Page 58 of Thorulf
Chapter Twenty-Two
“YOU THINK THORhopedyou would go to Maya’s rescue,” Jade murmured, figuring out why Thorulf felt she was the reason behind his successful and expedient retrieval of her sister. “He wanted you to realize just how far you’d come. How farwehad come.”
“Yes.” Thorulf was grateful she didn’t push his hand away when he rested it on her leg beneath the table. They might be sitting shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to feel more of her. Have her as close as possible. “Because the Celtic magic I possessed with you in my mind, my very soul, was not only sharpened but powerful. Effective.” He shook his head. “Had it not been, I would have never been able to reach Maya. Never been able to become a barrier between her and the enemy.”
“And you have my thanks, brother,” Dagr praised, keeping Maya tucked against his side. He clenched his jaw. “I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive Thor for holding me back like that.”
“While I understand how you feel, you know it went the only way it could,” Maya defended, looking out for Dagr’s safety as much as he had tried to look after hers. “Thorulf was the only one in a position to come after me, and Thor knew it.” She smiled at Thorulf and Jade. “He also knew, in his infinite godly wisdom, that you two needed to realize some things. Thorulf, that loving Jade is allowing your Celtic magic to flourish and Jade—”
“Jade, nothing,” Jade cut her off, frowning at Maya. It didn’t matter that Thorulf followed her thoughts, she was holding her ground and pretending otherwise...somewhat. “Yeah, I got a little emotional when you two got stupid-brave in the face of pure Evil, but who can blame me?” She gestured at her surroundings. “This has all been a lot.” She shot Dagr a you-better-keep-quiet-about-my-panic-attack look, like they all weren’t aware of it, and frowned at Thorulf even as her hand rested over his beneath the table. “If I realized anything thanks to Thor, it was that gods are meddlesome and cryptic when being straightforward would be a helluva lot easier.”
“Ah, but then you wouldn’t have the knowledge of the journey it took to get to said revelation,” elder Heidrek revealed as he and Cybil joined them. “And any fated mate who has made it to this point knows that.” He smiled at Jade and welcomed her. “Not to mention anyone who’s come across the infamous Adlin MacLomain.”
Heidrek and Cybil had been king and queen before Sven and Emily.
Jade said hello in return and eyed Heidrek curiously. “So you knew Adlin?”
“I did,” he confirmed. “And it says much about you that he and Thor made sure you got here.” He looked from Thorulf back to Jade. “Much about the life he sees for you here and what you two can accomplish. Something Thor made sure you saw today, yes?”
“So itseems,” Jade muttered, still unsettled.
“So itis,” Ava assured, looking at Jade kindly. Thorulf knew she liked Jade a great deal, and he was grateful for it. But then, despite her sometimes crass attitude, no one could mistake Jade’s protective and courageous spirit.
“It’s never easy to see our destined mate put themselves in danger,” his mother went on, her gaze still on Jade. “But with your growing strength will come a sense of confidence in your other half. In the dragon you become so bonded with.”
Jade was about to respond with what he sensed might be a pointless denial but drank instead when Ava’s attention went to Vicar, Tor, and Revna.
“We made it,” Vicar boomed, clearly more his Múspellsheimr half as they entered. His hair was frazzled, and his black cloak smoked. He grinned at everyone, snagged a horn of ale out of someone’s hand when servants feared going near him and held his drink up in a toast. “It has been too long, fellow Sigdirs!”
Most held their horns up in return out of respect to Vicar’s parents more than anything. While they had liked Vicar in his youth, his Múspellsheimr side had grown harder and harder to deal with over the years. He preferred spending his time in the Realm anyway, so it mattered little. Yet now, based on the way he downed his entire horn in one long swallow and swaggered toward the head table like he was king, he intended to stay on for a bit.
“Oh, boy,” Jade muttered under her breath. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t going to go well?”
“It will,” Thorulf assured. Hoped. “Has to.” Curious, he spoke to Tor telepathically.“You had no luck bringing Vicar’s Sigdir side back to the surface, then?”
Usually, outside of Trinity and whatever power she had over Vicar, Tor was the only one who could even out his brother. Who could keep his Sigdir surfaced.