Viking's Moon by Lucy Monroe

Author:Lucy Monroe [Monroe, Lucy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-21T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

"What do you mean?" Drustan asked, eyeing Haakon askance. "What is he?"

No patience for being talked around, Haakon answered. "I am asmundr."

"What is that then? A new kind of Chrechte?" another of the few soldiers allowed into the hall asked.

"Guardian. First to the kotrondmenskr, but last to all Chrechte."

"You are a griffin?" Lady Emily asked, her violet eyes round.

Haakon did not roll his eyes, but it was close. Did none among them know the ancient ways? "Griffins cannot be called forth by the stones unless they have the mixed heritage of the Éan and the kotrondmenskr."

"That's what they call the Paindeal," Haakon heard someone whisper to the man next to him.

"Then what is asmundr?" the Balmoral demanded.

"He'll have to show you, or you willna believe," the Seer said, then sighed. "I willna believe either, until I see for myself. 'Tis the truth, I hope you shift into a mountain lion, or some such. I dinna want these dreams to be visions."

Haakon frowned and reminded the old man, "A Seer has no choice about what he sees, though according to Osmend he gets to choose what he shares."

The Balmoral did not look happy to hear that, turning a sulfuric glare on the old Seer before him. "Tell me, Ranulf, is that what you believe? What else have you held back from me, your alpha and your laird?"

"No alpha, no not even a laird, may dictate to a Seer," Haakon reminded them of this sacred truth.

"That may be the way it is done among the Paindeal, but—"

"No Chrechte will put themselves above the Seer, not even the king." Haakon was done trying to be tactful.

"We have no king."

"Ja, you have one, but you've ignored his place in favor of modern human rules and norms. You have forgotten the ways of our people." Haakon let what he thought of that show in his voice and the glare he gave the offending speaker.

The asmundr thought the Balmoral might lose his temper at the accusation, but he calmed down instead.

Sighing, Lachlan looked around, letting his gaze fall on a Chrechte Haakon could scent was not Faol. Not kotrondmenskr either. Éan then.

"Aye, we have forgotten much over the centuries and welcome the wisdom of others who have kept better record of our people's ways."

"Our guardians live centuries. Their memories serve as our history. Our Seer has lived longer than even a guardian."

"But I've lived no more than ninety years," the Balmoral Seer said. "My life draws to a close."

"Perhaps Osmend would know why this is." And if there was a way to change it. "Until he revealed his true age, I did not know that the Seer and the guardian had the same long life span."

"You are a guardian. An asmundr you said?" the Balmoral asked.

"Ja."

"You will shift for us? That we may know this part of history we have forgotten?"

"Ja." Haakon looked for Lyall. "You will guard my weapons."

The soldier's eyes widened and then he puffed up with pride. "Aye. With me life."

That would

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