Page 91 of Lord of Fire and Ice

Katla raised a wry brow. Obviously she couldn’t satisfy Osvald’s, or he’d never have taken a thrall to his bed. As soon as it appeared in her mind, she swatted away the notion, as if it were a pesky fly. Where had the thought even come from? She was married to Brandr now. Her life with Osvald was done, and there was no need to give it another thought.

The old woman pressed closer, so Katla was forced to take a step back. “No one will think the less of you for admitting you’re not the child’s natural mother.”

“’Tis not something I need to noise about.”

“And not something to be ashamed of either. There are children of the body and children of the heart. I was blessed with both. And both were a mix of joy and disappointment to me, but I loved them all.” When the woman smiled, Katla was drawn to her, despite her interfering bossiness. “I am Dalla. Your husband is one of my heart sons.”

“Not the one who disappointed you, I hope.”

“Not yet,” Dalla said with a quick grin that deepened her wrinkles so, her pale eyes nearly disappeared. “And you must be his bride, Katla the Black. Hush, child, ’tis no seid craft. I have ears, and all of Jondal is abuzz with your arrival. May I take your hand?”

Katla thought she needed assistance and offered her arm, but the woman snaked out a bony fist and grasped Katla’s hand in hers tightly. Dalla closed her eyes and made a low humming noise in the back of her throat. The old woman’s hand warmed in Katla’s like a glowing coal, but she couldn’t pull free. Dalla’s eyelids twitched for several heartbeats. Then they opened, and she smiled.

“I stand corrected,” Dalla said. “You are the child’s mother. In all the ways that matter, at any rate. I sense a heart connection between you and the child, a strong one.” Her eyelids fluttered closed again and then reopened. “Forged in…fire, it was. How appropriate, given the nature of your husband.”

“You know about Brandr’s…gift?”

“Know about it? Who do you think kept him from burning this place to the ground when he was a child?”

Katla shared a laugh with Dalla and linked elbows with her as she made her way down the corridor to the jarlhof doors.

“Open the door, dearie. These old arms aren’t as strong as they used to be.”

“Where are we going?” she asked after she did as Dalla requested.

“Someplace where the walls aren’t listening.” Dalla stomped determinedly toward a cleared space not too far removed from the torchlight surrounding the jarlhof, where the rocky bones of the mountain pierced its thin skin of dirt. Dalla chose one of the granite seats and settled onto it.

Katla didn’t sit. She was too busy trying to take it all in. The fjord spread out below them, a ribbon of black sprinkled with the reflection of stars. The vault of heaven above her sparked with the fire of Freya’s Brisingamen necklace.

For years, Katla’s whole world had been her small steading on Tysnes. Now she was reminded that the world was a much wider place than she supposed. Sheltering in a tiny corner of it was no true safety from the dangers that might lurk beyond her narrow confines.

“Brandr thinks war is coming,” Katla said. Dalla had moved them out of the jarlhof so they wouldn’t be overheard. May as well say what was on her mind. “His brother doesn’t want to prepare.”

“All true,” Dalla said.

“Whatever Brandr needs to do to protect the people of Hardanger Fjord, I will support him in it.”

“Support is not the same as love.”

How had they somersaulted so quickly from war to love? “What do you know of love, Dalla?”

The old woman cackled. “Oh, you youngsters! Always thinking love is your own invention and it’s never been done before. No cock’s ever been harder. No ache was ever so fierce. And the sun rises and sets on your lover’s arse!” Dalla swiped away tears of mirth from her creased cheeks and then settled to eye Katla with all seriousness. “In truth, then. For nearly three score of years, my man and I knew the joy of inn matki munr. Do I know enough of love for you?”

Katla hurried over to sit beside her. “How did you know it was the mighty passion?”

“How did I know I breathed?”

Katla frowned. “That’s not very helpful.”

“Mayhap not, but it’s true,” Dalla said. “Love isn’t something you have to wonder about. It simply is, and when it is, you know it clear to your bones.”

“Then you and your husband were able to…”

“Speak to each other without words, oh ja. Though to be honest, there were times in the beginning when we wished we could not. Truly, are there not some times when you are glad to be able to keep your own counsel lest your thoughts wound someone else?”

“Ja, I suppose there are,” Katla allowed. “Could you divine everything he thought?”

“No, thank the gods. Or all we’d have accomplished that first year was fighting and making up, which I’ll admit has its charms,” Dalla said. “With time, we learned how to open our minds only when we wished and how to draw the curtain and have a spot of privacy by common consent. It took practice. But in extreme circumstances, no amount of shielding will work. Our minds were completely bare to each other.”