Viking Heart (The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

according to time as it passed here. Something to do with time going by faster here than there.” Veronica put a hand to the small of her back and arched slightly. “So yeah, it’s almost time, thank God.” She rubbed her belly. “I love having him close to Mama, but he’s a fireball.”
    “Dragon blood,” Megan said. “What do you expect?”
    Amber’s mouth dropped. “No?”
    “Yeah, he’s a little shifter,” Veronica said proudly, eyeing her stomach.
    What an odd reality she’d been dropped into. But between the alcohol and seeing her sisters so happy, she was accepting it all better than she might have imagined. “So who’s this Kjar who’ll be getting me water?”
    “He’s our master shipwright,” Megan said, pride and respect in her eyes. “And grandson to Heimdall.”
    “Heimdall?...as in the god that oversees Bifröst, the Rainbow Bridge from Norse Mythology?”
    “The one and only.” Megan nodded. “So, yes, Kjar is a demi-god but trust me, he won’t strike you as one.”
    “Not at all,” Veronica agreed.
    Amber couldn’t help but grow more and more curious about the men who had obviously come to mean so much to her sisters. “Gotta say, I’m not tired in the least so how about you introduce me to the brothers…and Kjar.”
    “You sure?” Megan eyed her. “You’ve already been through a lot and meeting them isn’t going to be…how should I say this…”
    “Calming,” Veronica filled in. “No, there’s nothing relaxing about meeting these Vikings for the first time.”
    Yet she could tell her sisters were eager to introduce her as they ushered her toward the door. Megan threw the cloak over Veronica’s shoulders. “Keep this on. I’m tired of hearing Raknar complain about you not wearing it out in the cold.”
    “Easy for him to say,” Veronica muttered. “He doesn’t have a creature who can breathe fire inside of him.”
    Megan rolled her eyes. “No, he is a creature that can breathe fire.”
    Amber downed the rest of her mead. “Hey, has anyone seen my stone?”
    “I’ll send one of my girls back in to look for it.” Megan snorted. “They’re always looking for a chance to poke around in Kol’s lodge.”
    Amber could only imagine. “Your girls ?”
    “Vikings call them slaves.” Megan wrapped a fur cloak around Amber's shoulders and nudged her along. “But I call them my girls, or friends because they are. I set aside treasure for them and they’re free to go whenever they like.”
    Veronica pulled off her cloak and wrapped it over her arm. “The poor king has had to find at least three dozen new slaves since she arrived. Megan just lets them all go.”
    Megan snapped her fingers and turned back. “Wait a sec. I’ve gotta find that stone after all or Amber won’t be able to understand them.”
    That’s right. The stone apparently had some magical ability to help them understand Old Norse and for the Vikings to understand modern English. Amber was amazed when Megan returned in a flash, stone in hand. She grinned. “It was wrapped up in Kol’s blankets.”
    Amber thanked her and tucked the stone in a pocket before stepping out into what looked to be a large courtyard surrounded by endless lodgings. All had slanted roofs that nearly ended at the ground. Her eyes went to the largest of them. A behemoth, it was clearly the heart of the village.
    Veronica pointed at several other large holdings alongside the one they’d exited. “Those are the brothers’ places as well as immediate family.”
    Amber’s mouth dropped as her eyes rose above them to the monstrous mountains beyond. Whitewashed and jagged, steeped in milky, curling clouds, she could spend hours sketching them. So many angles, so much stark beauty and life . Shaking her head, she turned slowly and tried to take in everything. The community. The clothing. The smells. Right now, it was all a vast inundation of sensory overload. But she intended to spend plenty of time later investigating and