Winter Solstice Winter - Book I in the Viking Blood Saga

A few days later Lucia’s strength had started to come back and she felt physically well enough and emotionally ready to read the letter her mother had written to her. She started reading it with mixed emotions.

  My beloved daughter Lucia,

  The night before you were born, Iluxia spoke to me about you and Ailia. It was a joyous and a sad moment in one. Sad, because Iluxia revealed that the Great Sentinor must be dead unto me at birth and joyous because I would get to keep you. He declared that I must name you Lucia, which means ‘Bearer of Light’, so everyone would believe you were the Great Sentinor.

  Your mission in life is to be the bearer of your sister, the one light of Midgard and you must do everything in your power to bear her and uphold her.

  I have prepared something called the Aesira Scrolls for Ailia, which she is supposed to receive when she turns eighteen. You must read the scrolls also, for you will learn through these detailed writings all the important details and history of your Aesira lineage.

  Lucia remembered that Vilda had mentioned the scrolls.

  On your eighteenth birthday you will receive the Aesira Jewel from either me or your father, if I have passed on to the other side. You will then take over as the Sun Queen.

  You will be charged with keeping the Aesira Jewel hidden from the world and concealed from Eiess and also with engaging the jewel each solstice with Iluxia.

  You, my beloved daughter have the immense responsibility and power to help Ailia defeat Eiess. She needs you to support her through her life and I am asking you, with all my love, to be there for her no matter how difficult your lives become. Without your support, Ailia is doomed to fail.

  With all my Love,

  Mother

  I am nothing but a pawn in their ploy, a daughter who they desire to play second fiddle. All along, I have carried the risk and burden that comes with the name “Great Sentinor,” and what do I receive in return? A position of servitude to a peasant they claim is my blood. Lucia had all the responsibility, but none of the glory. All the pain, but no joy. And now they needed her to commit her life to a sister she did not know.

  Yet, she could not bear to refuse her parents their dying requests. She was not a selfish barbarian without a heart, and she had, for as long as she could remember, set her duty to kingdom and blood above all else.

  Yet was Vilda right when she proclaimed, “What is blood?” No. She was not. And Lucia would do what was required of her, no matter how far down she must bury her own pain.

  “Do you know anything about the Aesira Scrolls?” Lucia asked Nora, who was sitting in the corner on an old wooden stool, hemming a garment.

  “Yes. Your mother wrote them and I hid them before you were born. They contained the genealogy of the Aesira bloodline and a lot more. I never read them, but it is imperative Ailia receive them.”

  “Where are they hidden?” Lucia asked.

  Nora hesitated. “I had hidden them in the Godwalk Caves right around the time of your birth. However, I believe your mother had them moved to a different location a few years later.”

  “So, we will never find them then—” Lucia said, feeling discouraged.

  “Your parents were very wise. They would have left clues about where to find them. I would not give up just yet.”

  Lucia sighed.

  “Now, your job is to get better and to get enough rest. Stop worrying about the future. Just focus on getting well here and now,” Nora said.

  “I cannot wait until I have recovered my health,” Lucia said. “Then I will not need to take orders from you anymore.”

  Nora laughed. “And I cannot wait until you are healthy either. Then I will not have to give you orders.”

  16

  Day Mares