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Inga positively glowed. ‘See, Far. The giantess doesn’t mind.’
‘Do you have any more clues about who damaged the ship?’ Sayrid asked.
‘The only clue is the brooch you found,’ Hrolf said gravely.
‘Which doesn’t belong to my brother.’
‘I am rather inclined to believe you.’
‘Maybe the ghost saw who did it,’ Inga piped up.
Hrolf drew his brows together. ‘What did I say about tales and tricks? Inga, your manners get worse and worse.’
‘Hrolf, allow the child to speak,’ Sayrid said. ‘I used to hate it when my father dismissed me without a fair hearing.’
Inga screwed up her eyes. ‘I know what I saw last night in the darkness. There was a ghost with long blonde hair.’
Hrolf knelt down. ‘How could you see anything, Little One? You were in bed.’ He looked over her head, directly at the nurse. ‘Please tell me that my daughter was in bed where she was supposed to be.’
The nurse paled and took a step back. ‘Your daughter had trouble sleeping. She wanted to go for a walk by the water.’
Hrolf’s face contorted as he rose. In the space of a heartbeat he’d gone from indulgent parent to fearsome warrior. ‘What have I said about disobeying me?’
Inga gave a little squeak and hid her face while the nurse made little clucking noises.
Sayrid forced a smile. ‘It can be hard to sleep when your father has just married and all are at the feast. A walk beside the harbour can be calming. And surely some goddess watched over Inga last night.’
‘Why is Inga disobeying me a good thing?’
‘There is a real possibility that Inga might have seen someone. As you are not planning on getting married again, the problem won’t be repeated.’
The nurse started in surprise before giving her a grateful look. ‘Just so. We went for a walk to get away from the loud shouting.’
‘Oh, it hurt my ears,’ Inga added. ‘And I did see my mother’s ghost, standing by your ship. All in white. Then I ran and ran back to my bed and didn’t stop until I was lying next to Magda with the covers over my head.’
‘I’m sure you did,’ Sayrid replied and silently willed Hrolf to realize that ghosts did not drop brooches. For some reason a woman had stood there. Once they found the woman, they would discover the culprit. And that Inga’s fright was more than enough to keep her from wandering again.
He knelt down beside Inga. ‘Did you see anyone beside the ghost?’
Inga shook her head slowly. ‘Does Magda have to go, because I escaped?’
‘It depends on what Sayrid decides. It is the wife who decides such matters, not the husband in Svear.’
The little girl turned big eyes towards her. ‘Please. I’m sorry if I did bad things. It was me, not Magda. I didn’t want a new mother. I wanted my mother, but she isn’t coming back. She’s dead. Seeing the ghost showed me that. Please don’t take Magda away from me.’
‘Magda can stay…for now,’ Sayrid said. ‘Inga is obviously devoted to her. It can be hard to make a new life in an unfamiliar country.’
Magda blinked rapidly. ‘You want me to stay? After I called you a giantess? After the sewing…’
Sayrid glanced towards where Inga stood, clutching her nurse’s hand. It was Inga’s wide-eyed stare that made her determined to do what was right for the child. It would be easy to dismiss the woman, but then she risked alienating Inga forever. ‘Yes, I do, but I want no more tales of frost giants or bewitching. Or tricks with sewing. Let us make peace.’
Hrolf spoke to the nurse very slowly, first in Norse and then in her own language. As he began to speak in the foreign tongue, the nurse fell down to her knees and raised her arms to the skies.
‘She calls on all the spirits to bless your name and regrets she ever thought you an ogress who bewitched me.’ A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. ‘I’ve explained that if it was up to me, she would have left on the next tide.’
Sayrid raised her brow. Men! Silently she resolved to find a way to earn this girl’s trust. ‘Then it is good that it’s not to up you.’
‘We leave on the turn of the tide.’ His face allowed for no dissent. ‘I want to inspect my new hall.’
‘Just like that.’
‘Do you have a problem with my order?’
Sayrid’s heart thudded. Hrolf was up to something more than simply inspecting the hall. ‘No, why would I?’
Hrolf turned towards Magda and told her to ensure Inga was ready to depart as he waited for no woman, large or small. The older woman hurried away with Inga in tow. Sayrid stared at him with growing frustration. He should have consulted her! She struggled to remember the last time she hadn’t been consulted about something this major.
