Pride of a Viking

by Sky Purington

“And where would that be?” Erica asked. “Because neither of us knows where out of the way is here.”

  “Nay? Are you sure?” Adlin looked between them. “At one time this was your home. A place you found great love and I imagine peace. Does it not stand to reason that if you just listen to your instincts, if you remember, you’ll find out where you need to go?”

  About the last thing she wanted to do was focus more attention on Kodran and reminisce. But she knew Adlin was right. They had been thrust into a situation in which they needed to work together or possibly be discovered.

  “Yet I get the sense we’re ghosts of a sort here,” Kodran said. “Is that not safety enough in its own way?”

  “Aye,” Adlin conceded. “But did you not also sense that Eluf knew you were here because I bloody well did. And if he sensed you, that means Hallstein or any of his minions might too.” He shook his head, resolved. “’Tis risky to do anything but work together until you learn what you need to in order to win your war.”

  “Convenient,” Kodran muttered under his breath.

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Erica seconded.

  Yet she didn’t miss the aggravated look he shot her. She supposed it matched the one she wore. But was it for the same reason? As far as she was concerned, he could be a little more grateful for all she’d done and was doing when it came to the enemy. Because she knew he knew. But instead, he seemed more of the mind that she get back to it and good riddance.

  “Can you blame me?” he murmured into her mind. “All things considered?”

  The feel of him in her mind seriously turned her on. Not good.

  “Get out of my head,” she growled.

  His nostrils flared and his body tensed. Not only did he smell her arousal but was responding to hearing her speak within his mind for the first time. Something she definitely should not have done.

  “Och, I think ‘tis time for me to take my leave for a wee bit,” Adlin said. “It seems—”

  “No!” both Erica and Kodran said at the same time, but it was too late. Adlin faded then vanished.

  “Shit,” Erica muttered.

  Kodran appeared to agree based on his aggravated expression. “He’s gone. Grant said it would take a lot of energy for him to visit.”

  “Grant?” Her frown deepened. “You mean Grant Hamilton?”

  “Yes.” Kodran kept looking the shields over as if searching for something. “You know him, I believe.”

  “You could say that.”

  His eyes went to hers. “How do you know him?”

  “Is that really our priority right now?” She gestured at the cave. “Or finding a hideaway until we figure out our next move.”

  “Hideaway.” He snorted. “Where do you suppose that is in a mountain full of ancient seers who are more powerful than we can imagine?”

  “Well, I don’t know.” She planted her fists on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “You tell me, Eluf.”

  His lips thinned, and he shook his head. “We both know the only connection I have to Eluf is through my memories.”

  “And we both know the same goes for Maeva and me,” she retaliated.

  “Do we? Because it doesn’t feel that way to me.” He narrowed his eyes in return. “It feels like you know more than I do.”

  Erica clenched her teeth as images of them bickering flashed in her mind. They had done this before. Her as Maeva and him as Eluf.

  As if Kodran sensed the same, he shook his head, ran a hand through his hair in frustration and turned away. “What we need to do is take Adlin’s advice and find somewhere safe.”

  It was that—him turning away from her in irritation—that made her remember something. “We had a spot.” She shook her head as the memory flitted in and out, just out of grasp. “Near here. Somewhere safe.”

  “Where?”

  “I’m not sure,” she whispered as she scanned their surroundings. Yet as she looked around, red skirted her vision, and she was drawn back to his blade.

  “Your dragon knows,” he murmured, following her line of sight before he unsheathed the jagged-edged blade and held it out. “Listen to her.”

  Erica closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before opening them again. “The last time we both touched that, it didn’t go so well.”

  “Maybe not. But at least it showed us some of what we forgot,” he said. “As to whether things go well from this point forward is up to us.” He shook his head. “As I see it, there’s no choice anymore.”

  Again, her muscles tensed at what sounded like him pushing her away. And again, she had to remind herself of two things. First, that’s what she wanted him to do. Second, he thought she had mated with his archenemy.

  “Fine.” Erica stopped overthinking and did what made sense. She took the blade. “Holy...” she whispered as images started slamming into her mind. If Kodran hadn’t wrapped his arm around her waist and allowed her to slump against him, she would have hit the ground.

  “I see you,” she whispered. “Kodran...Eluf...what you created for me...”

  “This way.” She handed the blade back and found the strength to walk down a narrow hallway hidden in shadows. One specifically meant to hide not just dragons and seers, but truths. “Do you remember?”

  “Yes.” He was right behind her, almost as if he was ready to catch her if she fell. “It was very important.”

