“How do you suggest we proceed?” Magnus asked.
“Very slowly,” Freydis said. “I would like to understand every experience you’ve had like this and maybe in a few days’ time, we can try to reconnect with the seer of Vanaheim. I know you were frightened, but he is harmless, a visionary whose only purpose is to share information to Volur.”
“Does that mean you are one as well?” Elspeth asked. This was all so strange to her.
“To a certain degree yes, but I do not have the level of power you have. I am able to cast runes and see messages from the gods, but I cannot look into a person’s mind or know if someone is about to enter a chamber.”
Put like that Elspeth felt a little freakish. If someone had told her a few weeks ago that she would be having this sort of conversation she would have laughed at them and called them mad in the head. Now she was not only accepting what she was being told, she was the subject of the conversation.
For the next few hours, Elspeth detailed every time she’d predicted someone’s arrival or an impression she felt when something bad was about to happen. She told Freydis about her Nana Besse and how she’d tried to help her.
“Is that why you wear cloves around your neck?”
“Aye, Nana Besse said cloves would help me see good things more clearly.”
“She is right that cloves have good magical properties. She was a wise-woman?”
“Aye, she was. She passed away a few years ago and I often wish I had more time with her, especially considering how this has all escalated.”
“Did she ever tell you if there was a source of your gift?”
“She said it was a gift from the Celtic Goddess Brigid. I admit that I didn’t really pay much attention to that part of her teachings which is something I now regret. I dismissed her reasoning because I thought it was blasphemous and so I didn’t even want to listen to her speak against God.”
“Your faith is strong and you should never apologize to anyone for it. You may find yourself drawing on it for strength.”
“She has me for strength,” Magnus said.
Elspeth turned to him and smiled. That was a certainty. She had no doubt he had enough strength for both of them. She didn’t need to probe him to believe that his heart was true and his honour was intact. And though he had said he would volunteer to let her know his mind, she would rather find out her own way over time. Knowing all his secrets up front would prevent them from learning about each other together and strengthening their bond from there. Nay, she would not probe him or anyone else. A person’s secret thoughts were meant to be theirs alone and they had a right to keep them. Elspeth vowed then and there she would never enter a person’s mind again no matter the reasoning.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Magnus had been listening to Freydis and Elspeth for hours talking about the latter’s past experiences. In his mind they didn’t appear to be making any forward movement, rather returning to the same point over and over again. How could Elspeth be chosen by Odin for any purpose?
He stood and stretched his back as he moved to the hearth for a change of position. He never had much patience for sitting around, and though this was important, he felt idle and unproductive.
“How was your meeting with King Olaf?” Giric asked from beside him.
He’d almost forgotten all about it. With everything that had happened with Elspeth in the past several days, the looming threat from Athelstan seemed eons away from priority.
“He will join forces with us.”
“You do not sound convinced.”
Was he certain of Olaf’s alliance? Was he certain of anyone’s? A memory flashed in his mind and he moved back to the table.
“I need to interrupt for a moment.”
He waited for both women to look at him and nod.
“Lady Elspeth, do you recall specifically what it was King Olaf wanted you to see for him?”
He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten that piece. He really must be losing his focus as he was usually much sharper than that. Clearly this woman had gotten to him in a way he hadn’t imagined. That was a first.
He waited as she looked down at her hands and furrowed her brow. “’Twas personal in nature,” she said.
Personal or no, it could very well affect their reasons to trust or not to trust Olaf.
“I too would like to know more about your meeting with him,” Giric said.
