‘If I go to court with my auntie, maybe he won’t leave.’
Svanna gave the nurse a hard look. ‘Who has been putting stories in her head?’
‘She never asked for such things until her aunt arrived. Now it is all she will speak of. About how if she goes to court, she will truly have a family.’
Svanna hunkered down and held out her hand. The little girl hid her face in her nurse’s skirt, but Svanna patiently waited.
Eventually, Birdie peeked out again. ‘You talk funny.’
‘I suppose I do, but will you help me to talk better?’
The little girl straightened. ‘Me?’
‘You’re the daughter of the house. It is your honour and your duty.’
Birdie’s grin became radiant from ear to ear. ‘Oh, my saints and all the angels, yes.’
Svanna stifled a smile, knowing from the look Birdie’s nurse gave her who used that phrase. ‘I must try to remember that one—Oh, my saints and all the angels. Did I get it right?’
‘Say it again.’
Svanna obliged.
Birdie waved her hand. ‘It will do, I guess.’
‘I do hope you will help me with getting my words right. Soon, no one will guess that I muddle my words.’
The little girl nodded vigorously.
The muscles in Svanna’s neck relaxed. Her stepdaughter was more adorable than she had hoped. She wanted to do so many things with her and make her feel part of a family, instead of being used like a counter. She glanced about the room and saw a small loom was set up for making braid.
‘Did your aunt teach you to weave this?’ she asked, going over to it. The braid’s weaving was more complex than she’d thought it would be for such a young child.
‘She did that bit.’ Birdie pointed a chubby finger at the pattern. ‘I’m supposed to do some, but I like playing with the cook’s new kittens better. They are going to grow up to be mousers.’
Svanna narrowed her eyes and tried to remember where she’d encountered the pattern before. Agthir, and a while ago. A chill went down her spine. Turgeis’s mother wore this sort of braid. ‘Unusual.’
The nurse hurried over. ‘Something her aunt was doing when she first arrived. She’d apparently seen some braid like it.’
‘But she tired of the pattern after she fell in love.’
‘My lady knows.’
Svanna nodded. She could be misremembering, but it was if the other clues pointed in the same direction. ‘A fun challenge to try and recreate braids. Ladies in Agthir’s court wear a lot of braid.’
‘I’m sure I wouldn’t know.’
Svanna inclined her head. ‘Maybe, one of these days, we’ll all take a voyage there.’
The nurse went pale. ‘I shouldn’t like to travel there.’
‘It is a very beautiful country, with waterfalls and deep lochs. Birdie’s father spent some time there. I believe Thorarinn as well. Rhiannon was not thinking about going there, was she?’
The nurse looked anywhere but at Svanna. ‘She failed to confide in me.’
‘But if Rhiannon comes to say goodbye to Birdie, you both will let me know, won’t you?’
* * *
