Ægir's Wife Ch. 07

Mikael knew this was going to be hard on her especially as he lifted her chin to stare into those expressive eyes as he spoke, "It is Sven."

At first she smiled, "You did it then? You convinced him? Was it the babies? We can go home?" Her face shone with joy as she spoke and he hated himself for what he knew he must do.

"Yes, I came to take you home, elskling." He sighed as he looked over to his little brother, his eyes pleading for his help, "There's been an accident."

***

Panic welled inside of her. Her heart pounded so wildly inside her chest that she was certain it would break through her breastbone and plop onto the floor at any moment. She truly could not breath; fear had its gnarled hands wrapped more securely around her throat than any of her husbands ever dared.

She felt her body begin to shake as it did only a couple of times when she went deep into subspace, but this was not that comforting warmth of floating between pain and reality. This pain was so much worse than anything they could do to her physical body. And she was helpless, powerless, she felt hope for the future slipping through her fingers like the sands of time.

"Breathe, lilla gumman, breathe," his voice was distant. The only thing that was clear and loud was fear. Failure. She had failed. Failed to reach him. Not been able to give him the comfort and solace that he needed. Had been a thousand miles away when he needed her.

And now it was too late. He was gone. She would never have the chance to tell him how she felt. He would never have the chance to see their babies. His little girls.

The babies. Oh sweet goddess, what was she doing to them? They could feel everything that she was. Her hands cupped them as she closed her eyes and tried her absolute best to calm herself. She knew all the techniques. She tried to breath in slowly but it came out only a huge gulp.

She tried to remind herself how important it was to her little girls that she get herself under control, but all she could think was him. Gone. Too late. Failed. She felt the hand of fear squeezing her chest then. The weight tightening and constricting. And the more she fought to get herself under control the further it slipped. The deeper she went into the panic attack.

Suddenly, she felt surrounded. Enclosed. But this was not by fear. Hands firmly gripped her shoulders as solid warmth pressed against her back. Fingers bracketed her face, gentle but demanding. "Look at me, Kirsty," his breath caressed her cheek as his fingers did her skin.

"Open your eyes, sweetheart," Bjorn's voice echoed Mikael's. His breathed almost directly into her ear as sparks skittered down her spine.

Her obedience was instant. Pre-programmed into her submissive mind. It was not a choice. It was merely an automatic reaction, like kicking out when the doctor hit your knee with a tiny hammer. Her eyes met his dark gray ones. "He is not dead. Do you hear me, lilla gumman? Calm yourself. Sven is not dead."

Air filled her burning lungs as she nodded her head. His words registered, but still did not seem real somehow. She wanted to believe him. Wanted to think there was still hope. That it was not too late. But she did not truly dare. As if Fate would cruelly snatch it all away if she did.

She burst into tears. Her body shaking with their power as four arms wrapped solidly about her shoulders and waist. Holding her as she let it all out. All of the stress of this day. Georgia's accident. Her mother. Sven. This place that had never felt right, but she had never known anything else...

Until him. Until he touched her elbow and drew her through that turnstile in Tilbury. Until his laughter that she knew did not come easy sent those butterflies in her tummy to flight. Until she first stepped on board Ægir's Captive. Until she had tasted his lips. Until his ropes had freed her. He had captured her heart as surly as he had her body. "Sven?"

Mikael nodded as he inhaled, "Are you ready to listen now, elskling? Can you focus?"

"I think so," she whispered with a slow nod.

Mikael moved over a bit on the couch, his arms still firmly enclosed her waist, as they made room for Bjorn to join them. It took them a moment to get settled as the brothers sat shoulder to shoulder with her body draped half over each of them, cocooned against solid muscle.

Mikael's arm was draped over her shoulder with his hand resting on her upper tummy. He smiled as one of the girls objected and pushed as firmly as she had ever felt against it. Her breath caught at what clearly for the first time felt like a baby's kick.

Bjorn pushed her sandal aside with one hand. His fingers begin to knead and rub her feet as she felt tension begin to ease from her body. He looked up at her with a soft smile as his other hand came to rest on her lower abdomen. "Know this, my love, whatever comes we face it together."

