Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ethel’s kitchen was warm as I sat at her ancient wood table for my next lesson in controlling the powers that Ormr left me, which included putting the cairn knoll back to rights. That morning, herbs were hanging upside down from hooks in the beam above me.
“What does it mean that Orabilia would chance her security to save him? For all intents and purposes, Vikings were not welcome here, right?”
“You sound like a MacLaoch.”
“I did fall in love and marry one; it makes sense that I sound like them. Vikings then were considered pirates, intent only on raiding whatever their kings and jarls, or war chiefs, demanded, right?”
Ethel poured hot water over the black tea leaves and herbs in the porcelain pot next to the stove.
“Was my ancient grandfather a jarl?”
“He was…” Ethel was thoughtful about her response before saying, “He did not wear the official title of jarl, or earl. His brother was a jarl in the northern isles. However, his status as a war chief and loyalty from the men who sailed with him, as well as the people who lived under his brother’s rule, made him more powerful than his brother.
Despite Laoch owning much of the land out that window”—she pointed out the small rectangular window over the sink to the sea and the Lewis and Harris isle of the Outer Hebrides—“Ormr pushed the boundaries and laid claim to much of it.”
I took the notebook out and flipped to the last entry.
The entries, questions and answers, were written in my handwriting, but I didn’t remember writing the answers.
had penned my questions to the ancestors, and then it was as if I’d fallen asleep.
I had awoken, the wood stove had died down, and I was sitting looking down at the scrawl on the pages.
My pen was gripped in my hand, and my ring was warm on my finger.
“Orabilia was risking everything she knew for that ocean-going terror that haunted the isles at that time.”
“She did.”
“I hope I get to see why.”
“Was any of her life her choosing?”
I thought about Ethel’s question as I helped her get the teacups down. I slipped a brown-and-tan cozy wool sweater over the teapot before rescuing the cookie tin from the top cupboard beside the stove.
We settled in companionable silence as Ethel doled out the cookies, buttery oatmeal cookies with warming cinnamon, rough raw sugar crystals embedded into the tops. The cookies were like a warm hug—not too sweet or too plain, but just right, with a hint of nourishment from the chewy oatmeal.
Coming back to Ethel’s question, I said, “I can’t imagine a young woman in the thirteenth century getting to choose much of anything that happened in her life.”
“So then, what happens when she discovers a man with golden clasps on his wrists, a dragon-shaped golden torque around his neck, close to death? She is in full control over whether he lives or dies. Does she take the opportunity to change his fate? Or is she satisfied with her life and choose to ignore him?”
“Choice is a powerful tool in our human arsenal, I suppose.”
“Quite.”
“I still have so many questions for them…”
“The notebook you have will facilitate dialogue between you and Orabilia, especially now that you are wielding your grandfather’s powers.
Albeit reluctantly… Should you find yourself with greater gaps between responses, I recommend you revisit the cave.
” Ethel’s face had gone from her usual serious consternation to one of suppressed laughter.
“Oh,” I said, realizing belatedly that the cave in the cove was linked through our shared DNA.
“Yes, we were able to find it on our hike back to Castle Laoch. It’s quite profound to know that they were there as well.
I assume she nurses him back to health in there?
Peabody likely would get amazing readings there. ”
Ethel snorted. “I doubt the readings will be tragic enough for him and his meters.”
I took a sip of tea as she continued.
“Although I shouldn’t suppose to know what he’d find. Mayhap losing your virginity on the mighty cock of a Viking is a tragedy.”
I choked. Tea sprayed over the table. I clamped a hand over my mouth as my teacup hit its saucer with a clang. “Ethel!”
Ethel threw her head back and cackled wildly.