. It was a strange feeling that went on inside of his head, and he couldn’t give it a name. He couldn’t even say if he truly wanted it, but at that moment, standing there with her body against his, he just couldn’t resist it. And nor did she, apparently. Rhone pushed herself up on her feet, growing in length until their faces were on the same height. Björn supported her with his lower body by pulling her closer. Rhona flattered her arms around him and pulled herself also against his firm body. Again Björn took a deep breath, smelling the scent of her hair that stroke against his face. His heartbeat rose, just as the eagerness inside of his body.

And then she placed her lips on his and did not let go of the look in his eyes. But Björn couldn’t take it anymore. He dropped his cup of ale, which fell on the floor, the fluid spilling everywhere. But he didn’t care, the only thing he wanted to feel was the touch of her body on his. So he closed his eyes, losing for the second time, and grabbed her even tighter while adding his second hand on her hip. He tilted his head, kissed her more longingly than at first. His hands found their way beneath her linen tunic, feeling the bare skin of her stomach and hips for the first time. Softly he growled, desiring for more since he wasn’t planning on stopping himself.

The heat of the moment was just too much for the both of them. Nor Björn or Rhona were trying to keep their head by the game that they originally were playing. He didn’t even knew what he was expecting when he had proposed to play it. But the way it had turned out, favoured him. Both the mead and Rhona were able to take his mind off the things that occurred outside the walls of her little house. He couldn’t care less about all that when Rhona’s lips were sealed on his. She flattered her body against him, trying to come closer when their bodies were already entangled in each other.

Rhona was pushing him backwards towards her bed. It took Björn a few steps to feel the wooden frame pressing into his calves. After that he didn’t hesitate: He grabbed Rhona by her upper legs, lifting her on his waist with one of her legs on each side of his body. Then he turned around, bent forward and placed her on the sheets of her bed. For a brief moment he pulled back his lips from her, only to grab her linen tunic by the neck and ripping it apart. Heavily breathing he looked at her bareness, feeling his desire for her grown by the second. ’What are you?’ he whispered out of breath while his fingers couldn’t loosen the ropes on his leather vest fast enough. Eventually he was able to take of the piece and threw it on the floor next to her bed. Bare-chested he crawled over her, placing his lips in the cavity of her neck, kissing her all over again.

With a heavy breath he had asked her what she was. How was she able to make his head feel like that? How was she able to make him forget all of his sorrows? His question made Rhona speechless for a moment, but eventually she answered. ’I am a woman. A woman or fire, Björn.’ He stared her straight into the eyes. Fire, just like he had called her, inextinguishable. And by those thoughts Björn started to undress himself, only to blandish himself back on her, his lips in her neck. Her skin was warm, smelled like the leather of her fighting uniform. It was a smell he liked, more than the smell of flowers or fresh plucked grass. It reminded him of how fierce she was, how agile and quick in battle, but even more deadly. Björn moved his hand towards hers, wove his fingers between hers and wondered how many lives the both of them already had taken with those hands. Eventually she pulled back her hand and started to caress his muscular arms that had been marked by scars and tattoos. When Björn felt her pushing his shoulders, he stopped the kiss and moved the way she wanted him to move.

It was a strange thing, to give over the control. Rhona was sitting on his stomach with each of her legs on one side of his body. Björn couldn’t help himself from staring at her nakedness, didn’t even tried to do it in a subtle way. She was gorgeous, and again he asked himself how he could’ve been so blind all those years. Again Rhona used her hands, this time to guide his above his head. Björn frowned his eyebrows while he looked at her smirk and took a deep breath, not knowing what she was planning on doing. He had never given over control, but the way Rhona had crawled inside his head.. The thoughts about that immediately disappeared when he felt her mouth on his neck. A soft grunt escaped his mouth as he felt her sucking his blood up towards his skin. Her mark. He pulled back one of his hands from her grip and placed it on the back of her neck. Björn grabbed some of her red hair and pulled her head up softly, staring her into the eyes. ’I am being touched by fire, I might as well get burned.’ he said and looked at her defiantly, giving her permission in an indirectly way. With his other hand he moved down on her, touching the warmth of her female parts. With his rough hands he started to caress her, in a soft way that you wouldn’t expect from him. He didn’t knew what she liked and how she wanted it. And because of the fact that he sincere respected her, he wanted to do that with her body too. Unless she would clarify him that she wanted it differently.