She nodded her agreement as she looked back and forth between them. Together. Together they could face whatever was to come. That had been the problem these last few months. They were not together. Each of them had been isolated, alone, separated and adrift on the sea of life.

Her hands covered theirs over their babies. "Together is how it should have been all along."

***

Bjorn felt the censure of his wife's simple words to the bottom of his soul. He was not ashamed of the tears that gathered in his eyes. This was his beloved wife, the one he had chosen, and the brother that as Mikael taunted 'had changed his diapers.' He could be real with them. It was safe.

He leaned over, his forehead touching hers, "I am sorry, my love. Sorry for my jealousy that has hurt you so much, forced you to choose. It was not how it was supposed to be...not how I meant for it to be...and that was my fault. Can you forgive me?"

Her fingers laced through his as their little girl brushed against his palm and he knew then what family truly meant. He leaned back enough to look up at Mikael, "I'm sorry for being an ass to you too."

Mikael laughed and tousled his hair, "Damn, brat, what's happened here? Why you have to go and grow up on me?"

For once, he did not even resent the familiar action. It was comforting almost. Bjorn chuckled and shook his head, "You have no idea, big brother." He sighed and forced as reassuring a smile as he could manage as he met her deep blue eyes that were darker still with worry, "But right now, I think there are more pressing matters."

"More pressing matters? Fuck, what have they done to you, kid? Mama will have a cow at how posh you sound," Mikael's face scrunched as he spoke of their mother and warning bells rang in Bjorn's head.

He might have wanted to protect her, their babies, but his own words about facing it together came back to quickly haunt him. There had been enough secrets between them these past few months as it was, "So how bad is it?"

Mikael shifted their wife on his lap so that they were eye to eye, "Sven asked me if he could finish the cabin at the back of the property that I had begun for Greta after Monika was born." He dropped his eyes and his voice for a long moment, "I had thought maybe if we had our own place, some privacy." He paused and shook his dark head.

Bjorn noticed the tears glistening in his brother's steely eyes...and he knew that Mikael knew. His brother somehow knew that his wife had come to him. Tried to seduce him.

His gaze dropped to Kirsty's tummy, hands four of them, his, Mikael's and both of hers formed a lattice work to protect their babies.

But still guilt swamped him. How could he ever look his brother in the eye again knowing what stood between them?

Then he felt a large calloused hand covering his and Kirsty's. His brother squeezed their hands and Bjorn looked up reluctantly, "It was not your fault, kid. I don't blame you. I never did."

He wished it was that simple, but the truth was he always blamed himself. Had he inadvertently said or done something that had made Greta think he was interested? Not that he ever was. Cold hearted stick figures had never appealed to him, even in cartoons.

Kirsty looked back and forth between them, "Someone want to tell me what is going on here?"

Mikael kissed the tip of her nose, "Nosey little brats get in trouble, sweetheart?"

"And I guess trouble will have to wait a few months," she replied with a grin.

"Oh, trust me, sweetheart, there are still plenty of things we can and will do to punish you...when necessary," he said with a playful swat on her inner thigh. "And to reward you too when you are our good girl."

Bjorn would not have believed how easily his brother could make their wife blush and shyly cast her eyes down, "Yes, Sir."

With another heavy sigh, "But right now, I have come to take you all back home. Well, Oslo anyway."

"Oslo? Not Bodø?" If they had taken Sven all the way to a hospital in the capital, it could not be good. "What happened exactly?"

Mikael looked at their wife as he answered, "Like I said Sven asked to finish the house that I had begun for Greta. He was going to move there. So things would not be so... So you would be comfortable coming back to the Holding."

She nodded, "He had some kind of accident then? Quit stalling, Mikael. How bad is it? You said he is still alive, right?"

"Ja, he is still alive, elskling. At first we thought it was just an accident, that he had lost his balance somehow and fallen from the roof," this time Mikael looked to him, "But when the doctors in Bodø examined him..."

"What, damn it, Mikael? What?" their wife pummelled his brother's chest until he captured both her hands in one of his.

"He had a heart attack."

The words hung in the air. They did not register for a long moment in Bjorn's befuddled mind. Then all he could see was his father. Ashen, his lips blue. The great bear of a man that Bjorn thought was as immortal as the gods of Asgard laying still, fighting for each breathe.

