“I feel like there is something you want to ask me,” he said, not sure if he should probe her deepest thoughts, but curious as to what could be going through her mind.
She paused mid drink then placed the cup on the ground. She gestured in a sweeping motion toward the clearing. “This,” she said. “All this is well and good and will help me at least feel like I have some chance to survive should I ever be in a situation where I am threatened.”
“But?”
“But what is the purpose of all of this if I cannot use all that I possess to my advantage?”
“Are you referring to the gifts Freydis spoke of?”
“Aye, I am. What is the point of having them if I cannot use them to save myself or someone else?”
“What makes you think you can’t use them?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you should understand them enough by now to know how. The tools I have were learned and practiced for years. They are physical tactics that I use, as you say, to protect myself and others. I am far better with an axe than a small sword because of my size and strength. You must use whatever tools are at your disposal and understand all the ways you can find an advantage.”
She stared hard at him for a moment then narrowed her eyes. For a split second she appeared angry. In the next moment he could hear, no feel her heartbeat. She was sitting ten feet from him, but he would swear she was underneath his skin. A pulse-beat later and it was over.
Magnus bent over for a moment feeling dizzy. He sat on his arse on the ground for a moment and stared at her.
“What in Odin’s name did you do?” he asked. His whole body trembled for a moment before he felt steady again and could stand.
She turned pale pursed her lips as if she didn’t know what to say. He could see her trembling so moved to sit beside her. He placed his arm around her and pulled her close. Though their bodies now touched, the sensation was nothing like what he’d just experienced.
“Elspeth, tell me what just happened,” he said as gently as he could.
“I swore I’d never do it again,” she whispered.
“Is that what Freydis was trying to show you how to do?”
“Aye. I saw things in her mind that I should not have seen.”
His heart raced. Was she really telling him that she’d just entered his mind? Surely it was not possible, but what other explanation could there be? He had been rendered completely helpless for a moment so much so it had landed him on his backside.
“What did you see in my mind?”
She looked at him quickly. “I didn’t see anything. I promise, I would not look because ’tis not my place.” She wrung her hands and frowned, her eyes wide.
“Do not worry yourself. I pushed you to explore this gift. I would not hold it against you if you did see what was in my mind.”
“You wouldn’t?”
“I would not. There is nothing in my heart or in my mind that I would hold secret from you.”
“May I?” she asked and placed her hands on either side of his head. She touched their foreheads together and closed her eyes.
Magnus kept his open watching the concentration on her face. He meant what he said, there was nothing in him he would not share with her and maybe it was easier for her to see what he felt rather than voice the words.
Pressure on his head forced him to close his eyes. A split second later he experienced the same sensations as before only this time they were less forceful, as if she slowly opened the door versus flung it open.
He could feel rather than hear her questions. They were about her safety and if she was truly mad or if this was real.
He smiled and wrapped his arms around her as if to reassure her not quite knowing how else to answer for he was sure his voice would not sound if he tried.
A small sense of another question encircled him. A different sort of query that needed no words, rather a form of beckoning squeezing his heart. His beat harder as did hers as if they kept in time. In that moment there were no questions or answers, only the sensation of one heart recognizing another and in an expression of relief for finding its missing part.
It was too much and not enough at the same time. Where he’d originally felt paralyzed by her entry into his mind, now he realized he could move freely with her still there. He also learned that he could probe her mind too.
