"Don't be ridiculous," Athelstan smiles slightly. "This is the cleverness of not asking the question. I do not know what your answer would be because I do not give you the chance to give it. There is no one to resent but myself if I choose to be resentful, which I won't. You'll remember that I've always wanted for very little so it is not much that I am possibly denied."

He sighs, Ragnar makes this difficult but he supposes that he makes it no easier. That is happiness seems so fragile is not a good thing for either of them and yet he doesn't know how to repair it but to do his best to keep on. Time has proven to help many things in his life.

"When I am so me?" he questions.

The questions posed are ones that he can't answer clearly without using a word he carefully avoids using. In the years he lived with lagertha and Ragnar he had never once heard Ragnar say it even though it was clear he loved her deeply and she had tried but a simply yes had never been something offered. There's a rueful smile as he realizes that maybe that sort of admission might be a salve to the wound he has. How many lovers had Ragnar been willing to say that to? He's certain that Aslaug had never had Ragnar's heart.

"Why do you tolerate me?"