I opened my eyes and shook my head. “No new Blood I could sense, though there was something that caught my attention near a large city.” I pointed in the direction. “Is that toward Reykjavík?”
“It is,” Clara said. “Would you like to make a trip there tomorrow?”
“Soon. I think…” I cocked my head, listening for resonance, some sign from the goddess, but the night was quiet. “Let’s get the blood circle here first so we’re fully protected. Then I would like to see my mother’s former home.”
“Absolutely. It’s a beautiful three-hour drive along the coast. If you feel like sightseeing on the way, there are some incredible tourist stops at the waterfalls, a glacier ice cave, even some lagoons.”
“There aren’t any other queens in Iceland? No one we have to worry about upsetting by invading their territory?”
“No queens recognized by the Triune, at least. The closest acknowledged queen would be Queen Annika of House Friia in the Faroe Islands.”
“That’s my House!” Gunnarr stepped closer, practically wriggling like an excited puppy as we moved down the hallway. “What would you like to know about her, my queen? I think you’d love Svín though it’s very small and remote. We lived a simple life, mostly fishing, no surprise being on an island in the middle of nowhere with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the North Sea on the other.”
“How large was your House?” I asked.
“Oh, let’s see, my mother, of course, my father, Jákup, one other Blood, her consiliarius and man of all trades. Mostly he fished, along with everyone else of course. His wife, Maria. They had two or three children, I think. Maybe more since I was home. I’m a bit of a wanderer myself, my queen. My mother never knew what to do with me, so I had the freedom to roam around and do as I pleased most of my life.”
“She wanted some peace and quiet,” Myrk muttered.
“Probably so,” Gunnarr replied cheerfully, not at all upset. “I’m a lot in a lot of ways. I eat a lot, I talk a lot, and I like to know things, so I nose about more than I should. Or maybe it’sbecause I’m always in the kitchens. I tend to hear all the juiciest gossip before anyone else.”
We came to a large room filled with a variety of cushioned seats. A massive fireplace filled one entire wall, decorated with stacked black and gray stones from floor to ceiling. The rear wall of the room was all glass overlooking the ocean with an attached covered deck outside hanging out over the cliffs.
“The kitchens are that way,” Clara pointed to the right past the fireplace wall. “This way is my office and living quarters. Pàtair also has a suite in this hallway, but the rest of the staff live in Vík.”
“How many people do we employ?” I asked.”
Pausing at a dark wooden door, Clara looked back over her shoulder at me. “Here, there are currently twenty full-time employees, but that number will likely grow as news spreads of your homecoming. We keep a skeleton staff in Reykjavík, of course, and your other houses?—”
“Wait, I have other houses too? Other than the cabin?”
“Of course. Long established Aima queens have houses throughout the world for when they travel to meet the Triune or other queens. You can go to nearly any country in the world and sleep under your own roof. Each house has a skeleton staff, until you decide to visit, of course. Most of your main staff will ask to travel with you. Pàtair, for instance, would be devastated if he couldn’t coordinate your meals wherever you go. Overall, House Ironheart employees hundreds of full-time employees around the world. My phone’s been ringing off the hook with requests to transfer to Vík.”
I’m pretty sure my jaw was on the floor as we moved into the spacious office lined with bookshelves. Several chairs were placed in front of another fireplace, but the room was mainly dominated by a large desk. A heavily embroidered cloth covered what appeared to be a box centered on the table. Half of the clothwas black, the other white. A large tree decorated the cloth in glittering threads and stones.
Yggdrasil.
16
HELAYNA
Istared at the intricate design, tracing the swirling threads down the many branches to the thick roots below.
Hel. My heritage. As such, most of the design centered in the dark space beneath the mighty world tree. Glittering green wound through the arching roots, representing the coils of Jörmungandr. Shimmering silver pooled like the wellspring I’d broken open. In the darkest spot beneath the tree, a different black thread had been blended with the roots. Flat, dull black, it stood out against the shining threads. The longer I looked at it, the more it looked like a specific shape instead of simple shading or shadows. Long curling neck, more like the world serpent, but I thought I could make out legs and long wings intertwined with the roots. Níðhöggr, Malice Striker, the dragon caged beneath Yggdrasil, gnawing on its roots.
A chair sat before the desk with a high, carved back. I assumed it was Clara’s, but she stood at the desk and turned to face me. “Please take your seat, Your Majesty.”
As soon as my body touched the wood, it seemed to come alive. Eyes wide, I held my breath as the seat shifted and adjusted to me. The arms and straight back gently curved tosupport and cradle my body. Tendrils curled up, stretching out tender leaves. The entire chair trembled, and for a moment, I could only think of the volcano simmering beneath the snow.
Roots shoved into the floor, seeking the earth. Taking my consciousness with them. Solid rock yielded to the magical roots. Ice receded. Until we found rich earth.
A sigh seemed to pass through the chair into me. A sigh of longing now eased. A need, once long endured, now had been met.
I didn’t realize I’d closed my eyes until I opened them. Clara gave me a tearful smile, her hands clasped as if in prayer.
“At last, a Daughter of Hel has taken her rightful seat. The Ironheart throne has been empty since your grandmother passed to the goddess. According to the stories passed down through my family, who’ve served as consiliari for generations, it was carved from a piece of Yggdrasil.”
My fingers trembled as I stroked the shining wood. It felt warm and alive beneath me, wooden but also somehow almost like flesh.
