“Sean’s good,” she said. “He misses you, Veronica and Amber.”
A flash of surprise flickered through Megan’s eyes, but she played it cool. “Does he really?”
“Yes,” Cybil said bluntly. “A few months after you left he remembered everything. That you were his best friend,” she paused, “and that he was in love with Amber.”
Megan concealed her shock well, but it was still apparent to Cybil.
“And what of you and Sean? Are you friends or more?” Megan asked.
“We’re good friends.” Based on the set to Megan’s chin, she decided to lighten things. “Though I’d imagine he’s pissed as hell at me right now.”
Megan’s jaw loosened some. “Why?”
“Because I took a Jet Ski out on rough waters.”
“Sounds foolish,” Megan said. “The ocean should be respected.”
“And Sean has echoed your sentiment many times.”
Megan grinned. “He hasn’t changed at all.”
“No, I guess he hasn’t,” Cybil said. Though she was tempted to tell her that little time had passed since Megan last saw him, she didn’t. It was in poor taste.
Yet Megan seemed to follow her every thought. “What year is it back home, Cybil?”
“Does it really matter?”
“Yes. Please tell me.”
“It’s 2016.” Her eyes never wavered from Megan’s. “You and your sisters have only been gone a little over a year and a half.”
“Wow,” Megan whispered. “So Sean’s only thirty-two?”
“Just turned,” Cybil murmured.
“I was thirty when I left. More than twenty-five years have gone by here,” Megan said softly. “I’m in my mid-fifties.” She shook her head. “Sean’s only five years older than my son, Bjorn. That’s unbelievable.”
What a strange twist. “Why does time pass so differently?” Cybil asked.
Megan kept shaking her head, eyes trained on the fire. “I have no idea.”
Used to seeing sadness in another’s eyes, she tried to lighten Megan’s sudden melancholy. While she might be wrong, she suspected there was a sure-fire way to do that. “Mema Angie is doing well. She’s healthy and as enigmatic as ever.”
As hoped, a smile crawled onto Megan’s face. “Now there’s a spitfire if I ever met one. What’s she up to?”
“What isn’t she up to?” Cybil chuckled. “She’s currently dating three men but keeps them all on a string.”
“That sounds about right.” Megan chuckled. “Is she still cooking up a storm?”
“Yup.” Cybil grinned. “I probably wouldn’t eat if it wasn’t for her.”
“I remember thinking the same thing.” A smile lingered on Megan’s face as she eyed Cybil. “I think you and I are going to get along just fine.”
Before she could respond, Megan stood. “Forgive me but I’m running tired and need to rest. Let’s get you into a warm bath, some fresh clothes and then tucked into bed.”
“Bed?” Cybil stood. “But isn’t the sun coming up?”
“It is but that means nothing.” Megan urged her to follow. “Though you may be wide awake right now, you just traveled through time, and the effects of it will exhaust you soon enough. You’ll need to rest while your body acclimates to the time change.”
“Okay.” She joined Megan in the next room. A big tub of steaming water waited as well as a change of clothes.
“I know you want to see Heidrek, but it’s best that you rest first,” Megan said. “Guards will be posted outside, and Heidrek will be checking on you as well, I’m sure. I’ll send someone in to assist you.”
“I’d really rather you didn’t.” Her eyes met Megan’s. “I know you keep slaves in this era but…” She shook her head. “I’m not into it at all.”
“They’re not slaves but my friends,” Megan said softly. “But I understand. I’ll give you some time alone.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” Megan gestured to a small table. “There’s food and drink there. You should eat and gain your strength.”
Cybil nodded and thanked her again before she left. Grateful to be alone, she sank down on the bed and eyed the fire crackling in the center of the room. After a heavy swallow, she inhaled deeply then released, trying to process all that had happened.
Where she was.
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
It was all real.
Everything she had sensed since moving to Winter Harbor.
Though not entirely comfortable stripping down and crawling into a tub in this strange place, she trusted Megan that she was safe. More than that, she trusted that Heidrek would stay close without intruding. Yet as she slipped into the bath, her thoughts returned to that brief moment between them when their eyes met.
The sharp lust.
The images of what she knew lay in their future.
She leaned her head back against the edge of the tub and tried to move past those images to what else might lay in their future. But she only saw smoke. Gray area. A place with no end and no beginning. So different than what she saw with other men. There was no sense of direction. She could not foresee it.
Her eyes shot open.
Why was that?
Excitement stirred. Outside of physical attraction, Heidrek was a complete mystery. How was that possible? Cybil absently ran the crude but sweet smelling soap over herself as she again tried to chase the flashes they shared. But they led nowhere. Not a glimpse or even a peek.
Beyond sex, her future with Heidrek was completely unknown.
A burn started beneath her cheeks and spread through her body. Though thrilled by the mystery, she was more interested in the baser end of things.
Sex.
With him.
It had been a while since she’d been with a man. Ridiculously long, in fact. But in her defense, foreseeing exactly how a relationship would end kind of took the passion out of things. Her partner might stay aroused, but she never did. Not when she saw the span of their possible life together. So sex always sucked. Because no matter what people said, the mind controlled a lot when it came to intimacy.
