Page 68 of Thorulf
“Make sense?”he asked as they headed Tor’s way.
“Yeah,”she replied.“He’s clearly a nice, level guy. Almost too level with no noticeable issues like the rest of you. Dagr was battling his inner Helheim. You, your Celt. Vicar, his multiple personalities. Then there’s Tor. No godliness. No inner struggles. Just a mad crush on a girl who’s not his type any more than he is hers. Sure, Tor’s hot, but that’s not all Revna looks for in a guy. She likes her boys bad. And Tor? I could see him hooking up with Trinity but definitely not Raven.”She chuckled.“Or at least Trinity until she went all whips and chains on me.”
He shot her a devilish grin.“Whips?”
“You bet.”He had no idea what he had coming. She could play just as dirty as her goldilocks-turned-fifty-shades sister any day of the week.“And chains.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“I’m sure it does.”She blew him a little kiss. “Now back on track,Casanova.” She nodded hello to Tor when they stepped inside.“Tor and Revna just don’t add up. They make no sense...unless.”She glanced at Tor and smiled when he joined them.“There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to his boy-next-door façade.”
Though Tor smiled politely back at her, she got the fleeting impression he might have overheard their private conversation. Which made her wonder if she were on to something.
“You forget that for a long time, nearly up to Leviathan and Destiny’s Forge, Tor did face his own troubles,”Thorulf reminded.“He was haunted by a prophecy. By a girl born of powerful fire from both the past and future.”
“A girl he never actually saw, I take it?”
“No,”he confirmed.
Her gaze drifted to Revna. Was she connected to it somehow? Because it almost seemed like she should be. Outside of the ‘future’ part of it, she fit the description perfectly with her fiery ways. But then so did Trinity and Raven born of fire such as they were. Yet Jade’s gut kept bringing her back to Revna. There was justsomethingabout her she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Some unseen connection to all this.
The seer sat with a small group in a darkened corner giving some sort of physic reading as she tossed a handful of runes on the ground. Yet, for all her attention to those around her, Jade knew her discreet gaze rarely left Tor.
“She thinks of him as a possession,”she murmured, certain of it. Understanding the darkness in the way Revna thought. The way her fiery yet slippery gaze made any woman daring to check Tor out think twice.“It’s like she owns him...when she feels like it. When it suits her.”
Like Thorulf, she was sure to smile hello to many in passing. Anything to try to make up for their behavior yesterday. To show everyone they weren’t as crazy as they seemed.
“Revna has always behaved that way with Tor,”Thorulf returned, clearly not pleased with it.“She’s always desired him when she feels like it then shuns him if she’s not in the mood. It hasn’t been easy on my cousin.”
“I imagine not.”What to make of it, though? Because she had an overwhelming sense there was a method to Revna’s madness. An ulterior motive.
“Just on time,” Ava said, drawing their attention to Thorulf’s parents, who smiled as they sat. “We weren’t sure you’d be joining us.”
Jade noticed Maya and Dagr weren’t there. No doubt they were doing what she wished her and Thorulf still were despite her sore muscles. She’d have given anything to stay in his arms for as long as possible. However, as pleasantries were shared and food served, she could admit to being hungry.
“I really am sorry,” she said when the conversation inevitably ended up on what most villagers were talking about today. She looked at Ava specifically because she’d had faith in Jade to calm Thorulf down. “I never meant for things to get so out of control.” She rubbed her fingers together, still amazed by what they were capable of now. “I had no idea I could throw Celtic fireballs.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” Ava smiled so broadly at them, she realized his mother was just happy they had found love. That they’d mated. And her next statement confirmed it. “I imagine without the fireballs, you wouldn’t have had the fireworks to finally bond as you should.”
Remembering the crazy hot sex those fireballs led to, she couldn’t help a small grin. Ava had nailed it. “Probably not.”
“We’re very happy for you both. You’re a much welcome addition to the family, Jade.” Thorulf’s father held his horn of ale up in a toast and grinned. “Here’s to one more Sigdir finding his mate. May the Forge and forever find you both soon!”
“To the Forge and forever,” everyone echoed, holding their mugs up as well.
Where she might have cringed at this even yesterday, everything had changed now. Forever with Thorulf sounded just fine. Perfect, actually. So she raised her horn as well and toasted only to discover moments later that finding forever might not be as cut-in-stone as she’d hoped.