Björn pinched his eyelids onto each other when Rhona bit on his lip. She was balancing on the border between being gentle and becoming rough. When she released pressure to tell him something, Björn opened his eyes again, tasted blood in his mouth. ’I did not thing Ironside was the type to give up so easily.’ By those words she pressed his hands even tighter behind his head into the matress. ’And I did not think that you were as equally rough in bed as on the battle field.’ Björn removed on of his hands from her grip and started to knead her warm body, trying to figure out how and what she wanted. ’I guess we were both mistaken.’ he said with a grin on his face and pressured his lower body upward, making her move on his hips.

’I am not so easlily broken as you seem to think, Björn.’ With big eyes he was looking at her, felt her hands slide over his, indicating the tone she wanted to be touched. She pushed down his fingers, sinking them in the moist skin by her hips. He saw her closing her eyes, an indicator that she liked it. ’If I wanted a soft, slow go of it, I would bed a shepherd.’ When she looked him back into the eyes he took a deep breath. ’So you had this all figured out.’ he whispered hoarse, his breath markedly increased.  And before he could take initative to offer her what she wanted, Rhona had already climbed of him. Björn pushed himself up on his elbows, looking at her with a questioning look in his eyes. And then he saw her hand disappearing beneath her pillow. Shiny metal was visible when she took back her hand, waving it before his pants. If she wanted to play the game like that, he definitely wanted to join.

So he pushed himself up on his knees in front of her, started to untie the woven rope that held up his pants. With a wild look in his eyes he pushed the leather down, revealing himself to her. And while he was pulling her attention to something else than the knife, he reached out for it. Björn grabbed her wrist, turned it in a way she was doomed to release it. In a few seconds the knife had gotten a new owner. Björn clammed the blade between his teeth, freeing his hands to go after her. So again he grabbed her waist, this time to turn her entire body around. One hand he placed between her shoulder blades, forcing her to bend over. With the other he pulled her lower body closer towards his. Once he had her where he wanted her, he made sure she stayed in place by pulling at her shoulder. With his other hand he took the knife from between his teeth, placing it against her throat. While smiling to himself he leaned over her, placing his mouth by her ear. ‘You are not bedding a shephard.’ And with those words he entered her body.

Rhona admitted that she had thought about it before, but that she only could’ve dreamt that it would go in the way it was going. Björn took a deep breath, knowing that she wasn’t the only one that had thought about it. He himself also had imagined, but there were also a lot of other shield maiden who were yearning for the touch of Björn Ironside. And he didn’t knew what the consequences would be after he bedded Rhona, but if he was honest with himself, he knew didn’t care much. So he went on in the moment, let go of his thoughts and played along with the game that Rhona had in mind. A game that involved weapons. Björn took over the blade and positioned Rhona in front of him, watching her bare back. The red headed girl groaned softly when Björn placed the knife on her throat, threatening her in a way she seemed to find very exciting. The pressure she exerted on his lower body made him close his eyes and sighing out loud. He opened them again when Rhona guided his hand that was on her shoulder to her throat. Björn threw the knife on the other side of the bed and pressed with his thumb and index finger on both sides of her trachea, literally taking her breath away. After a few seconds he felt his fingers slip away because of something wet, and when he took his hand back he saw it was covered in blood, probably from holding the knife too tight against her throat earlier.

Rhona had pulled herself away from Björn, and he looked at her with the desire still in his eyes. He sat on his knees, partly covered in blood, but apparently he was not bloody enough for her longings. She wiped away the blood from her neck, only to immediately wipe it over his face. ’I would see the viking while he claims what he wants.’ Björn kissed her shortly, and then saw how she positioned herself in front of him. A deep rumbling groan from desire came from deep down his body before he grabbed both of her knee cavities and pulled her harshly towards himself. The bed looked like there was a war going on, especially with the blood coloring the white sheets. ’Tonight it looks like we are making a sacrifice for Freyja.’ he said and wiped the rest of his bloody hand over his chest, coloring his black tattoos red. ’Let’s make it count.’ His voice sounded deep. Björn bent over her body, immediately entering her for the second time that evening. He pushed forward vigorously, holding Rhona in place with both of his hands on her waist. His mouth found its way to the cavity of her neck, where he started to kiss her eagerly, tasting the blood on his lips.

He tasted the iron flavour from her blood on his tongue when he caressed her neck with his mouth. Björn’s face was covered in blood, just as it was when there was an offer being made to the gods. That was the exact same thing he told Rhona, followed by the mentioning that they had to make it count. The redhead approved with a soft moan after he took her exactly the way she had wanted it. Rough, with force. While he was screwing her with potency, he felt how her hands found their way to his muscular back. And although he had expected what was coming, it still surprised him somehow. Rhona sunk her nails into his strong skin and carved her way down to his lower back, leaving red stripes all over his back. Her second mark that evening. Björn pinched his eye lids together and growled softly under her touch. He felt her tightening up around him, and when she started to roar out of pleasure, she encouraged him to go even harder. Until he somewhat later also reached Valhalla in his head.