Cybil washed up then dried off. Eager to talk to Heidrek and finally connect with someone she had only dreamt about, she pulled the dress provided over her head and yanked on boots. Megan might think she should be tired, but she was never more wrong.
No, she was eager…and curious.
As far as she could tell there were only two ways out of here. Through the far door or back through Megan and Naðr’s place. Or so it seemed. Maybe there was another way. So she started walking along the edges, studying everything. All seemed pretty sturdy until she discovered a crack of light in the far corner.
She crouched and fiddled with the boards until one slid sideways enough that she could peer out. No sooner did she put her eye to it than another eye met hers. When she jolted back, a female voice whispered from the other side, “Shh, or they will hear you.”
She leaned forward again as the board next to it slid sideways, and a beautiful woman with wild blond curls smiled at her. “Hello, I am Svala. The King’s daughter.” She made a motion with her hand. “Squeeze through and we will get you away from Heidrek and Matthew, yes?”
Cybil narrowed her eyes, unsure. For a second there, Svala had seemed familiar. But why?
“They are my cousins.” Svala shook her head. “And they are being difficult right now, are they not?”
One of them was at least.
But could she trust her?
There was only one way to be sure so Cybil reached out her hand. “I’ll go with you if you touch me first.”
Svala nodded and took her hand. When images flashed through her mind of a light-hearted, adventurous spirit with a love for the sea, Cybil smiled. She was definitely who she said she was. So she grabbed a fur cloak, pushed it through and climbed out.
“This way,” Svala whispered and headed toward the backside of the building. Cybil fol
lowed, happy to find someone a little less intense.
“In here. There’s a way out the back.” Svala smiled and ducked into a small cottage. Cybil followed. It was dark but her eyes adjusted. She blinked once, twice, before cool metal met her neck and Svala’s tone changed entirely. “What do you want with Heidrek?”
Cybil didn’t think. She reacted.
After a sharp jab to the woman’s side, she swiped her leg out from beneath her and brought her to the ground. Before she could steal her blade, Svala rolled and swiped her foot. Cybil jumped, came down fast then wrapped her hand around the woman’s throat. The Viking thrust up her knee, but Cybil deflected. Svala tried to thrash with her dagger, but Cybil knocked it out of her hand.
“I mean Heidrek no harm,” Cybil said calmly though her heart thundered.
Svala twisted, but Cybil anticipated her move and held her down more securely.
“I do not believe you,” Svala spat.
“I can see that.” Cybil tossed aside the blade and kept Svala in place. “But I mean it.”
Svala glared as their eyes remained locked. “Where did you come from? Why do my cousins want you? Why do they fight over you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Cybil kept her breathing even when Svala’s eyes glowed, shifted, and turned catlike. She was half dragon.
“I will let you have this victory if you tell me why you stir them so when you are not like us,” Svala said.
Like us had nothing to do with being Viking or from this era.
It had everything to do with dragon blood.
It was highly likely Svala’s dragon would sense a lie, so Cybil kept with the truth. “Heidrek sought me out in my era. He warned me not to come. I tried not to. But for some reason, I’m here.” Her eyes stayed with Svala’s. “The last thing I want to do is put Heidrek or any of your family in harm’s way.”
“Heidrek,” Svala murmured, eyes still narrowed. “What of Matthew?”
“I don’t know him or like him,” Cybil said bluntly. “And it’s clear he feels the same way about me.”
“Matthew is good,” Svala bit back.
“Not to me.”
Svala remained silent, distrust in her eyes.
“Svala,” came a soft masculine voice. “Where are you?”
Matthew.
Svala kept eying her for several moments before she frowned and whispered, “He will know I’m here. Dragons cannot hide from dragons.”
Then she felt it. Numbness spread from Svala into Cybil. The same thing Lauren had done to her so long ago without knowing it. She rolled onto her side as Svala stood and peered down. Their eyes held for a moment longer before Svala headed outside. “I am here, Matthew.”
Cybil lay in the dark cottage, paralyzed as feeling slowly returned to her limbs. Why hadn’t Svala given her away? Why had she allowed Cybil to bring her to the ground to begin with?
Eventually, someone entered and fire flared on the hearth. She sighed as Heidrek scooped her up and laid her on a small bed before he poured something into a mug then sat down beside her.
“I should’ve known better,” she muttered, irritated by her immobility. “Then again, it seems I was way off when I thought your cousin Svala had a lighthearted personality.”
She could have remained vague about how she ended up here, but it was clear based on his aggravated expression, Heidrek already knew.
“Her dragon tricked you.” His eyes stayed on the fire. “You are not used to dealing with those who have already embraced their dragons.”
In a weird way, he reminded her of Lauren with her stiff speech. Which made her wonder. “How is it that I understand you when we must speak different languages?”
“Language barriers do not exist when you travel through the Yggdrasill,” he murmured. “It translates always.”
“How convenient,” she whispered.
