Chapter 15 Helayna #2
Arnar stood inside the dining room door, a glittering speck like a star in the midnight sky.
But I could tell his star from Pátair’s now.
They felt different. There were five more sparkling stars in what I assumed to be the kitchen.
Two stars shone upstairs in a small room.
The security team, I presumed. No other humans were inside the house or nearby on the grounds.
I widened my search, scanning over the ocean where Myrk and I had flown.
There were fishing boats and other vessels out to sea in the distance.
No one walked the black sand beach in either direction.
I skipped along the icy shoreline scanning for anything unusual.
Swept back in front of the house along the road where we’d driven up to the house.
Nothing. I’d felt something before, I was sure of it.
I stretched further, not sure of Iceland’s geography let alone whether I scanned east or west.
The crushing weight of ice crept across the inner region of the island, cutting deep trenches in the earth, tunneling between mountains.
Heat and steam bubbled up from the volcanoes below.
I couldn’t remember what Clara had called the closest volcano.
I could feel the pressure deep inside the earth, slowly building and simmering like a pot on the back burner of a mighty stove, but it didn’t feel like an eruption was imminent.
Something sparkled far off in the distance.
A gleaming multi-colored trail of light flared and spun in the corner of my mind, but it disappeared as soon as I turned my attention in its direction.
A great many stars flickered there, so it was a major city.
Perhaps Reykjavík? I did want to go see my mother’s former nest. A blood circle might sparkle like that.
If the legacy didn’t reveal her secrets, then I would go there next.
I opened my eyes and shook my head. “No new Blood I could sense, though there was something that caught my attention near a large city.” I pointed in the direction. “Is that toward Reykjavík?”
“It is,” Clara said. “Would you like to make a trip there tomorrow?”
“Soon. I think…” I cocked my head, listening for resonance, some sign from the goddess, but the night was quiet. “Let’s get the blood circle here first so we’re fully protected. Then I would like to see my mother’s former home.”
“Absolutely. It’s a beautiful three-hour drive along the coast. If you feel like sightseeing on the way, there are some incredible tourist stops at the waterfalls, a glacier ice cave, even some lagoons.”
“There aren’t any other queens in Iceland? No one we have to worry about upsetting by invading their territory?”
“No queens recognized by the Triune, at least. The closest acknowledged queen would be Queen Annika of House Friia in the Faroe Islands.”
“That’s my House!” Gunnarr stepped closer, practically wriggling like an excited puppy as we moved down the hallway.
“What would you like to know about her, my queen? I think you’d love Svín though it’s very small and remote.
We lived a simple life, mostly fishing, no surprise being on an island in the middle of nowhere with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the North Sea on the other. ”
“How large was your House?” I asked.
“Oh, let’s see, my mother, of course, my father, Jákup, one other Blood, her consiliarius and man of all trades.
Mostly he fished, along with everyone else of course.
His wife, Maria. They had two or three children, I think.
Maybe more since I was home. I’m a bit of a wanderer myself, my queen.
My mother never knew what to do with me, so I had the freedom to roam around and do as I pleased most of my life. ”
“She wanted some peace and quiet,” Myrk muttered.
“Probably so,” Gunnarr replied cheerfully, not at all upset. “I’m a lot in a lot of ways. I eat a lot, I talk a lot, and I like to know things, so I nose about more than I should. Or maybe it’s because I’m always in the kitchens. I tend to hear all the juiciest gossip before anyone else.”
We came to a large room filled with a variety of cushioned seats.
A massive fireplace filled one entire wall, decorated with stacked black and gray stones from floor to ceiling.
The rear wall of the room was all glass overlooking the ocean with an attached covered deck outside hanging out over the cliffs.
“The kitchens are that way,” Clara pointed to the right past the fireplace wall. “This way is my office and living quarters. Pàtair also has a suite in this hallway, but the rest of the staff live in Vík.”
“How many people do we employ?” I asked.”
Pausing at a dark wooden door, Clara looked back over her shoulder at me. “Here, there are currently twenty full-time employees, but that number will likely grow as news spreads of your homecoming. We keep a skeleton staff in Reykjavík, of course, and your other houses—”
“Wait, I have other houses too? Other than the cabin?”
“Of course. Long established Aima queens have houses throughout the world for when they travel to meet the Triune or other queens. You can go to nearly any country in the world and sleep under your own roof. Each house has a skeleton staff, until you decide to visit, of course. Most of your main staff will ask to travel with you. Pàtair, for instance, would be devastated if he couldn’t coordinate your meals wherever you go.
Overall, House Ironheart employees hundreds of full-time employees around the world.
My phone’s been ringing off the hook with requests to transfer to Vík. ”
I’m pretty sure my jaw was on the floor as we moved into the spacious office lined with bookshelves.
Several chairs were placed in front of another fireplace, but the room was mainly dominated by a large desk.
A heavily embroidered cloth covered what appeared to be a box centered on the table.
Half of the cloth was black, the other white.
A large tree decorated the cloth in glittering threads and stones.
Yggdrasil.