Leviathan and Destiny.
“For you.”She gestured at Mórrígan, who had landed on her ass and went perfectly still. “For what she did to your mother, Destiny. For the great harm she brought your people.” She lowered her head, understanding how things worked around here. “And for you, my Queen, for her nearly taking your life.”
While she had expected them to incinerate Mórrígan here and now, they did no such thing. At least not right away. Instead, she found herself engulfed in dragon wings. Embraced not in the fire of a Forge this time but by two dragons who loved her. Thanked her.
Who thought of her as their own.
“Because you are,”Destiny whispered into her mind, emotional.“You are every bit as much our child as the one growing in my womb, Raven.”
“Every bit as much,”Leviathan agreed.“We’re so thankful for what you did. The sacrifices you were willing to make.”
She had never felt anything like it. So cherished in a way unique to dragons. They were her parents. Her people. And that would never change. To that end, she couldn’t help but cuddle in for a moment, fighting back tears, before fresh worry spiked through her. Worry her aunt evidently felt because she spoke not within the mind but from somewhere nearby. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Aunt Elsie!”She couldn’t keep from shifting if she tried. Something Leviathan and Destiny anticipated because they stepped aside when she spied her aunt. An aunt who had done so very much for her.
“I’ve got you, dear.” Aunt Elsie embraced her. “Like I said, I always will. You and your sisters.”
She held her tightly, grateful she was okay. Frustrated she hadn’t worried about her more since this all began. Yes, she had sensed she was safe but still. She had been thrust back in time over a thousand years to the Keep. A monstrous gothic castle loaded with medieval dragons, half of which weren’t Midgard dragons but Ancients or Múspellsheimr. A whole different ballgame for a middle-aged grandmotherly type from the twenty-first century. It had to have been terrifying.
“There was no reason to worry about me, darling.” Aunt Elsie pulled back, wiped away Raven’s tears, and met her eyes. “You knew I was all right here. Somewhere deep inside, where your dragon remembered who Destiny and Leviathan were to you, you knew.” She winked, a tad saucier than usual. “In fact, if you really think about it, you knew why.” She pulled the bracelets off that connected her with Raven and her sisters and handed them over. “After all, you asked Loki to seek me out. To make sure I got these. To make sure I was ready for you and your sisters.”
“Because we never really had parents, did we?” she whispered, shell-shocked, baffled yet again when she thought she couldn’t be any more surprised. “They were a phantom memory?”
“Ofcourseyou had parents.” Aunt Elsie gestured at Leviathan and Destiny. “They just weren’t from modern-day New England.” She squeezed Raven’s hands, her eyes warm and merry and so very thankful. “In all honesty, youdidhave physical parents back home, but you and your sisters were never destined to grow close to them. Youwere, however, supposed to bond with me. A lonely soul who had just lost a child and cherished the idea of raising four baby dragon shifters who would someday save humanity.” A small smile curled her mouth. “So said the youngest of them once upon a time.”
“You’re adragon?” she whispered, sensing it almost the minute the bracelets came off.
“I am.” Aunt Elsie’s pretty dragon eyes flared. “And I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner. That’s not what your spirit wanted for you and your sisters when you came into existence. You wanted...” She seemed to think about how to phrase it. “As much normalcy and stability as possible.” She shrugged. Her smile grew wider. “I guess that meant a kindly human aunt.”
“Good thing.” Raven shook her head, never more grateful. “Thank you.” She embraced her aunt. “Thank yousomuch. You made life so much better than it might have been.”
“As did you.” Aunt Elsie held on a little tighter, almost as if she sensed what was coming. “You were there when I needed you, just like I’m here for you now.” She paused, waiting for it. “We all are.”
That’s when it hit her like a ton of bricks.
She had been so caught up in raging at Mórrígan, then reuniting with Destiny and Leviathan, then this with Aunt Elsie, that she had, for a sweet few minutes, enjoyed freedom from crushing pain.
It was like waking from a pleasant dream only to find she was still in a nightmare.
“I’m....I have to....”
“I know, dear,” Aunt Elsie said softly as Raven shifted and launched into the air.
Certain Leviathan and Destiny would see to Mórrígan, she raced back toward Mt. Galdhøpiggen despite the fiery tears burning her eyes. Shock had kept her furious and level, but now it was all unraveling. How could she have for a second forgotten Cian oversaw her offspring? Her heart clenched. Breathing became a struggle. More awful still, how could she have left Tor alone? He didn’t deserve that. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t in his great dragon body anymore. To her, he still was.
She was unable to see it any other way.
The war might have ended, but her grief was only just beginning, and it hit her so hard it nearly crippled her. Made functioning next to impossible. To the extent she had no idea she was spiraling downward until a heavy wind shear caught and stabilized her. She looked down only to find two dragons flanking her. Supporting her for her flight back to her mate.
Her flight back to their son.
Like it had been for some of her siblings along the way, Tor’s parents knew of her but never met her. Because she was ethereal most of the time, then controlled the narrative after that via magic, they never had the chance before they helped hide their grandson’s egg then were magically made to forget everything. That didn’t seem to matter, though. Not now. Not when she felt their love for her and their grief over their son.
“I’m so sorry,”she whispered into Sven and Emily’s minds.“I tried to spare him. Tried to save him.”
“Saving him meant him saving you,”Sven replied.“That’s what we do for our mates. For our fated mates.”
She and Tor had become fated mates?Truly?How? It had to have happened when he brought her back. When he sacrificed himself for her.
