2
" They say a witch used to live in these woods, a long long time ago,” she began. And this is what the little girl would tell her children and what they would tell their children long after the ones who came before were gone. “They say an old witch lived in the east, in Iron Wood. And there, she bore the wolves who chase the sun and moon. They say she went to Asgard and was burned three times upon a pyre and three times she was reborn before she fled. They say she loved a man with scarred lips and a sharp tongue; a man who gave her back her heart and more. They say she loved a woman too, a sword-wielding bride of the Gods; as bold as any man and fiercer still. They say she wandered, giving aid to those who needed it most, healing them with potions and spells. They say she stood her ground against the fires of Ragnarok, until the very end, until she was burned a final time. All but her heart reduce to ashes once more. But others say she lives yet. "
― Genevieve Gornichec , The Witch's Heart
15
" It's not fair to them. They didn't do anything to deserve this. This isn't the way things are supposed to be.'
Something tingled at the very edge of her consciousness: small but sharp, like a pinprick.
'Oh, but maybe it is,' said a voice, so soft that it seemed to be echoing from the deepest recesses of her mind. It was achingly familiar, like something out of a dream she'd forgotten long ago. 'The question is, what are you going to do about it?'
'Nothing. I can't do anything, I'm no one. I'm nothing. Just a sad old witch who's had everything taken from her. Betrayed by her husband. Deprived of her children. Forsaken by all.'
'Not all,' the voice replied. 'You know this. Even now, she calls you back. Do you hear her? "
― Genevieve Gornichec , The Witch's Heart
19
" It's time to rise,' the voice said, still gently guiding her upward, and the light became brighter still. 'She's waiting for you.'
Soon enough she felt the prickling sensation of her limbs awakening, felt that awful heartbeat again, felt the hair hanging in her face, felt the blood crusted around her nostrils and mouth. As she surfaced she let out a quiet, agonized sob but did not open her eyes.
'You're alive,' said the woman's voice, rising an octave in relief. Angrboda felt a calloused hand gently lift her chin, and she felt almost comforted by the touch. She tried dimly to connect the voice with a person.
The other woman's fingers moved across her face to the side of her head, to softly brush aside the hair from the bloody crater at the witch's temple, where Thor's hammer had hit home. The woman let out a strangled gasp and a stream of curse words at the sight of it, and Angrboda's brain suddenly put a name to the voice: Skadi. "
― Genevieve Gornichec , The Witch's Heart
