“Good, me bath will be getting cold.”
“This isnae time fer jests!” she hissed at him. “Ava has just told me what is happening.”
“Strange, I thought ye’d be supportive of her plan.”
“I am. Tae a degree.” She huffed, placing her hands on her hips. “I understand where she is coming from. I’d lay down me life fer Enya, ye, Magnus and Domhnall, but this…” She shook her head. “This is more complicated than that.”
“Why?” Kai walked around her. He reached for a flagon of mead that had been left for him on a table with some nuts and busied himself eating and drinking, hoping Thora would leave soon. He’d already had enough warnings from Domhnall that morning. He did not need warnings from Thora too.
“Because, when I look at yer future, when I try taesee…”She paused, waving in the air as if she was clearly struggling to put into words what she was feeling. “I see pain.”
“I could have told ye that. I dinnae need yer ability taeseethings tae ken that, sister.”
“Dinnae be flippant.” She marched toward him and took the flagon out of his hands, planting it down heavily on the table again. “I’m saying that when I try tae see what will happen, I cannae see much. What is clear though is pain fer both of ye. Both ye and Ava. Dae ye ken what I think?”
“Nay, but I have a feeling ye’re going tae tell me anyway. Yer irritation is practically making the air hiss.” He gestured to the air around her.
“I think that what ye and Ava feel fer each other is nae just a friendship.” She placed her hands on the table between them and leaned toward them.
Kai stopped chewing and stared at his sister. He thought about denying it, but with Domhnall already practically reading on his face that he was head over heels in love with Ava, it would only be a matter of time anyway before one of them told Thora.
“Ye’re slipping in yer skill, Thora.” He adopted a jovial tone and continued to eat. “Ye’re only half right on this occasion. Maybe what I dae feel fer Ava is more than friendship, but has she ever given ye any cause tae believe that she feels more fer me?”
Thora released the table and stepped back, her skin paling to the color of the snow beyond the windows.
“Exactly.” He took a big gulp of the mead, inhaling the spiced honey scent and trying to distract himself with the taste. “I can control what I feel.”
“Can ye?”
“I will control it. On that ye have me word, but in the meantime, dinnae worry fer Ava’s sake. She has made up her mind tae be Laird Grant’s wife. I am nae part of this plan.” He downed the last of the mead. “Now, I’d like tae take me bath if ye dinnae mind.” He waved his hand rather enthusiastically at the door.
Thora huffed and walked toward the door. She opened it, but hovered in the doorway for a second, not quite leaving.
“Maybe she doesnae feel anything more fer ye now,” she whispered, her voice taking on that eerie note it sometimes had when she looked into the future.
“Nay tricks with me, Thora. Ye forget, I’ve seen ye dae this with others. This misty voice, the grand words–”
“It’s nay trick,” she snapped, her eyes full of fury as she turned to face him. “And if ye had seen what I had seen in me life, ye wouldnae belittle it.”
“I am nae belittling ye,” he hurried to say with full seriousness. “I just… I dinnae want tae have this conversation now, Thora. Och, I just want tae forget me woes. Can ye understand that?”
She nodded jerkily, the fury leaving her eyes.
“Then I’ll say one more thing afore I go.” She closed her eyes. “When I try tae see yer future, braither, I see two things. Twoimages. They flicker together as if they’re lit by a candle, one image in darkness, the other in orange light. In the light, Ava is beside ye, and she holds ontae ye in a way a friend wouldnae hold a friend. She grips tae ye as if her life depends on it.”
“And the other image?” Kai asked in spite of himself, his curiosity suddenly burning.
Thora opened her eyes.
“I see ye standing alone, as ye watch Ava take another man’s hand.”
“Then that is the future that will happen.” Kai spoke with firmness.
Thora sniffed, then turned away, leaving swiftly through the open door. The moment the door closed behind her. Kai bent forward, as if he had been punched in the gut.
Her musings on the future arenae always right. I’ve seen that, time and time again. These images shift like a wind.
Yet there was a longing deep inside of him, a wish that the image where Ava clung to him would come true.
