Ragnar would never be able to understand what was so horrible about the fact that likely (he was still holding onto the errant hope that the babes would be his by blood) the babes were Crete’s -- at least from everyone else’s point of view. From his own, yes, he could, if they turned out to belong to Thistle’s one night lover, be threats to him and by all rights Ragnar could kill them. But, he didn’t consider them Crete’s - no, they were his and his babes alone, whether they were borne of his seed or not. They were his sons acknowledged and accepted by his Gods and for whatever it was worth, Ragnar loved the mysterious children in Thistle’s womb, anxious to know them and teach them the ways of their true people. From a general, detached perspective, while Ragnar understood the terms of her ‘treason’ he did not understand what the fuss regarding the babes was all about. As it was, Vikings had threesomes all the time he was tired of going around in regards to his babes and their conception. It didn’t matter anymore, and frankly as far as the Viking was concerned she had no say in it because it had been before her acceptance into the pack.
“If you have a problem with how Pump handled it, talk to her about it,” Ragnar told her stiffly. He did not need to verbally make the threat that if she touched his mate or came near his children he would rip her lungs out of her body. It would be unnecessary and redundant because it was there without him needing to say it, anyway. “I do not know how Pump decides our ranks,” Since the obvious way that he could think of seemed to be thrown out the window decidedly. Ragnar would have handled the ranks starkly different than Pump but while they were similar, they were also vastly different. “The punishment has been dealt, and you do not need to concern yourself with my children.” Ragnar told her with finality, abruptly closing off that topic of discussion. He did not want to keep going in the circle of how Thistle was a higher rank than him despite what she had done that technically, by Ragnar’s own standards as well, would have earned her a demotion. Rather, Ragnar had a suspicion as to why that was, feeling that Pump was suspicious of him and would rather Thistle be between him and her in the hierarchy because if he wanted higher than Thistle, as it currently stood, he would have to challenge her for the rank and she would be, realistically, in no shape to handle a rank challenge …and Thistle worked as an effective deterrent.
For now.