Only one thought drove him and them to get back to the Holding...his mother. His father and they knew it was too late. Only one thing mattered to the man...telling his mother the one thing he never had...never could.

Was that what this was? Had his brother called for their wife as his father had Petrine? What would that do to her now? To the babies? Were these baby girls destined to grow up without one parent as Sven had always felt he had?

He might have been mad at his brother. Mad enough at times to kill him, but not to want him truly dead. He held his breath and hoped against hope their family's history was not repeating itself.

***

Kirsty fought to get her heart beat under control to breath slowly and deeply. She felt the girls kicking in protest inside of her as they never had. She knew she had to do this for them.

But sweet Freyja, she could only think about the way Petrine trembled as her tears cascaded down her cheeks when she spoke of Stig. Of the regret at words unspoken. Oh please, don't let that be us too.

At last she calmed herself enough to again ask the only question that mattered to her just then, "But he is alive, right?"

Mikael nodded slowly, but his forced smile was less than she hoped for. "Mama said the doctors were 'guardedly optimistic.' Whatever the fuck that is."

She let out a breath that she had not even been aware she was holding. Having worked in and grown up in hospitals with two doctor parents, she knew that answer. "It means he will probably make it, but the doctors need to cover their asses."

Bjorn and Mikael chuckled as she tried to stand up, "So when do we leave? When is the next flight out?"

Mikael drew her tighter into his embrace as he shook his head, "I bought the boat. We don't want you flying right now. Besides..." He looked directly at Bjorn, "Besides you need to pack. You aren't coming back here."

She turned to Bjorn as she saw him open his mouth to argue, "He's right. You know he is. We don't belong here. You said as much to my parents yourself." She reached out and caressed his handsome face, she really did understand how he felt. Especially now as she faced her worst fear...losing one of them. "Please, Bjorn, I want to go home."

She knew she had won when he inhaled deeply and sighed. She wrapped her arm about his neck and drew him down for a lingering kiss, "I promise...I will do whatever you say. I won't take any risks with the girls or myself. You have my word on that."

"We are taking an apartment in Oslo. The whole last month, hell, maybe your whole last trimester, we are living there." He turned up his nose, "As much as I hate cities, all cities, I mean it."

Kirsty was not looking forward to spending the final weeks of her pregnancy far from the only place that she had ever felt was home, but she would deal with that later. Turning instead to Mikael, "When do we leave then?"

He shook his head, "It is too late today. Besides I want to give you time to pack whatever you and Monika need. Mama said that Sven is coming in and out of consciousness. Once he is stable they need to do surgery to put pins in both his legs where he broke them in the fall. He is responding well to the drugs they gave him to break up the blockages that caused the heart attack, but they said they still might do angio..."

"Angioplasty," she supplied.

He nodded, "Yeah, that. But he is still being a stubborn, pain in the ass and won't consent to any surgery until he sees you."

"Damn him! He'll wish he was dead before I am through with him."

"Oh, I just bet he will, brat," Mikael smiled as he nuzzled his beard against the side of her neck.

She found it hard to breathe again as her heart pounded more quickly once more. But this had nothing to do with fear. And everything to do with desire and love.

As much as she loved Bjorn, she had so missed this man. They might not talk for hours about the classics, or philosophy, or some obscure mathematical theorem, but the easy way he made her laugh was just as freeing to her soul. And of course, his pain. Oh, she missed his pain.

"Tomorrow did you say? So tonight?"

He shook his head, "You have packing and resting to do, lilla gumman."

"There isn't much really." She frowned, how was it that in five months here with the exception of a few of Monika's toys there was nothing worth taking. She smiled...except the new flogger, of course. Which brought up another matter...

She beaned Mikael upside the head.

"Hey, watch it, brat. What was that?"

She scrunched up her face, "That was for the fact that at no point in the past year did your sorry ass think to tell me that your ex-wife and Monika's mother was the perfect size zero and one of the world's top models." She struggled to get up but once more he wrapped his arms about her tighter as she saw Bjorn snickering.

"And what does that matter, elskling? You've met the bitch. What exactly do you think is perfect about her? After a while bones poke you in the wrong places. And no amount of make-up can hide the ugly in that woman's heart. My ex-wife was as cold as the fish we keep on ice in the hold of Ægir's Captive."

