Page 37 of Thorulf
Chapter Fourteen
“IWAS THERE,” Thorulfmurmured sleepily. He had been in Ireland witnessing the same thing as Jade when her aroused scent hit him. “I saw you with Adlin and Thor.”
“Did you then?” Loki asked. His godliness allowed him to hear what he shouldn’t from this distance. “How curious.” He grinned. “And tricky of Thor.”
It seemed Loki had kept everyone nearby because the others lay around the fire as well, stirring awake at their conversation. Though more than tempted to keep Jade close, to hold her until she finally held him back, Thorulf let go when she sat up and shifted away. Not surprisingly, his inner beast felt distress at her departure. Perhaps even a flash of confusion and anger. Not at her but at whatever took her from him. Something it seemed he was as clueless about as his human half.
“Adlin!”Destiny and Leviathan said into their minds at the same time, having obviously caught the exchange between them and Loki despite the distance.
“Ja, Adlin.” Thorulf sighed when Jade left him altogether. “He was older.” He described what happened. “I got the impression Thor’s been watching over Jade ever since.”
Jade said nothing to that, but he felt her conflicted emotions. How happy it made her but at the same time frustrated that she had forgotten. Irritated that Thor hadn’t reminded her.
“Adlin wasn’t old when Leviathan and I Forged in Fire,”Destiny commented.“Not that old anyway.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Loki joined them and manifested meat over the fire to break their fast. “Adlin MacLomain has a way of popping up in various times and places at different ages.” Amusement lit his eyes. “It would make sense he was in Ireland one way or another as he was born into Scotland via Ireland. Born of the Irish onto Scottish soil.”
“So not all that unlike me,” Jade muttered. “Dual citizenship from the get-go.”
She was still putting off a scent whether she liked it or not, and his brother was well aware of it based on the way he eyed her. Interestingly, however, Vicar's lust seemed halfhearted today. Forced at best.
“Is dual citizenship, as you call it, such a bad thing, really?” Loki arched his brows at Jade. “Now we have confirmation. You are, in your own unique way, of the Celts. You have...access to them somehow.”
“Being born on Irish soil and having a connection to Celtic gods are two entirely different things.” Jade shrugged, yet again purposefully avoiding eye contact with Thorulf despite how much closer they were now. Because they were. He could feel it. Somehow what happened in Ireland tied them together.
“I agree being born in Ireland and having a connection to Celtic gods are two different things,” Loki conceded with a sly grin. “But being born of Destiny and Leviathan Forging in Fire then being doused with Celtic magic on top of Thor taking you under his rhetorical wing is far too much coincidence. Far too important.”
“On this, we agree.” Vicar sheathed the blades he’d set aside the night before, impatient to leave. “I look forward to learning more once we reach Thorulf and Jade’s lair.”
“Thorulf’s,” Jade corrected though her expression wasn’t quite as intense as it had been the day before. Rather, if he wasn’t mistaken, she almost struggled with saying, “Not mine.”
“Not yet.” Loki tapped his temple. “Not in your mind.” He stood and stretched, magically handing out meat in the blink of an eye. “But soon.” When he strode for the exit, a fiery wake of fire crackled and popped, a clear sign of how eager he was. “Eat, then follow me. I look forward to seeing what nasty Celt we run into next.”
As it happened, the first half of the leg from the cave to his lair was relatively quiet save the godly storm in the distance. Thorulf remained as close to Jade as she would allow, which, thankfully, was closer than yesterday.
“You know where you are, don’t you?” he asked eventually when she went so far as to let him walk beside her. He sensed her ease in this area. Her sense of direction. As if she’d walked this winding mountain path through the trees countless times before. “Everything looks familiar to you?”