Page 31 of The Seducer
“No way!” Finn narrowed his eyes. “Now you two are just making up stories to make me jealous. No one gets both a cake and presents just because it’s the day they were born.”
“We do,” Charlotte and Samuel insisted with their heads bobbing to underline that they were telling the truth.
Finn turned to me. “Are they messing with me?”
“No, celebrating your birthday is very common here.”
“Huh, you guys come up with the craziest things.”
I laughed. “It’s not somethingwecame up with, it’s an old tradition that runs back hundreds of years if not thousands. Surely you have heard about it.”
Finn looked to the side and rubbed his shoulder. “I might have seen something like that in old movies; it looked…” He thought about it. “It looked nice.”
“Itisnice!” Samuel exclaimed and waved his hand in a come-along gesture. “I can show you some of the toys that Charlotte and I got for our last birthday.”
Finn, Hans, and I followed along when the two children ran back into the house, passing Karina, who was coming out at that moment.
“The twins want to show Finn their toys,” I explained to her when she gave me a questioning look. “You go ahead, I’ll stay here and talk to Karina,” I called after Hans and Finn.
“You could’ve warned me,” Karina said when they were out of sight. “I almost had a heart attack seeing that man in my kitchen. “
“Finn is the one who held me hostage in the Northlands,” I told her in a low voice. “He has come to apologize to me.”
“And you forgave him?” Karina asked.
“Wouldn’t you?”
Karina sucked in a deep breath and untangled Marita’s little hand from her curly hair. “Probably, but I’m not sure I would be as amicable around him as you are. Aren’t you mad at him?” Before I could answer, Karina sighed and added. “Don’t answer that. I already know you’re going to tell me that you don’t carry anger in your heart.”
I smiled.
“All I’m saying,” Karina breathed, “is that we can’t all be as enlightened as you are and that I admire you for being so gracious about the whole thing.”
“Finn has a lot to learn about empathy and I can’t explain why, but I feel like our paths are connected for a reason.”
“What do you mean? Are you talking about destiny?” she asked.
Karina had been one of the first friends I met when I moved to this area four years ago. Back then she had been pregnant with the twins, and a newcomer too. The old mill had been empty for more than fifteen years and all the locals had been excited that a new priestess was moving in.
Karina had been one of the most welcoming, and had helped me clean the mill and get me settled in. We have been best friends ever since.
“Destiny is a big word, but yes, I think there is a higher meaning in our paths crossing twice like this. I learned a lot about myself when I spent those five days with Finn.” I thought about it. “It was a hard lesson on patience, tolerance, acceptance, and forgiveness.”
“Yes, I’ll bet it was.” Karina gave me Marita and went back into the kitchen to find some treats for us. “What did he mean about seducing me?” she asked with a smile tugging at her lips.
I kissed Marita on the hair and went to sit down by the huge table in the kitchen. “Finn is just very interested in women and he’s right; you are beautiful.”
Karina snorted. “Ha, then he should’ve seen me before I had children. Now everything seems to be bigger and looser on my body.” She laughed and threw her hands up in the air.
With my elbow on the table, I rested my chin in my hand and pondered out loud. “Finn seems different than the other Nmen I know about; I wonder why that is.”
“Different how?” Karina said and took a big bite of a cookie.
“Well…” I tilted my head to the side and thought about what had until then been foggy thoughts in the back of my head. “Remember I told you that there was a woman in the Northlands that I spent some time with? Christina, the archaeologist who was also a Motlander?”
“Yes, I remember you talking about her.”
“According to Christina, the Nmen fight to the death in tournaments to be with one of the few women that grow up there.”
