Page 27 of The Heir
“You’re scared that Linea might do the same to you,” my father guessed.
Thor swallowed but didn’t mention that he had already accused me of planting desire in his head.
“Did Athena actually put a love spell on you?” Thor asked and reached for the edge of the kitchen counter as if his legs felt a little wobbly.
“A hundred percent,” my dad said while my mom wouldn’t hear of it. Fetching a bag of lemonade balls from the fridge, she poured them into a bowl and held it out to Thor. “Trust me, there were no snail slime, curses, or spells involved. Finn fell in love with me all by himself.”
“Hmm.” Thor didn’t look convinced but took one of the lemonade balls and popped it into his mouth.
“Don’t look so scared, Thor.” My dad squeezed his shoulder. “I would let my wife bewitch me again any day. Athena is by far the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Taking a sip, Thor seemed to ponder the situation and asked Finn, “Don’t you miss living in the Northlands, though?”
“Sometimes, but it’s been so long now that I’m used to it. I like it here. What our house doesn’t have in volume it makes up for in height.”
“Sort of like yourself,” my mother teased him.
I ignored their banter and asked my father, “Why do you saylike? Don’t you mean that you love it here?”
“Yes, but that’s because of my family. Moving abroad isn’t easy. It takes time to adapt. Although, I will say that things have improved in the Motherlands since I moved here. We owe a lot to Jonah and all the new men on the Council. They have brought with them a better balance than in the beginning.”
Leaning against the kitchen counter, I crossed my arms. “Not everyone agrees with that. I’ve seen protests and petitions to bring back a complete ban on alcohol.”
“Argh, yeah, but there will always be people opposing progress,” my dad said with a shrug.
Unable to hold it in any longer, I burst out, “By the way, I might be going to France with the power five when they leave for the summit.”
My mom’s eyes blinked and then she looked from me to Thor and back again with confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“Linea wants to visit France and I might have a way to bring her.” Sometimes when Thor spoke, there was such natural authority in his demeanor that it was easy to imagine the kind of ruler he would become one day. In that moment I remembered Indiana telling me that he would pick Thor as his ruler any day. My view on Thor these past ten years had been based on my resentment and information that I’d picked up on through conversation with people who knew him. I should have known that he wasn’t as one-dimensional as I had made him out to be in my mind.
My mother got so excited about my opportunity to visit France that she began rambling along with questions she wanted me to ask the locals. “See if you can find ordinary people and ask them about their spiritual beliefs. Do they believe in an afterlife? Are they religious? What’s their opinion on reincarnation? Does France have a type of priest or spiritual counselors? Are there different types of faith or does everybody believe the same thing?”
“If you want to know all of that, why don’t you talk to Belle and Banni?” Thor asked.
“I did, but I find it important to get answers from a variety of people. From what I understand the French are raised as atheists, and yet there are still people who are drawn to spiritual practices. Belle knew of a psychic who did readings with tarot cards. Isn’t that fascinating?”
“Why? We have psychics in the Northlands as well,” Thor pointed out.
“Yes, but that’s not the point. What’s interesting is that despite being raised in the exact same ideology of atheism, some people still find spirituality. Don’t you find that extremely fascinating?”
My dad laughed and pulled my mom into his arms. “You’re so cute, but normal people like us don’t give a shit about what French people do. As long as they don’t bother us, they can worship the devil for all I care.”
I understood my mother’s eagerness to learn more, and assured her, “If I get to go, I promise to do as much research as I can. I have a ton of questions of my own.”
Thor dipped his chin and told my dad, “I’m pretty sure that the reason Linea wants to go is so she can hook up with Victor.”
“The genius?” my dad asked and gave me a questioning look.
Thor had set me up on purpose, probably expecting my Northlander father to give me a hard time, but in our house the question had never been whether or not I could be with a man if I chose to. My father had always pushed the agenda of passionate love marriages. He worried that my brothers and I would miss out on romantic love, as it wasn’t considered of high importance in the Motherlands. “Yes, Thor is talking about Victor, the leader of the French delegation. He’s quite handsome and rumored to be a brilliant lover.”
“That’s nice, but remember that sex is pointless if there’s no shared mental connection. Don’t have sex with him unless you feel that your souls are drawn together,” my mother instructed.
My dad cleared his throat. “As much as I want you to find love, I’m not sure having sex with a French man is wise.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because they can’t commit. You know they have laws banning romantic relationships, and you live in different countries. Besides, Nmen are better looking,” my father argued.
