Page 19 of Must Love Scones and Secrets
“So, the compass bird kept bringing you here?” I asked.
“Yes,” Bjorn replied with a light chuckle.
I set the pie in the oven to warm and ladled out the soup.
“Itkeptbringing you here,” I said with a grin. “So, why didn’t you come in the first time?” I asked, arching a playful eyebrow.
“Oh, I…” he said, then rubbed the back of his neck nervously, inadvertently flexing his enormous bicep that strained against the fabric of his shirt. Something low in my belly clutched at the sight, and I had to drown the whirlwind of images that wanted to bubble up in my mind.
“You…?” I asked leadingly.
“Well, I just didn’t want you to think I was being…insistent.”
Please be insistent.“Never doubt a compass bird. They know exactly where you’re supposed to be. Cream or sugar for your tea?”
He shook his head.
“Purist. I see,” I said with a laugh. “Now, tell me all about your voyage here. I want to hear everything.”
“Truly?” he asked, a genuine note of surprise in his voice.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
His manner relaxing, Bjorn began to tell me all about his adventures, from leaving the Frozen Isles to traveling across the open sea. I worked in the kitchen as he shared the tale. There was excitement in his voice. It was clear that he loved an adventure. I had just taken the farmer’s pie from the oven when he mentioned the Cupid swans on Silver River.
“Oh, they are a menace.” I laughed. “They nearly caused one of our eldest elder couples to divorce last year! Luckily, Juniper, she’s the herbalist in Moonshine Hollow, was able to make a draft to rescue them from the enchantment. Still, it was all the town could talk about for days. Elder Nona, well into his hundredth year, was voyaging upriver when he got caught in the Cupid swan’s spell. He fell in love with a human bard and tambourine player named Prissy Stockings, who was traveling on the same riverboat. The girl was barely twenty years old,” I said with a laugh. “Poor thing, she didn’t want to embarrass Elder Nona, but he pursued her earnestly,” I said, setting Bjorn’s food before him. “Elder Nona’s wife was furious and threatened to roast the Cupid swans for dinner.” Going to the bakery case, I arranged a plate of cookies and petit-fours, then settled in across from Bjorn, pouring myself a cup of tea. “Once the enchantment was undone, Elder Nona spent the next year earning his wife’s forgiveness. I’d feel sorry for him, but he kept me and Winifred in business. Weekly orders of rainbow zinnias from Winnie and chocolate drop roses from me—both his wife’s favorites. And poor Prissy Stockings never performed in Moonshine Hollow again,” I said, then laughed, Bjorn joining me.
Bjorn watched me carefully as I added my rose-enhanced sugar to my cup. I was on the fifth teaspoon when I saw him grin.
“It’s a pixie thing,” I lied.
“Is it?” he asked with a playful eyebrow raise.
Chuckling, I shook my head. “No. It’s a decidedly Rosalyn Hartwood thing. Did you think this plate of desserts was for both of us?” I asked, pulling it toward me, selecting a purple cassis-flavored petit-four, and taking a bite.
Bjorn laughed. Setting down his spoon, he dipped into his hip bag.
“They may be a little squished,” he said, “but try them,” he said, setting a package of cone-shaped confections before me.
“Thank you,” I said, lifting the packet. “What are they?” I asked with a laugh.
“Troll noses,” he replied with a grin.
I paused. “Troll…noses?”
“Candied.”
“I…”
“And made of sugar and elderberries.”
I laughed, then took one of the candies from the bag and popped it into my mouth. The sweet, fruity, and slightly acidic confection melted on my tongue. As it dissolved, I detected the spell woven into the confection…a lightness of spirit and a wisp of whimsy.
“It’s delicious,” I said. “And so very magical.”
“Mother Urd, as we call her in Frostfjord, makes them. They are my favorite.”
“She’s very talented,” I said simply, not wanting to reveal the magic of another maker. “Have you lived in Frostfjord all your life?”