He slapped her backside lightly, "And not nearly as warm, sweet or soft as the wife I love." He buried his face in the side of her neck, "Æ ælske dæ."

She drew back and looked at him, "What did you say?"

"Æ ælske dæ. I love you." He looked at her puzzled, "I am certain I must have told you that before."

She shook her head, "No. Jeg elsker deg. English, maybe even French and German once or twice but not that one." Her throat was getting tighter and she fought back tears.

"I'm sorry if I upset you, elskling. It is just the local dialect. Does it really sound all that different?"

She felt the tears slipping down her cheeks as anger warred with self-loathing and joy. "He better hope he dies, because I'm going to kill him if he doesn't."

"What are you talking about, sweetheart?" Bjorn asked.

"Sven. He said that. On the boat. When you..." she blushed, remembering how Bjorn had interrupted their love making that afternoon. The day that their girls were conceived. She rubbed her hand over her tummy slowly, "I am going to kill the man."

Mikael on the other hand found nothing but humor in the situation, "Damn, that explains everything. Fuck, if I had known, we would have never sent you away...stubborn, pig-headed."

"Sven or you?" she challenged her husband.

Bjorn laughed, "All of us, sweetheart." He turned to his older brother, "Take our wife into the bedroom and teach her some manners. There's a gag ball in the night stand. Use it."

Kirsty was about to protest that she had packing to do, but the truth was that despite all of the day's revelations, or maybe because of them, she desperately needed her beloved sadist. But she did not want her gentle white knight feeling left out either, "What about you? Join us, please."

Bjorn shook his head, "Monika will be up soon. There is packing to do. And I need to send an email resignation." His smile was the brightest then that she had seen since they came to London. "I will join you later. After Monika goes back down for the night," he chuckled, "probably much later."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now get her out of here, big brother. And make sure she gets at least some rest," he added sternly. "It's been a hell of a day."

Kirsty could not argue with Bjorn's logic as she stood and held out her hand to Mikael. "Ready for battle, Sir? Your brat is so going to enjoy having the upper hand this time," she chided as she rubbed her tummy.

"Don't count on that, brat. There are a hundred ways I can punish you and give you pain that won't put those babies in any danger."

Her eyes went wide with delight, "A hundred?"

He shrugged as she dragged him down the hall, "More or less. You can keep count if you like, but remember the rule. If you lose count..."

"We start all over from the beginning, Sir," she smiled and winked at Bjorn as he rolled up the sleeves on his dress shirt and powered up his laptop on the coffee table. She would be so glad to see him out of those shirts and ties and back to the sea where he belonged.

She just hoped that Sven would one day be at the helm again. Though from the sounds of it that might not be any time soon. But the only soon she was thinking about at the moment was the saucy grin on Mikael's face as she closed the door to the bedroom.

***

"Strip, lilla gumman," Mikael commanded.

He watched the play of emotions on her face as she stood by the door. Her hand gripped the knob until her knuckles turned white. He could see the battle wage in her beautiful mind. It was time to end this war...once and for all.

"I said strip, Kirsty. And I mean it." He closed the short distance between them until he towered over her. "You have one minute to get out of those clothes. Or you will be denied your beloved orgasms."

He leaned in and whispered, "Remember that first time on the boat? Tied up as we played with my knife. Remember how I ate your sweet cunt? How I kept edging you? Getting you so fucking close only to deny you at the last moment. This time I won't let you come at all, elskling."

He drew back so that they were eye-to-eye once more. Her cheeks were flushed the most delightful pink. Her breathing was shallow and her chest that appeared just the tiniest bit fuller heaved with each inhalation. "Is that what you want, Kirsty?"

He chuckled at how quickly she shook her head. His hand connected solidly with her outer thigh, "My baby brother may have tolerated such bad manners in his sub, but I will not in mine, dear wife." He gently caressed the same stop for a moment before sinking his fingers deep into the tender flesh that he knew must still be stinging; she jumped. "I said strip, Kirsty."

He saw the tears glistening in her clear blue eyes. He knew that this was perhaps the hardest command that any of them ever gave her. He realized too that their conversation in the living room about Greta was still fresh in her mind.