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Revna watched as Finan stabbed his shield into the ground and leaned against it with his sword over his shoulder as the horns sounded around them.

"The great lord Uhtred and his army. Ready the archers and prepare every last man. The Dane-slayer shall die this bet morning." Hæsten announced. Her eyes glanced amongst the group until they landed on Osferth who was already looking up at her with a worried expression.

"Yes, lord."

"Lord Uhtred, such a frightening sight." Hæsten taunted.

"You are a coward, Hæsten. Hiding inside your fortress when the priest of Eoferwic did rise you fled? When Sigefrid attacked Alfred, you fled. And at the nunnery once again, you fled." Uhtred said with a smirk and she laughed quietly at Hæsten who glared at her.

"I took your women!" Hæsten shouted childishly.

"And as long as I live and breathe they still are my women," Skade shot Hæsten a glare and Sigyn smirked. "Fight me. I will wait for you in the clearing there, bring a guard and no more. Let us make the square and let the two of us fight." Uhtred shouts.

"That is what you want, to die?"

"What I want is an end to this. What is most likely to happen is you will remain a coward, you will remain inside your fortress," Finan and Sihtric chuckle as their men join in. "Songs will be sung about your cowardice, I shall pay for them to be written."

"I am no coward dane-slayer! If death is what you want, then you shall have it." Hæsten yelled as he left.

"Lord, the job is done."

"It has been half a day." Uhtred says in annoyance.

"Maybe he's scared of the priest." Osferth smiles softly at that from where he kneels against his sword.

"We leave." As they walk away Osferth begins to shout for Uhtred.

"Lord," He says softly before standing. "Lord, lord! Lord!" They see Hæsten's army approach them from the distance.

"Run!" They do as Uhtred orders. "Halt! Two lines shield up!" Revna and Finan unconsciously move to one another to do as asked.

"Surround them! Give them no escape and then we'll kill every last one of the bastard!" Hæsten shouts.

"Turn." Uhtred says when more surround them from the back.

"No, no, no. No, no, no." Osferth says quietly as he walks away. "May the good lord protect me. Protect us all."

"We hold! We give them no ground!" Uhtred orders.

"We've no ground to give, lord." Finan said softly as he looked at Revna in worry.

"Give up Uhtred and the rest of you will live. All I want is the Dane-slayer!"

"What you will get Hæsten, is my sword up your hairy arse!" Hæsten chuckled at the comment.

"As you wish, you will die on your knees."

"Lord, where is Alfred's army? Why are they waiting?" Sihtric asked next to them and Revna was beginning to doubt this plan, she could not lose her brother under any circumstances.

"I want the head of Uhtred Ragnarsson!" Hæsten orders as his men close in.

"Stand fast!" They begin to fight as the wall is broken, and she distantly hears Osferth shout her brother's name. She slashed down any man that was in the way and helped Sihtric up, he thanked her and stabbed the man aiming to kill her. Together the siblings tore down their enemies with all the strength they had in them.

"Turn the field red with Saxon blood and flesh!" Skade shouts to Hæsten's army. Luckily, Alfred's army was close in aiding them in battle.

"Stand! Every man is to stand! Dagfinn! Everyman is to stand!" They hear Hæsten shout, she tunes out all the distracts and reverts to her old ways, back to Lady Death. She lost count of how many men she killed that day, she just knew out of everyone on that battlefield, she was drenched in the most blood.

After the battle, Finan comes to her side to check for wounds. She attempts to push him away but groans in pain when he touches her ribs, under the armor is a gash that she must have gotten from saving Sihtric. She tossed an arm over his shoulders so he could help her to the medical tent, she knew he would not allow her to go without being checked over.

Finan helped her remove the armor and he gently lifted her shirt to see the extent of the damage, he breathed out shakily at the sight.

"I assure you, it looks worse than it is." She says gently as she moves to place her hand on his that was shaking. She moved his hand to her chest so he could feel her heartbeat. "I am still alive, Fin." He nodded and moved to retrieve a bandage to wrap around her waist, she gazed at his face softly as he reached behind her to bring the bandage back around to tighten it. She had realized that in doing so, he would get closer.

She raised her hand to place it on his jaw and felt him pause, he looked at her intensely as she caressed his face. He moved his hand to her bandaged wound lightly and used his other to push her hair back over her shoulder. His eyes searched her own for something that not even she was sure he was looking for, he raised his palm to cradle her cheek and trailed his thumb down the bridge of her nose, and stopped at her lips. She watched in silence as he gently wiped away the blood that had begun to stain her lips crimson, she moved her hand from his face down to his neck as he leaned in to kiss her.

She leaned into him when he deepened the kiss, he was so gentle with her as if she would break. She had only ever been touched in brutal ways but never gentle like Finan was. A part of her had hoped it would have hurt, for him to kiss her bloody so she knew what his true intentions were but the other part, the part that craved the gentle violence in him, relaxed when he caressed her cheek. When they pulled away his forehead rested against hers and she wanted to feel that kind of softness for the rest of her life.

"Took you long enough." She whispered and she smiled when he chuckled.

"I was letting you control the pace of this thing between us. I wanted you to allow me to kiss you when you were ready. I want you, Revna. But only what you can freely give." He told her as his lips brushed against hers.

"I don't know how to love someone that's not my brother, not in this way. All I have ever known was violence, Finan. I cannot even say that we could do more than a kiss, you deserve someone who isn't broken and damaged." He frowned against her and leaned in to kiss her softly once more.

"I will love you until my last breath, little bird. Whether you stay with me or not, I will never stop loving you. I do not care if we never lie together or have children, I want you and everything you are. The good parts and the bad." She smiled into his palm and felt his brush away her tears softly.

"I want this, I want us. Truly, I do. No matter how much I deny it, you remain on my mind. And for the first time in my life, I am afraid." She looked at him softly as he listened attentively.

"If you allow this to see itself through, I promise to never touch you in ways those men had. I will only do as you ask and if the day comes when you allow me to lie with you, I will erase their touch from you. I will take that pain and remake it into pleasure so that when we are apart you only remember the pleasure I brought to you and not the pain they inflicted. I will show you what love is, I can teach you. I just want you, Revna. You will always be one of the most important people in my life." Finan whispered against her and she nodded against him.

"Even over Uhtred?" She asked with a teasing smile.

"Perhaps not him. And I know Sihtric will always come first for you," He smiled. "But you are my second and ale is third." She laughed quietly at that.

"And Sihtric and Osferth?"

"They are tied at fourth." He said playfully and knocked his forehead against hers softly. "Where do you want to go from here?"

"I-I want to see where this goes." She said motioning between them. "I want to be happy, I want to love and be loved." She said with hopefulness as she caressed his face.

"Then let us do just that, little bird." He kissed her gently once again and she couldn't fight against the smile that graced her lips.