Mina and I share a look. The wood in the fireplace pops and cracks as the flames consume it.
“You don’t see it?” Luna asks, turning another page and resuming tracing the words.
“See what?” Mina asks, peering at Luna.
“Lachlan is Freya’s grandson.”
The words drop like a bomb.
“WHAT?” Mina and I shriek at the same. My mind empties and my jaw almost unhinges as it drops wide open.
Luna shifts in her seat, peeling her eyes from the page to look at us. She waves her hand in front of her face.
“It’s so obvious. You didn’t see the ethereal green eyes? Lachlan’s unnatural strength for a guard? He’s a Demigod. Gersemi, one of her twin daughters, had a child before she died.”
“Lachlan…is Freya’s grandson?” Mina squeaks out.
But her words ring through my head. Lachlan’s mom. Her death. “Wait. You know how his mom died?”
Luna grabs the book she had before and tosses it at me. It catapults through the air before landing with a thud in front of me.
Lineages and Bloodlines of the Vanir.
“There’s some pretty interesting stuff in that one. It focuses only on the Vanir families, though. The Tuadanaan and Valkyries lineages would be an interesting book to have.”
I pull the leather-bound book towards me. The weight of it is startling. Golden letters blaze on its cover like a medieval painting. A tree with twisting, gnarled branches in a ring of gold that seems to glow.
The first page is an image of Njord and Nerthus.
A god and goddess of the sea. Together they had Freya and Freyr, the twins.
The artist lovingly captured Freya, her brilliant white hair and the green eyes I know as well as my own.
The next page is of Freya’s two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi.
Each one makes up the side of a coin. Hnoss takes after Freya with her blonde hair, but instead of green eyes, she has blue eyes set in an angelic face.
Gersemi, though, is celestial. A halo of chocolate brown tresses frames an enchanting face. Magical green eyes pop off the page as if they can see right through you.
The scrawling script is difficult to make out, but I slowly read the words. Gersemi fell in love with a human male and when he died, her life force faded until—she too died.
Lachlan’s parents.
My breathing becomes shallow as I look at the beautiful woman she was, gone before I was ever born. I wonder how much he remembers of her.
Luna leans back in her chair. “Interesting stuff about the Vanir. They’re known for their elemental magic.”
“Elemental magic?” Mina asks, her nose scrunching delicately.
“It’s different from our blessings from Odin. Their magic is tied to the elements—water, earth, wind, and fire.”
The door creaks open and Freya appears. Tears spill down her face, but a smile graces her lips.
“Is this true?” I ask, standing and holding the book out to her. “Are you Lachlan’s grandmother?”
Freya scoffs, grabbing the book from me. “Do I look like a grandmother to you?” Her eyes soften as she looks at the picture of Hnoss and Gersemi. “But yes—I guess I am.”
“How?” I breathe, looking at the goddess before me.
