CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Iliana~
She was shaking with her conviction that Myst was upstairs. Why else had that witch been so angry to see her? Iliana took the stairs as fast as she could. The hallway was unnaturally dark. The windows at either end had been covered with blankets. Every door was tightly closed.
She followed a low gurgling noise and a soft song she recognized. Her entire body was quivering. The doorknob turned in her hand. She pushed it open and blinked as the light from the window dazzled her eyes.
When she could see again, she observed the woman from the vision sitting in a rocking chair feeding a baby from a bottle. The baby turned her head as the door opened and let go of the nipple. A spray of milk wet the bodice of her nurse, who ignored the damp patch to return Iliana’s stare.
She was gazing into gray-green eyes that mirrored her own. Myst spoke as softly as she had been singing. “Shut the door, sister.”
Dumbfounded, Iliana obeyed. The room was large but crowded with three cribs. One was empty. But infants slept in the other two. Their rosy lips puckered as they dreamed of milk. Triplets. Whose?
The baby in Myst’s arms returned to the bottle and sucked vigorously. Iliana approached cautiously. She put both hands on Myst’s head and took a braid in each hand. “How, why?” she said huskily. Diamonds tinkled onto the polished floorboards, but she could not stem her tears of joy.
Myst watched the baby’s bottle. “That’s enough, my greedy one,” she said. She took the nipple out of the baby’s mouth and put her over her shoulder. “If you don’t watch Gerta, she will suck air when she runs out of milk and have gas pains for hours afterward.” She stood up, patting the baby’s back firmly.
“She’ll spit up all down your back,” Iliana warned.
“Probably.” Myst reached for the thin blanket on the arm of the rocker and deftly positioned it so her dress was protected. She rubbed Gerta’s back. The baby belched and spat up. “Who’s a clever girl?” asked Myst proudly. “Do you want to hold her?”
“Is she yours?” Iliana asked enviously. That would account for some of the witch’s hostility. The baby looked a lot like Sofie, except that her eyes were green not blue. But she had the same dimpled chin and pale, surprised eyebrows. And the same delicious scent.
Myst shook her head. “She is Darius and Freya’s,” she whispered. Her arms embraced both Iliana and Gerta. “I never thought to see you again,” she choked.
“Nor I. How did you come to regain your soul – and your freedom?” Iliana asked.
“I don’t know.” Myst’s explanation was interrupted by a squeak from one of the cribs. “Hush, Elsa.” She picked the infant up and took her to the changing table. The baby smiled at her and stuck her legs up in the air, just as Sofie did.
“Tell me,” Iliana prompted.
“Hmm. I don’t really know. After Rán banished me to the deeps, I slept for many ages, only waking to entreat Rán for mercy. One day, quite of its own accord, my prison began to float and I roused from my long sleep. I thought perhaps Rán had forgiven me.”
“Had she?” whispered Iliana.
Myst shrugged. “I floated to this island, summoned, I believe, by the sorcerers Brand and Valdar. When they opened my cask, I was as you see me, with my soul restored.” She deftly put a fresh diaper on Elsa and snapped the legs of her onesie closed.
“But tell me, Iliana, how you came to regain your soul.”
“I ventured into Hel and the fearsome goddess Hel herself gave it back to me.” Iliana sat down in the vacant rocker and bounced Gerta on her knee while she told the whole tale to Myst, who wandered around the room picking Iliana’s tears up from the floor and putting them in her pocket.
“So ‘twas just luck that brought me to Bradur,” declared Myst thoughtfully when Iliana was done. “Neither of the sorcerers restored my soul to me. Hel put both our souls into the one box. You are the one who released me from bondage to Rán.”
“That seems most likely,” Iliana agreed. Gerta crowed and slapped her palms together.
“I don’t believe I owe Brand and Valdar anything but the opening of my barrel,” continued Myst. “Here, let’s swap. Elsa isn’t crying, but she needs to be coaxed to eat. I have a bottle here for her.” She wandered over to a small fridge, carrying Gerta.
“Why would it matter if you owed them your soul?” Iliana breathed in Elsa’s sweet milky scent. The infant smelled a little like Sofie, and a lot like Gerta, but also distinctly herself.
“Valdar claimed me on sight.” Myst sighed. “Two days ago, he and his twin Brand had a fight over me. Valdar smashed Brand over the head with a battle ax. Or rather the handle. Brand was mortally wounded. It is only a matter of time before he dies. And all because Valdar would not relinquish his right to me.” She gave Iliana the bottle she had warmed.
Elsa had to be coaxed to the nipple. For a while the sisters did not speak. The only sound was Elsa’s half-hearted suckling and Gerta’s happy shrieks.
“You’ll wake your sister,” Myst warned the baby. But her voice was tender. “And then you’ll hear a real hullabaloo, Iliana. Hilde is always hungry!”
Elsa pulled away from the nipple and her green eyes closed. Iliana tickled her feet until she opened them and took the bottle again. “I see what you mean. Elsa is a sleepy one!”
“She is. Oh, Iliana, it is so good to see you again. How I have longed for you. But you have not told me how you came to weep diamonds, as dragons do. Or why we are so changed in appearance.”
Iliana blushed. But after all, this was her sister. The person who knew all her secrets and with whom she had shared so many years of confidences. She lowered her voice and began to tell Myst how Jareth had claimed her on the tundra.
The door opened and Jareth poked his head in. He was beaming. Behind him a brisk female voice urged him to enter. Myst shrank in on herself. She seemed almost to use Gerta as a shield. Everyone spoke at once.
“I see you found your sister.”
“I don’t wish to be inhospitable, but my brother lies at death’s door. It is time you took these nixies away.”
“Hush, Elsa.”
“Gerta took all her bottle.”
“We won’t stay the night.”
Myst looked imploringly between Iliana and Jareth. The third infant began to wail and wave her plump limbs around. Elsa caught sight of her mother and set up a determined shout. Gerta responded to Myst’s tension by bursting into tears. Chaos reigned.
Darius strode in. “Give me Gerta,” he said to Myst. “Freya, you may as well take Elsa. Hilde will cry until she’s fed, but she has to learn to wait until her diaper is changed.”
It took several minutes before they were all taken care of. Iliana kept tight hold of Myst. “Say thank you, and good bye,” she said to her sister. “You are coming home with us.”
“Am I?” Myst asked.
“Yes,” said Darius. “Get your stuff.”
“I have nothing I wish to take,” said Myst. “Except Iliana’s tears.”