“There is nothing convenient about this.” His eyes finally met hers. Those amazing eyes that could freeze her in place without any help from magic.
“I warned you not to come,” he said, his tone troubled.
“So I rushed out and did the opposite,” she said with a touch of sarcasm. Then she frowned, frustrated by her own response…by all of this. “Do you seriously think I came here intentionally? That I would want to travel back in time to…this?”
“No,” he relented. “I think you are caught in something neither of us has control over.” He braced his arm beneath her head and brought the mug to her lips. “Now drink. It will make the numbness go away faster.”
There was a drink for that? “Seriously?”
“Drink,” he urged.
She did her best to ignore his spicy spruce scent and trusted him. Anything to regain control. The liquid burned like hell going down her throat causing her to cough.
“What is this?” she croaked.
Heidrek moved away. “The sweat of impassioned dragons.”
A chuckle bubbled up but fell flat when she realized he was serious. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No.” He set aside the mug then stood in front of the fire. “Nothing fights the numbness of a cold dragon heart better than the sweat of dragon passion.”
Cybil started to speak but stopped.
He wasn’t bullshitting in the least.
So the numbness she had felt from her sister in the past was the result of a cold dragon heart? Sad yet enlightening. Though tempted to ask exactly whose liquid passion she had just consumed, she decided to save that question for later. Much later.
Cybil closed her eyes, grateful as warmth and sensation spread through her. Then something else speared her. Sharp, unavoidable lust. Oh, crap. She squeezed her thighs together.
“The desire will pass quickly,” Heidrek said. Jaw clenched, his eyes never left the fire. “You cannot swallow the sweat of desire without feeling it.”
Oh, the things she never signed up for when she was born.
Dragons.
Cybil rubbed her hands together, relieved that she could finally feel them. Bit by bit, sensation returned everywhere else. Her eyes never left him as she sat up slowly.
“We’ve been in touch for a while,” she said. “I need to understand why.”
“You already do,” he murmured. “We see things nobody else does. We know things nobody else does.”
Upset by his evasiveness, she shook her head. “Heidrek, you’re the one person that is supposed to give me the answers I need, not feed me a bunch of crap that I already know.”
“And you’re the only person I needed to stay away. Yet here you are.” His eyes shot to hers. “Why?”
Taken aback by his response, she said, “How dare you ask me why when you have to be the one who brought me here. Let’s not forget that you haunted me.”
Though Heidrek stepped her way as she stood on shaky legs, she shrugged off his offer of assistance.
He hovered close but didn’t touch her. “What if it was the other way around,” he whispered. “What if you haunted me?”
She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that statement when he had clearly reached out to her. It almost sounded as if he meant it in another way entirely. A far more intimate one. So she redirected the conversation to what made sense.
“We both know that wasn’t the case.” She shook her head. “You had the capability to reach across time. And you’re the one from an era full of dragon-shifters.”
“As are you,” he reminded. “Are your sisters not dragons as well?”
“Leave my sisters out of this.” Though they were probably a huge part of it. “What do you want? Why am I really here?”
It didn’t matter that he stirred her blood. All she could see was the harm he could do. Or his family. Because her sisters were different and now she had arrived at a place where different was normal. And one thing had become blatantly apparent.
She couldn’t protect them here.
“What do you want?” she repeated, holding his ga
ze. “Because I will do anything to keep my family safe.”
“As will I,” he ground out, showing emotion she hadn’t anticipated. Though she got the sense he meant to turn away, he cupped her cheek, and his eyes dropped to her lips.
She should step back. Tell him no. But she didn’t. Instead, she found herself eager to drive him toward something unnamed. Tempting. And she knew he wanted the same. She saw it in his eyes.
The need to desire someone. Care for them. Find understanding from someone who shared their uniqueness. To be allowed an intimate connection beyond all the expectations and rules laid out. Nothing about them made sense, but it was compelling regardless.
Brand new. Something long denied her.
The realization jolted her it was so sharp.
Piercing.
Unavoidable.
He felt it the moment she did and pulled away. Neither wanted to admit they shared such a strong connection. That it was likely this connection had pulled her back in time. That it might very well be the reason they failed their families.
“Well, I’m here now. We can’t change that,” she said softly. “But it doesn’t mean we can’t stop my sisters from coming. Or that we can’t find a way to get me home so there’s no chance they ever will. You said it was dangerous here. And to stay away. Yet you never said why.”
Heidrek held out his hand. “Come sit by the fire with me and I will tell you of the dangers. Maybe we will discover why you ended up here.”
She shook her head. “I can't see how if you don’t already know.”
“I like to think that finally speaking without a thousand years separating us might somehow help,” he said. “Do we not owe it to everyone we care about to try to figure it out?”
“We do,” she agreed. Before she could stop him, he took her hand, and more images flashed through her mind. Things she couldn’t make sense of.
All except for one.
It made her throat close and her vision blur.
Her and Heidrek holding hands before he was ripped away. She tried to hold on, but it was impossible.
Rise of a Viking (The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors' Kin Book 1) Page 5
