“He also knew about the cabin in Minnesota,” I mused. “But he didn’t say anything about the other house.” Deliberately, I didn’t say Vík out loud in case he had a spell or magic that might eavesdrop.
Which frustrated me enough to sigh with annoyance. I didn’t want to guard my words inside while merely talking with my Blood. Especially with an activated blood circle. Shouldn’t we be able to speak freely inside my own house?
“I doubt he has the ability to hear you now,” Heimdallr said gently. “Especially after your additional blood offering to the ground and house itself. Your blood is laced with magic he can’t touch despite his own powers. You carry divine goddess magic even a god of mischief will not be able to understand.”
“How about the god of Bifröst?”
“I understand only my desire to give you anything you can possibly wish for or need before you must ask me to provide it.”
“Same,” Dörr, Lokken, and Svar said at the same time.
My throat ached as I gave each one of them a smile. “My Blood, how I love you.”
Lokken came closer to give me a soft kiss and then stepped back outside, quietly shutting the door. Taking in the room, I turned in a slow circle. My eyes widened.
The furniture looked to be as old as the house. Wooden side tables with extravagantly curved legs and heavy gold details. Curved chaises with brocade and more gilded wood. A life-sized portrait of Queen Hrefna took up most of one wall with a massive ornate golden frame. One eye flashed with silver lightning, and her silvery blonde hair hung around her shoulders like a cape. She sat in the Ironheart throne, high on arched roots with green branches fanned behind her.
“It seems strange to have a large portrait of herself in her private suite.”
“At least it’s not hanging over the bed,” Heimdallr said. “Though you may wish to cover other things before lying down.”
Oh no. That didn’t sound good. I followed him into the next section of the suite with Dörr behind me. A short hallway had two open doors on either side. One to a closet room with theracks of clothing from the London tailors. The walls were lined with other clothing that must have belonged to my grandmother. Furs, silks, long formal gowns. Racks upon racks of shoes. An entire wall of small drawers. I wasn’t even sure what might lie hidden inside.
“It’s so strange,” I mused. “Why did they keep her things exactly as she left them? I guess my mother had her own suite already, so it didn’t make sense to empty Grandmother’s things for hers, but it still seems odd. Especially after a century or more.”
The other door on the opposite side of the hallway led to a palatial bathroom. A sunken tub the size of a small swimming pool tiled in creamy marble dominated the center of the room. Padded benches lined one wall, opposite two double vanities with floor to ceiling mirrors. It was beautiful, but at the same time it felt cold and sterile. Why so many sinks and mirrors? Perhaps she’d enjoyed watching her Blood shave or comb their hair?
My lips quirked with amusement as I stepped into the main bedchamber. Set inside the left tower, the large room was shaped like a hexagon. Three walls were floor-to-ceiling windows without any covering. They provided beautiful views of the ocean and back garden, but considering we were on the outskirts of the capital city with hundreds of thousands of humans living around us…
I didn’t care to be so exposed.
At first glance, the bed appeared to be humongous, but most of its size was the carved wooden frame made into a replica of mighty Yggdrasil. Its branches stretched out over the bed to form the frame. Heavy velvet drapes hung at the corners of the mattress. Not to my taste, but not so terrible…
Heimdallr’s lips twitched. “Turn around.”
I turned to see surely the largest mirror ever made. Floor to ceiling. No seams that I could see.
“There’s also a mirror above the mattress.”
“I guess Grandmother Hrefna might have been both a voyeur and exhibitionist. I’m not a prude, but all this glass gives me an icky feeling. Like someone could be watching—through the mirror. Is that possible?”
“Very likely,” Heimdallr replied. “Some queens are said to be able to use mirrors to communicate with each other or even travel through them like portals. In ancient Mesoamerica, obsidian mirrors were used by shamans to communicate with the gods.”
Goosebumps prickled my arms, making me shiver. “I wonder who she was communicating with.”
Dörr wrapped me up in a hug, sharing his body heat. “You don’t have to sleep in here, my queen. If it’s possible for another queen or god to communicate or even pass through the mirror, then it’s certainly not safe. Even if all your Blood stand guard around the bed.”
I laughed at the thought. “Don’t tempt me, but yeah. I don’t think I care to stay in this room. It’s just too weird. But I also don’t know if I want to use my mother’s bed. That might be just as weird. What if it’s the bed where she became pregnant with me? With Loki? Would she have conceived me here in her mother’s house? I have no idea.”
“Let’s go see the other rooms first,” Heimdallr suggested. “If your mother’s room feels uncomfortable too, then I’m sure there’s a guest room that might be less strange.”
“Or we can simply drive back to your home, my queen. Your comfort is paramount.”
“Okay.” I followed them back to the outer room where Svar waited by the door. “I hate to trouble Franz, but I don’t know if the other suite will have a phone.”
Though staring at the device, I wasn’t sure how it worked. It had a large dial with numbers. I had no idea what Franz’s personal number was. However, as soon as Heimdallr picked up the receiver and offered it to me, I heard a beep and then Franz immediately answered.
“How can I be of service, Your Majesty?”
