Page 69 of Thorulf
Chapter Twenty-Six
“WHAT DO YOU mean Evil’sgrowing in strength?” Thorulf asked after Thor and Loki manifested out of the fire closest to Revna and joined them. Thor, anyway. Loki settled in with Revna’s followers, his lustful, steady gaze on the seer much to Tor’s dismay. So said the way his sunny disposition shifted, and he stared broodingly from afar.
“I mean as I say,” Thor repeated, thrilling everyone with his presence. Though he had urged everybody to rise, some villagers still knelt, peeking up at him in awe. “I sensed it in the battle yesterday. It is strength born of anger and desperation. Of knowing his hold over you two is slipping.”
“Good because it has.” Jade notched her chin. “We’re mated and stronger already.” She nodded at Thorulf. “It’s only a matter of time before we’ll remember everything and come into our fullest power.”
“Was it not love that was supposed to save the day, though, Thor?” Loki called out. He blew a small fiery heart Revna’s way. A flaming display Thorulf was surprised Tor didn’t douse considering how dark his cousin’s mood had grown.
“Yet Thorulf and Jade have found love,” Loki went on. “And what comes of it? Nothing but an angrier Celtic god pursuing them rather than a shunned god no longer allowed in our world.”
Revna flicked the fiery heart off her shoulder and speared it through with a dart of her own brand of fire, leaving it in ashes. She didn’t look at Loki or Tor but tossed her stones, her eyes different. Her voice was haunted and echoing when her inner seer spoke. “All must be faced before Evil can be dissuaded.” Her eerie gaze rose to Thorulf and Jade. “Allmust be seen.Allremembered.”
Thorulf saw the truth of it in her dark gaze. What they’d always known had to happen. Had to be faced. “We need to remember what took place in the end.” He put his hand over Jade’s on the table. “We need to see what ultimately divided us. What came between such a strong love to begin with.” He shook his head. “We know your magic, and Thor made you forget, but what made me and my kin forget?”
“I’d say Evil,” Jade said but agreed. “We need to see how. See it all.” She shook her head as well. “How do we do that before he gets stronger, though? How do we get stronger first?” She looked at Thor. “Is there a way to speed up these memories? And what about those left behind at our lair? All the negative childhood memories I got rid of for my sisters?”
“I cannot say about your childhood memories,” he replied. “But I can say for certainty, sitting in here will not show you what you need to see. You must be outside on the outskirts of the village.”
“Because that’s the only place our memories could have happened,” Jade murmured. “The only place...”
She trailed off, suddenly sensing what he did. Almost as if what Thor said lifted a veil.
“They’re happening all around us, aren’t they?” Jade stood. “They have been all along. We just haven’t been there to witness them.”
“They have,” Thor conceded, looking between her and Thorulf. “But you couldn’t see them all. Not until you were—”
“Mated,” Jade cut him off, wary yet understandably excited. Eager to recall everything. She grabbed Thorulf’s hand and pulled him after her. “C’mon. We have a history to remember.”
For a split second, as she pulled him along, he remembered her young dragon doing the same. Nudging and yanking him toward a future she thought was going to be exciting, only it wasn’t. Something horrible happened. Something unnatural. The polar opposite of all their hopes and dreams.
Rain didn’t fall, but the air had chilled considerably as they made their way not toward the front of the village this time but the back.
“Back to our lodge,” Jade exclaimed, sounding certain. “There’s something going on behind it. I’m trying to tell you...” She slowed and stopped. A tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m so incredibly hurt. Sad.” Her brows pinched, and she frowned. “And super angry.”
“As am I,” he murmured, sensing the same. He cupped her cheek and made her look at him. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t face this. It means we follow our memories back to the beginning. Follow them until they show us what it takes to shun Evil once and for all.”