“Maybe not trying to stop you,” Trinity said softly, gesturing across the way into another tunnel. “But most definitely keeping an eye on you.”
She was right. Transparent because it was a memory, a young girl with black hair kept to the shadows and watched them frolic. “It’s Revna.” Surprised when he probably shouldn’t be, Tor glanced from their little dragons back to the seer. “She knew about you all along. Knew we frequented her mountain.”
“More than that, I get the feeling she knew I brought Vanaheim with me.” Raven gestured at the tokens they had just been swinging on. Each glittered with Vanaheim magic left behind by Raven. An otherworldly residue that made the tokens more powerful. “I think she likely welcomed me into this mountain and, in turn, welcomed you as well.”
“If it lent to her power, most certainly.” Yet Tor sensed more to it. A sadness of sorts. “She feels bad for you, Raven. Bad because, spirit or no, you’re never really alive here. Never fully alive anywhere so long as you’re tethered to Vanaheim.”
Both he and Raven were surprised by his sudden revelation, but he knew he was right. She didn’t just have one foot in that world but was bound by it somehow. Half imprisoned if he didn’t know better.
“Half imprisoned by Vanaheim?” she said aloud, keeping everyone in the conversation. “Which makes me being born in the future even crazier.” She shook her head and eyed Cian. “If you can’t tell me whether I was or wasn’t tethered to Vanaheim, can you at least say if such a thing is possible?” She tilted her head in question. “If so, how?”
“Itispossible,” he allowed, watching her little dragon have fun with more fondness than Tor appreciated. “But would be considered very rare.”
“Wasn’t I technically imprisoned by Múspellsheimr before being born?” Trinity reminded.
“Yes and no.” Cian had clearly followed Trinity’s journey. “You had already been born into Alfheim before entering Múspellsheimr. Not to mention Múspellsheimr never had a hold on you.” He shook his head. “Not like that.”
“Like that,” Raven echoed. Her steady gaze never left the wizard. A gaze thatalmostseemed to stare straight into his soul. “That being born into Vanaheim then never really freed. Not like I should have been.”
Tor heard Raven had a knack for pulling information from people but hadn’t connected it with her magic until he witnessed it now firsthand. Something he knew had never happened before based on Trinity’s shock. Raven’s eyes had just turned the same silver as her dragon scales, and her pulsing aura snaked toward Cian, eager for anything she could pull out of him.
“No,cara dragan.”Cian closed the distance and cupped her shoulders. “Níl cead agat a ghlacadh uaim.”
Tor didn’t realize he was growling until Raven blinked and looked his way. Had he managed to stop her that easily?
“No, not you.” She dragged her gaze back to Cian. “But you with those words.Mywords.”
“Tá,your words,” he confirmed. “Said by you at one point to keep me from giving you information when you tried to take it via magic.”
“You are not allowed to take from me,” she murmured, repeating what he had said in English. “Your dragon friend.” She frowned a little. “Looks like I thought of everything, didn’t I?”
“We can only hope.” Cian gave Tor more than anticipated when he gestured his way. “While you gave me the power to stop you, your mate possesses some ability too. Influence over you that will grow stronger quickly, as will yours over him. It’s inevitable of dragons coming back together like this.”
“I’m sorry, but that’ll be the day his territorial growl tells me what to do,” she muttered Tor’s way. “A bit much, all things considered, don’t you think?”
“I can’t control how my inner dragon reacts to another man touching you,” he bit back, still trying to shake off his frustration. Cian might have helped Tor’s cause, but he felt the Irishman’s emotions. He knew he had liked touching her, however briefly. He was about to say as much, too but never got the chance before their memory took a daunting turn.
