“Yes,” Cian agreed. “You are, by far, one of the most powerful creatures I’ve ever met. And the kindest despite all the negativity you soaked up from us.”
Tor could tell she wasn’t so sure about that but went with it.
“That explains why my energy always ran so negative.” Raven frowned. “And my poor sisters having to deal with it all these years!”
“Sisters who survived to begin with thanks to you,” Tor reminded. “Sisters I’m sure wouldn't want you feeling bad. Particularly Trinity considering what you did for her.”
“Right, that.” She tilted her head in question at Cian. “So if I was never astral projecting in the first place, how did I help Trinity?”
“Who says you had to astral project to aid another in doing it?” He gestured at Tor. “Even as you gave to him, you took a piece of your mate’s soul. A mate who, in his own way, can manipulate the spirit world. Is astral projecting not just the spirit leaving the body? Where it would be a difficult feat for Tor to do such, with your countless other powers, it would be far easier for you, Raven.”
“So Trinity reallywasa ghost when she visited Vicar?”
“A ghost no longer has a living body, so no.” Tor understood now. “She was simply her spirit separated from her body. Not precisely an astral projection but close.”
“So I could do that to other people?” she wondered. “Separate them like that?”
“Hard to know,” Cian said. “It could have only been possible because she was your flesh and blood.”
“Hmm.” Raven kept eating. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter.”
“No,” Cian agreed fast enough to give Tor pause. There was something about this the wizard was purposefully not sharing, wasn’t there? While tempted to ask him what it was, he decided to leave it alone for now. Raven’s mind was going in enough circles. She didn’t need more things to worry about.
The three of them continued to eat and catch up. He got along better with Cian now that he understood their past. In truth, he could admit he liked him. How could he not when he’d looked after Raven so well?
“I remember teaching you how to fight now,” Tor said to Raven at one point. It had been tricky given her ethereal state, but he had done the best he could. He also taught her his language and the ways of his people. What it was like living the life of both a Viking and a dragon in this day and age.
She and Cian caught up as well. The Irishman had clearly been a good friend to the little ghostly dragon he had discovered one day in the forest as a child. Thanks to magic and having touched pre-birth, he remembered what she had done for him. The vow his soul had made to look after her.
Naturally, as the years rolled on, like any male in his right mind, Cian had become more taken with her as she grew from a little girl into a young woman. He had taught her the ins and outs of his craft plus shared the difficulties of possessing magic in such a superstitious age. He even shared his worries over becoming king someday. What it would mean for his inner wizard. The obstacles he would have to overcome.
“I enchanted you somehow, didn’t I?” Raven realized, frowning at Cian. “Because I was a part of the darkness you were forced to give up in the womb, you were forever drawn to me. Ensorcelled in a way. Doomed to love someone who would always love another.” Curiosity lit her eyes. “Yet I’ve noticed that draw has lessened since we started this jaunt through the mountain. Lessened the closer I get to my truth.”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “With your journey, you release binds you never willingly secured.”
“No, not me,” she realized. “But my dragon.”
“Who was willing to do whatever it took to get you where you needed to go.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said softly. “Nobody should be doomed to love like that.” She seemed to sense just how immense her powers were. How determined her dragon actually was. “It would bar you from loving another, wouldn’t it?” Her finely arched brows pulled together. “No matter how much you might have tried, it would have kept you from taking a wife. From having children.” She shook her head. “Heck, I pretty much cursed you, didn’t I?”
“You did what you had to do,” Cian replied without hesitation. “And I didn’t hold it against your dragon. As it were, I would have been pure evil if not for you and your inner beast. I would have wreaked havoc and killed many. Therefore, I owed you so much and willingly came to your aid.”
Where Tor got the sense Cian had been able to lie with a woman or two over the years, he had likely suffered the same affliction as Tor. Something had been lacking. Never enough. Which brought his mind back to the scent Raven continually put off in heat. A scent that had tested his willpower every step of the way, but none so much as now. It didn’t help any that as the eve wore on and the whiskey loosened her up, she touched him more frequently.
Sometimes it was just her thigh against his. Other times her hand rested on his arm or knee. Sometimes she fiddled absently. Other times she stroked without being fully aware of it. All the while, though, her dragon craved his. Her body his. Enough so that Cian finally took the hint and left, claiming he was finding a place to bathe and sleep for the night.
“Bathing might not be a bad idea.” Raven took in their surroundings. “In fact, I think we’re near the perfect spot.” Her eyes met his, her request blissfully direct. “And I think it’s past time we get back to where we left off last night.”
