“No.”
“She is the goddess of love, beauty. Sex. But also war and gold.”
“That seems a strange combination of things.”
“Not really. For what do we fight wars over except love, sex and gold?”
She had never thought about that before. Gold, yes. Greed. That was the biggest reason she could think of for war. But throughout time, and in small ways, every day she supposedpeople did wage battle for love and sex. Need, erotic need, was something she was currently fighting a battle inside of herself about.
“Freya rules Fólkvangr. A heavenly field where many soldiers who die in battle go.”
“I thought that in Norse mythology they went to Valhalla?”
“Some do. But there is a different path. Some in my culture think that it’s soldiers who are loved that go to Freya. Because she saves a space for their wives.”
“Oh.”
“You look like her. Freya.”
She laughed. “That can’t be. I’m hardly a Scandinavian beauty.”
“Your lack of blond hair doesn’t make you less a beauty. Freya herself is brave and bold. Clever. As a goddess must be. There is also sadness in her. I would say that you are definitely Freya. All that gold.”
It was the most deeply beautiful thing anyone had ever said to her. And she felt seen in a way that she hadn’t expected to be seen by him.
She would’ve said that they were different. Entirely. But they weren’t.
They were two people who had been deeply isolated in different ways throughout their lives.
And the only time in his life when he’d had a family he couldn’t even remember.
He was a warrior, yes, but he must’ve spent a significant amount of time in his own mind. Thinking. Making a declaration like that proved it to her.
“I didn’t think you believed in the divine,” she commented.
“I never have.”
Then he reached his arm out and she took hold of it. He didn’t say that he did now. Or that he was changing his way of thinking,and yet it felt like he had paid her a glorious compliment all the same.
Maybe this was just her shifting and twisting the moment to make it into something undeniable. So that when she kissed him after the ball tonight, she could justify it.
I don’t have to justify anything.
No. She decided that she didn’t. She decided that she didn’t have to have any reason other than the fact that she wanted it.
Because she was entitled to that.
After everything, surely she was entitled to that.
They walked through the double doors of the ballroom, and the scene below took Fern’s breath away. The room was full, and decorated gloriously. There were fresh flowers strung across all the surfaces, bright pinks and purples that were set off beautifully by the black walls and gold trimmings.
The light, natural beauty was unexpected in the heavy, medieval surroundings.
And even more wonderfully, the room was filled with people. Some she recognized from events at the palace in Cape Blanco, and abroad. Others she suspected were citizens from this country.
And all heads turned to look at them as they walked out to the top step.
She curtsied, and Ragnar gave a deep bow as they were introduced.
