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“Guess we’ve still got a few issues to figure out,” Brett rasped.
“Well, we can figure them out at some other time in some other way. If this is the end of the world, then do you really want to spend it fighting with each other? While you’re doing this, Ilvar is out there making progress with his plans. Right now, we have to help Kadie try and get a vision. We have to be focused,” I said, imbuing my tone with righteousness andauthority in the hope it would pull them away from their manic state. Thankfully, it worked. I felt the relief in the air as the tension became dispelled. They relaxed a little, but only a little, and nodded towards each other.
“Good,” I said.
“So, I guess you two didn’t have any luck in figuring out where he might have gone?” Brett asked.
I shook my head. Buck and I had spent a while trying to deduce where he might go to no avail. “There are simply too many locations for us to search. And there’s still the possibility that he might end up knowing about a place we don’t know. We don’t have time to scour the world. We’ve only got a short time, and, if we choose wrong, then it’s all over. I think we need Kadie to show us where it is,” I said. We all turned to the ruins, thinking about this girl that had appeared from nowhere and had suddenly become the most important figure in our lives. It hadn’t surprised me that Brett felt drawn to her. I didn’t believe Buck for a second when he tried to deny his feelings for her. How could anyone not be swept away by her loveliness? How could anyone’s heart strings not be plucked by her tender beauty, her lustrous hair, the way her smile slanted in this enigmatic fashion?
It was clear to me that the three of us had much in common, and I only hoped that these feelings would not cause any further trouble. We had plenty to deal with already.
Chapter Eighteen
Kadie
I had retreated to the bowels of the ruins as soon as Brett and I had returned. At first, I had been afraid of him, but now I didn’t know what to think. It was clear he was a sensitive man, one who was capable of profound thoughts. He was also kind, and he had suffered a great deal in life. But then he had tried to kiss me, tried to claim that I was the subject of his visions.
I was afraid he was right.
They were still under the impression that I had envisioned the world ending, when in fact it had been something entirely different. I had tried to push away the thought that I would begin a torrid affair with these three men, because it seemed like too much to comprehend. After all, wasn’t one man enough? I had heard stories in the past of female dragons taking multiple lovers, but those traditions had died out a long time ago, and they might well have been coated in myth from the beginning. Besides, I wasn’t a dragon from legend. I was just me, just plain old Kadie. I wasn’t special. I didn’t want to be special. I just wanted to be good.
But the fact that Brett said he had a vision of me… did this mean that it was inevitable? Had Mason and Buck been involved in his visions as well? Oh, it was all so difficult. I almost wished that I had never arrived here in the first place, but then I thought about all the innocent people who were going to suffer because of Ilvar and my heart broke all over again. I needed to do something to stop this terrible tragedy.
And somehow, I needed to find a way through this murky vision as well. Was I right in trying to deny the inevitability of it just because I found it nerve wracking? When I dared thinkabout it, my body became flooded with a hazy, prickling pleasure and it felt as though I was going to burn up like the sun of this planet. It was irresistible, and so, it was dangerous too.
My mind was awhirl. Did I even like them? Buck had charmed me from the beginning. Mason had greeted me with kindness, and now, even Brett had layers. They were earnest men. I respected the way they had grown up together and I appreciated this bond between them. At the same time, it felt as though there was something missing. Was I the last piece of the puzzle, the glue that would bind them together and finally ease the tension that remained between them? I wasn’t even sure whether I wanted the possibility. But if this was what my vision meant, then how could I refuse my destiny?
And believe me, I tried to think of another meaning. I tried to find some other kernel of wisdom from the vision, but nothing fit as snugly or rightly as the thought of being with the three of them. And why not? If loving one man was wonderful, then surely loving three men would just triple the delight and the wonder? These thoughts darted around my mind and the more this happened, the more I began to convince myself that it was possible.
And then they were standing there.
The three of them filled the entrance of the room, looking like copies of each other. Buck strode forward purposefully. Mason was a little more elegant. Brett kept to the back; his furtive eyes afraid to meet mine in case I rejected him again. I did wonder what might have happened had I allowed my palm to rest in his, had I not pulled away when his lips searched mine.
Perhaps I had lost the moment entirely and our two visions would just be pushed away, never coming to reality.
“Kadie, I think we need to talk,” Buck began. I gulped, feeling a lump in my throat. I was glad I was already sitting because my legs turned to jelly. They remained standing, likegiants around me. I gazed at them with my wide, glistening eyes, and all I could think about was their naked bodies cocooning me in their intense heat. I looked at their hands, hands that had elicited so much pleasure from me in my vision and fantasies, and as my gaze drifted along the angles of their bodies, I found myself wondering whether their naked forms would resemble the images that had been conjured in my mind. Would there be the same arrangement of body hair? The same blemishes that made them unique from each other? Would they shudder when I touched the same parts?
I felt a spike of heat lance through me and I almost moaned. I managed to clamp my lips together and the sound clotted underneath my tongue. I swallowed it back, uncertain of how to proceed. I looked away from them because it was the only way I could concentrate. It was the only way I could push aside these thoughts and sensations that threatened to careen through my body and render me utterly helpless.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, making my best effort to keep my voice from trembling. I wasn’t sure that it was entirely successful, but if they noticed anything amiss, they did not mention it.
“Mason and I have been trying to figure out where Ilvar might go to enact this plan of his, but there are too many possibilities. If we try and search for it ourselves, well… there’s just no way we can do it in time, unless we’re lucky. And I don’t think we’re in a position where we can rely on luck,” Buck continued.
“I know that visions can be unpredictable things, but we thought that if we helped you to receive a vision, we might be able to figure out where Ilvar is,” Mason said.
Now Brett stepped forward. “There is an old ritual. I have never performed it myself, but I know what must be done. If we can do it successfully then it should bring the vision toyour mind in a more vivid way,” he still spoke in a faltering tone, and he also still struggled to meet my gaze. He wasn’t the only one suffering like this though. I was the same. And now they kept pressing me about this vision. The more they spoke about it the more I kept thinking about their three naked bodies pressing against mine, about these endless fingers sliding along the curves of my body, about their lips finding all the hidden, sweetest part of me and I…
…I couldn’t take it.
“I don’t think it’s going to work. I’ll keep trying with the exercises you told me before Brett, but I think, if they’re not going to work, then there’s not much hope for this ritual,” I said, trying to wheedle my way out of this.
“I understand it’s hard, and maybe even a little daunting. I know how powerful these visions can be,” Brett continued, “but right now we think it’s the only way to learn how we can stop Ilvar.”
“And we’ll be right with you Kadie,” Mason said, “nothing bad will happen to you. We’ll all take part in the ritual and as soon as you have the vision it can all end. You won’t even have to fly with us to face Ilvar, if you don’t feel up to it. We’ll take care of it ourselves.”
“All you have to do is go through with this ritual. You left your thunder because you wanted to help save the world. This is how we’re going to do it, Kadie. I’m sorry that there’s not another way,” Buck added.
I gazed at each of them in turn. They were all so kind, so caring. They looked at me with worry, and I knew that each of them wanted to protect me in their own way. And here I was, lying to them when the world was at stake. All because I was overwhelmed with some damned fantasy. I felt sick as I tried to think of some other lie that would see them leave. I wished I had never asked about the visions in the first place. And yet Icouldn’t forget about all the innocent people of the planet. Was my shame really worth condemning them?
