The tavern stayed quiet.<\/p>\n
Too quiet.<\/p>\n
Only the crackling fireplaces filled the silence.<\/p>\n
The young woman studied him carefully.<\/p>\n
The towering barbarian stood unmoving before the bar.<\/p>\n
Broad shoulders wrapped in animal furs.<\/p>\n
Heavy hands resting near spilled gold.<\/p>\n
Like a man used to solving problems with steel\u2014<\/p>\n
not words.<\/p>\n
She folded her arms tighter.<\/p>\n
Eyes sharp.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou still haven\u2019t answered me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her voice stayed calm.<\/p>\n
Careful.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy me?\u201d<\/p>\n
The barbarian looked toward the fire briefly.<\/p>\n
Jaw tightening.<\/p>\n
Like memory itself hurt.<\/p>\n
Then quietly\u2014<\/p>\n
voice lower now\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you looked me in the eye.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He glanced toward the tavern.<\/p>\n
Drunken men quickly looked away.<\/p>\n
Most people avoided him.<\/p>\n
Feared him.<\/p>\n
Whispered stories.<\/p>\n
Monster.<\/p>\n
Warrior.<\/p>\n
Killer.<\/p>\n
But she\u2014<\/p>\n
hadn\u2019t flinched.<\/p>\n
Hadn\u2019t trembled.<\/p>\n
Hadn\u2019t begged.<\/p>\n
The barbarian looked back at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI leave by sunrise.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tavern seemed colder suddenly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if I return alone\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
Something dark crossed his expression.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026my clan dies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Even nearby patrons stopped pretending not to listen.<\/p>\n
The woman\u2019s hands slowly lowered.<\/p>\n
Confusion replacing suspicion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind of marriage is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
Before he answered\u2014<\/p>\n
the tavern door slammed open.<\/p>\n
Cold wind exploded inside.<\/p>\n
Snow scattered across wooden floors.<\/p>\n
Three armored men stepped through.<\/p>\n
Tall.<\/p>\n
Scarred.<\/p>\n
Wolf pelts hanging from iron shoulders.<\/p>\n
The entire tavern went still.<\/p>\n
Fear spread instantly.<\/p>\n
One patron quietly stood\u2014<\/p>\n
and left.<\/p>\n
Then another.<\/p>\n
The men spotted the barbarian immediately.<\/p>\n
Smiled.<\/p>\n
Cruel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d one laughed darkly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The barbarian never turned.<\/p>\n
Didn\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n
His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
The young woman noticed instantly.<\/p>\n
He knew them.<\/p>\n
The largest warrior stepped closer.<\/p>\n
Heavy boots echoing against wooden floors.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really came looking for a wife?\u201d<\/p>\n
Laughter followed.<\/p>\n
Ugly.<\/p>\n
Mocking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThought the mountain curse already buried your bloodline.\u201d<\/p>\n
The barbarian slowly rose to his full height.<\/p>\n
Massive.<\/p>\n
Dangerous.<\/p>\n
The tavern suddenly felt too small.<\/p>\n
The woman looked between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat curse?\u201d<\/p>\n
No one answered.<\/p>\n
Instead\u2014<\/p>\n
the warrior smirked.<\/p>\n
Then looked directly at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should ask him,\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026why every woman who marries him dies before winter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room fell silent.<\/p>\n
The barbarian\u2019s hand slowly curled into a fist.<\/p>\n
Because whatever followed him\u2014<\/p>\n
had already taken too much.<\/p>\n
And somehow\u2014<\/p>\n
it was getting closer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The tavern stayed quiet. Too quiet. Only the crackling fireplaces filled the silence. The young woman studied him carefully. The towering barbarian stood unmoving before the bar. Broad shoulders wrapped in animal furs. Heavy hands resting near spilled gold. Like a man used to solving problems with steel\u2014 not words. She folded her arms tighter. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}