Björn was panting while he still hung above her. For a moment he kept quiet and it took him a while before he was able to open his eyes again. On his forehead was a layer of sweat, the drops making their way through the blood that was slowly starting to dry up. He stared Rhona straight in her eyes without any expression on his face. The heat of the moment had slowly started to disappear and he didn’t really knew how he was supposed to feel. He pulled himself back and dropped himself on his back on the other half of the bed. The sheets were stinging in the wounds that she had made with her nails. Björn took a deep breath and placed one hand on his lower stomach, thinking about what the next step was he had to take. Slowly he turned his head to the side and looked at Rhona. He didn’t felt the urge to kiss her, he didn’t felt the urge to pull her against him, he felt nothing. Nothing positive, nothing negative, he was in a trance of emptiness.

She stood up, walked to the table where she poured two cups of water. Björn looked at her bareness from a distance and closed his eyes while he clenched his jaws onto each other. Partly he was proud about the fact that he had had her. On the other side he didn’t knew what had possessed him to do so. Björn knew how things like these could turn out, how sharing the bed could grow into love. And he knew how much more it could hurt than any wound on the battlefield. He heard the sound of her feet on the stone floor, walking towards him and he opened his eyes again. She took place on the side of the bed and handed him over a cup of water. He was happy that it wasn’t ale, since he actually had to drink another because he lost the last challenge. With a little nod he thanked her and pushed himself up, leaning against the head of the bed with his shoulders. ’You have definitely earned this, Björn.’ She smirked, and he also lifted the corner of his mouth before he washed away the taste of her blood in his mouth.

’For me nothing has changed.’ he said softly while looking outside the little window of her house. It had already turned dark outside. Björn couldn’t look her in the eyes as he talked. It was a rare sight, seeing Björn Ironside dodging someone’s eyes. And that fact revealed that the thing he felt on the inside didn’t match with what he said. He reached out for her tunic that he had ripped apart and picked it from the floor. Just like Rhona he took place on the side of her bed and dipped the fabric in the water from his cup. Slowly he started to wipe the blood from his hands and chest, erasing the erasable marks from his body. But there were plenty that he would carry with him for a couple of days. ’Make sure you take care of your neck.’ he then said with a softened voice and finally looked back at her. And by those words he made clear that he cared, on a certain level that he couldn’t name himself. He had seen Rhona with lots of bigger wounds during battle and said nothing. But the fact that he was the one who did it to her, made it different.

Hearing Rhona laugh about what he told her to do, worked in a catching way. Björn couldn’t help hem himself from smiling and he looked back at her again. He had seriously meant it, but..it was Rhona he was talking to. He could’ve had expected a reaction like the one she gave. ’Mind your back as well, Bear. Can’t have you sick when you still owe me a drink for your loss.’ Björn chortled and shook his head slowly from left to right while he also wiped his face. If it were for him the blood could’ve stayed until he was home, but he knew that there was a chance that he would meet Ivar on his way back, and he didn’t wanted to have that conversation with him. His mind was at ease for the night, and he wanted to keep it that way. ’Let me know when you care to test me again, Björn. You will find that winning comes easier to me now than it did before.’ He stared at her in silence for a moment, observing the features on her face. It felt good, - too good-, being with her. And he didn’t knew if he was supposed to embrace the moment or to take distance from it. So he played it on safe, taking care of himself, but maybe disappointing her. ’I can’t make you any promises.’ Not about the challenges, nor about letting her win again. If it were for him he would join her every night, if it would turned out like it had done. But there was a greater danger in forgetting his sorrows for a while: There could grow even bigger ones. So slowly he started to dress himself again but didn’t bother to tie the ropes he had undone so eagerly before. ’I have got to go.’ he then whispered and pushed himself back on his feet. He waited for Rhona to do the same and turned towards her. Björn placed his hand on the back of her neck and stared her straight into the eyes for a moment. And then he leaned forward, pretending like he was about to kiss her again. Only to pull back at the very last moment, turning himself around to the door. ’I’ll make sure there is some fur and meat waiting in the great hall for you tomorrow.’ Björn started to walk, ready to let himself out. ’And a new tunic.’ He didn’t looked at her when he left her house, hiding the smile that was on his face. What was he getting himself in to?