Page 74 of Thorulf
“It’s quite simple, really.” Little evil stood up as tall as her tiny stature allowed and notched her chin exactly like Jade might have. “I wasn’t fetching enough.” She eyed herself with dismay and released a gusty sigh. “You realize I can be much more beautiful, right?” She scrunched her nose, peering at Thorulf’s reaction slyly out of the corner of her eye. “That I’m not really the color of rotting moss with eyes like dead grass but truly stunning like a violet blossoming in sunlight.”
“And there you go,” Jade muttered. She'd give anything to reach into the memory and wring Evil’s neck when she,it, transformed into a little purple dragon they knew all-too-well.
“I wasn’t fooled, though.” Thorulf shook his head. “Not at all...not at first.”
There he went with thatat-firstthing again. Yet, she felt the warmth of his tattoo. A tat that was glowing green when he lifted his tunic. Their mated Celtic magic was igniting in a whole new way. Getting ready to show them something important.
Moments later, little Thorulf stumbled back and shook his head at the purple dragon. “No, you’re not her.” He growled and stopped short, finally standing his ground, seeing things clearly enough, despite his tender age. “And she’s not the color of rotting moss but grass in spring when the rivers run high.” He bared his teeth. “And her eyes aren’t dead grass but extra bright grass blades caught in sun puddles.” He glared and blew a puff of smoke out of his nostrils, attempting to look sinister. “Really warm, friendly sun puddles that make me happy.”
“Sun puddles?” Jade murmured out of the corner of her mouth, so grateful for the levity she nearly cried.Again.
“They were always splashing around because of the clouds overhead,” he muttered, “and never stayed still.” He gave her a look. “Much like you, mate.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” she conceded. Though he’d lowered his shirt, she kept her hand over his tat, wondering what it was about to show them. Because itwasabout to show them something. Sooner rather than later.
“I’m going,” little Thorulf declared, glaring at Evil one last time. “And if you follow me, I promise you will regret it.”
Interestingly, this time only part of the memory faded. Or perhaps they caught a glimpse at what they were never supposed to see thanks to their inner Celt. Their absolute love.
“No,” Evil said darkly, cunningly, watching little Thorulf tromp off. “I will follow you and not regret it. Follow you over and over until you are mine. Over and over until she is mine.”
“And we wouldn’t remember a thing,” Jade whispered as the memory faded altogether. She shook her head, baffled by the enormity of what they’d just witnessed. By what they had just felt off Carman’s son, Evil, thanks to Celtic magic that was so much better than his. Sogoodwhen his was so dark.
“Evil came back time and time again,” Thorulf said, welcoming her into his arms when she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his chest. “Over and over, she, he,it, needled away at us. Because that purple dragon approached me again...and again...and again...”
Never here at the Stronghold, though, because it had proven a worthless location to get its way. Their lair and the Fortress had been far luckier target zones. Yet what they’d just witnessed had left its taint on Thorulf because his dragon never brought Jade here. On some instinctual level, despite Evil tampering with their memories, his inner beast must have sensed it was best to keep her away.
“The purple dragon tracked you,” Jade cursed, “just like the black dragon sought me out. Again and again.” She shook her head. “But he never accomplished his goal. Not when I left the Fortress with him and not when I flew off with the purple dragon.”
When Evil didn’t win them over to its side, it reset their memory then tried again. Over and over. That’s why Thorulf couldn’t sense her little dragon when she first flew off with the purple dragon. Evil was already manipulating her mind. And it did the same to him every time it approached.
“Forever seeking out weakness,” Jade said softly. “Looking for a chink in our armor.”
Yet there had to have been chinks in its own armor, too, seeing how Thorulf never brought her here. His inner dragon might not have remembered his reasons, but he stayed away. And that had kept this place safe.
He struggled with the truth of it. The enormity of what he and Jade had faced over the years. “But did Evil ever find our weakness?Trulyfind it?” He cupped her cheeks and searched her eyes. “No, and we both know it. Feel it. Found it again last night.”
He was right. They had.
“So what now?” she asked. “What do we do? Head back to the Fortress and let them know what we learned? Or go back to our lair? See if we can learn more there?”
“The lair and soon.” He glanced at his village. “But not quite yet.” His gaze returned to her. “I think it’s past time you meet my father’s people.Mypeople.” He looked at her with a super-tender look that brought tears to her eyes again if that were possible. “Yourpeople, Jade.” He looked at the sky before smiling at her. “There are no godly storms here. It’s as if...”
“We have a moment of peace,” she realized, already thinking like the queen she would someday be. “But that doesn’t mean we should linger here long and draw danger this way.”
“No,” he agreed. Anticipation lit his eyes. “Would you like to meet our people, mate? Would you like to finally come home?”
Because itwouldbe their home. A fresh start where Evil hadn’t touched their lives.
“I would,” she managed, choked up as usual. “A lot.”
Thorulf was about to respond but stopped. His brows pulled together sharply, and he frowned. “Did you feel that?”
“Feel what?”
“Something shifted,” he murmured, narrowing his eyes. “I think Evil is seeking us out. Trying to find us.”
“You’re sensing its thoughts.” Jade wondered what it meant that he was and she wasn’t. “I bet Evil didn’t anticipate that when it infiltrated our lives so much.”
“No,” he replied. “And it’s happening because our magic’s igniting more by the moment.” He narrowed his eyes, clearly trying to get a read on what he sensed. “I’m able to feel Evil right now because its female manifestation is the one trying to seek us out. That means you should sense the male.”
Jade nodded and frowned at the village. “So we should probably leave.”
“Yes.” He grew more alarmed by the moment.
So alarmed that they learned just how similar his and Jade’s Celtic magic really was.