“He’snotmy mate.” She sensed something more to Cian saying it, though. Sensed it in emotions she suspected he could hide from all but her. “Yet you feel the need to repeat it.” She felt him out in a way she couldn’t moments before. As though her magic was learning how to bypass his. “No, not a need but...an obligation.”
She didn’t have to look Tor’s way to know he tensed. He was being torn in two different directions. Jealousy when it came to Cian and confusion at Revna.
“How do I know you, Cian?” she pressed, homing in on Revna next. “And how did you help me?” She narrowed her eyes, testing the whole she-summoned-them-thing because wouldn’t that mean they answered to her? “Don’t make me ask again.”
“You know me because you used me,” Revna replied readily enough. She gestured at Tor. “Used me to spend time with your mate.”
“Thor’s thunder,”Tor cursed, realizing what she implied.“It cannot be.”
“But it was.” Revna’s sultry gaze landed on him squarely this time. “It was never me you loved, Tor.” She gestured at Raven. “Only ever your mate.”
Even if Raven couldn’t feel his raging emotions, no one could miss how uptight his dragon had grown. “Impossible.”
Was it, though? Because she sensed something familiar about it. About Revna in general.
“Actually, it makes perfect sense for Raven to possess Revna on occasion,” Loki kicked in, pleased. “Because, as I’ve said before, why would Revnaeverchoose a dragon over a god?” He arched his brows at Tor. “You over me?” He winked at the seer. “You made that more than clear when you let me kiss you at the chalet.” He shrugged. “Or at least the part of you that resides in Raven when you two merge minds, so to speak.”
Merge minds? No wonder she had sensed Revna's thoughts before Tor showed up in Maine. Just like Revna had clearly felt, even prompted, kissing Loki.
“This is crazy.” Raven frowned. “While Tor is certainly familiar, I have no memory of being with him like that, let alone possessing someone to do it.” She shook her head. “Why would Ieverdo that?”
“Let us not misunderstand how much you were actuallywith him.” Revna perked a brow at Tor as though he should have already clarified this. “Believe it or not, evenIhave boundaries.”
“Do you?” Loki wondered. “What a shame.”
Frustration flared in Tor’s eyes before he shared what Raven had sensed earlier. What he had purposely kept from her.
“We haven't lain together,”he ground out.“Close, but not yet.”
“Damn,I never would have guessed based on how you two kissed in–” Jade began, but Maya shushed her.
Raven was surprised by the mix of emotions that washed over her. Relief that Revna and Tor hadn't slept together, yet at the same time, a stark sense of sexual frustration.
“You held me back, Revna,” she realized, suddenly remembering flashes. Tor’s hard body. His blazing heat. The way his lips had felt against hers. She looked at the seer in surprise. “It took more willpower than you expected because some small part of you was still there, feeling what I felt, but you held both of us back.” Her throat thickened with unexpected sentiment. With sheer gratefulness. “Thank you.” She shook her head, sensing the enormity of it. “Even though I don’t remember much yet, thank you for all of it.”
And to think she had wanted to kill the poor woman minutes before.
“Of course.” Though Revna seemed above it all, Raven sensed her emotions ran deep when it came to this. Specifically to her. “It was the least I could do to help Loki’s Forge along.”
She might say as much, but Raven knew there was more to it. This was personal for Revna. Which made her wonder. Had the seer developed feelings for Tor while acting as Raven’s vessel? She glanced at Tor only to find him stoic. Fury and confusion simmered just beneath the surface, but he kept it from ruling his emotions.
For the moment, anyway.
“Tell me all of it.” Raven looked from Cian to Revna. “Explain exactly what happened to me when Leviathan and Destiny Forged in Fire. Everything between then and now.” She glanced from Tor back to them. “Tell me what happened to Tor and me. Why we forgot each other. Why I felt the need to possess someone to be with him.” She cocked her head at Cian. “And why you haven't aged since you approached me outside the cave in New Hampshire when I was a little girl?”
Assuming that had actually happened. The dream could have simply been what she sensed when she awoke. A trigger to begin this journey. To find her way back to a truth she had forgotten.
“We would very much like to tell ye, lassie.” This time she felt Cian’s love for her clearly. Love that went beyond the mentor-apprentice impression she had been under. “But I’m afraid someone swore us to silence.”
“Who would have the power to do that?” she asked. “And why would you listen to them?”
“You would have the power,”Tor said softly, evidently sensing something before her. Seeing inside her. His knowing gaze turned her way.“Considering what you are.”
