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My impression is that male-female relationships of that time would be one-sided and possessive.
Not necessarily. This is before the time I'm most familiar with; but in later Germanic-influenced cultures women had more rights in a relationship, even one where the woman wasn't married to the man, than they did during later more Christianized times.
If your characters are not Germanic and are instead Celtic, their women often had had even greater rights. Depending on the time period and country.
The reason it was called the Dark Ages (I've got no problem with that term) is that it was "Dark" to the Victorian historians. It happened between the written records left by the Romans and when written records started up again after Christian Missionaries arrived in Britian. So they didn't have much idea what had happened then.
In the 1060s, way after your time period, Jarl Harold Godwinsson, who later briefly became King Harold II, was married "in the Danish manner" to his wife Edith Swannesha (gentle swan). This was a legally recognized civil marriage and the children were legitimate; but it was not recognized by the church. Just an aside to give you another perspective.
(See how easy that was 1000 years ago? /digression into modern politics)
"Leman," although obscure, seems to be the concept you are talking about.
I like leman.