  She nodded and didn’t respond as she made her way down a hallway of rock that only grew narrower. Tighter. For most, it would close you in and make it harder to breathe out of sheer design, but it did the opposite for her. It made her feel relieved. Open. Ready to come home. But there was more. Courage. An overwhelming feeling of hope.

  And somehow she knew Eluf had created it solely for her.

  Kodran had.

  “No, you can’t give me credit because I’m as much at the whim of all this as you are,” he murmured, close behind her and obviously following her thoughts.

  They were in big trouble based on the way her skin was heating at his close proximity. More than that, how rapidly his thoughts were starting to merge with hers. It shouldn’t be this way considering they hadn’t physically mated.

  But it was.

  And it was happening at an alarming rate.

  Erica didn’t respond but kept walking until the hallway grew far larger then stopped abruptly at a ledge. Another tunnel of rock went up and down as far as the eye could see. She barely paid attention to the long drop as she hopped the short distance, then continued until she hit a dead end. Okay, what was the deal? She felt around the edges, searching for something, maybe a hidden door, but there was nothing.

  Meanwhile, Kodran had stopped in the opening a ways behind and was staring up then down. Curious, she returned only to be startled by the massive gap between them. Her jaw dropped as the red cleared from her vision and she saw how wide it really was. At least sixty feet. What the heck?

  His eyes met hers. “You didn’t know you just implemented dragon magic to make the hop over there, did you?”

  “Of course not.” She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “I do. Because I’m still holding this.” He held up the Gungnir blade. “Catch, and you’ll see.”

  With reflexes born of another life, she caught it when he whipped it her way.

  Breathing became non-existent as she suddenly saw what the blade meant to show her. What the cave systems really were.

  “Holy hell,” she whispered as everything became clear.

  The hallway she had just jumped from connected with the hallway she stood in and made up what would normally be a scabbard on a blade. Erica walked to the edge and looked down. That hallway to nowhere was the handle. She cocked her head and looked up far beyond what the human eye could see. Son of a gun. If she wasn’t mistaken, that was the shape of a blade with several gashes in the rock stemming out from the main one.

  “This entire area is a massive recreation of the dagger in your hand,” he murmured in her ear, as he suddenly
appeared behind her and pulled her back against him. “This is where I gave you sanctity in another life. This is where we fell in love.”

  Chapter Four

  KODRAN HAD NEVER figured out so much in such a short period of time. While he didn’t understand it all, it was more than clear something profound had happened between him and Erica in another life. They had fallen deeply in love. And that didn’t quite make sense considering she had been Hallstein’s dragon mate. Unless...

  “Are you sure Hallstein was your mate?” His eyes held hers as he spun her so that they were facing each other. “Do you have memories of your time with him?” He shook his head, spoke through clenched teeth and worked hard to keep rage from taking over as he caught glimpses of what she had endured. “He did things to you, Erica. Terrible things. Things that make no sense if there was another dragon out there he was trying to bring back from the dead now. Another version of Maeva.”

  She leaned back, clenched her jaw and averted her eyes. “Yes, he was my mate. I’m sure of it.”

  “Then why can’t you look at me when you say that?” He tilted her chin until she had no choice but to meet his eyes. “What aren’t you telling me? What’s the missing piece?” He frowned. “Because something’s not adding up.”

  “It doesn’t...you just...” She frowned as well. “You need to let this go. You need to let me go. It’s the only way this is going to work. It’s the only hope we have.”

  “And where am I supposed to let you go to?” He glanced around to remind her where they were before his eyes returned to hers. “Because it’s out of my control, yes?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Do I?” He stepped a bit closer and never removed his fingers from her chin. “Because as far as I can tell you want me to believe you desire Hallstein when that’s the furthest thing from the truth. I think you’re trying to push me away so that you can somehow save everyone all on your own.”

  Because he was remembering his life as Eluf, he remembered what Maeva had looked like. While they shared the same tall, lithe build with curves in all the right places, he found Erica more stunning in this life. Her eyes were varying shades of striking green that seemed to shift with her mood, and her warm skin tone was luminous. He wanted to feel her soft skin against him. Touch every last inch of her.

  She went very still as their eyes held. Or so one would think if they couldn’t detect the slight tremor that went through her. Shivers that only translated to another dragon. He also noticed that she had gone from momentarily vulnerable to completely closed off despite her physical reaction.

  “You’re good at that,” he murmured, shifting even closer to see if he could bring out that tremor even more. “Trying to be strong for everyone else all the time. How long have you played that part?” While he should have remained compassionate and thankful, his inner dragon was flaring. The jealousy that reared whenever he thought about her in the enemy’s arms. “How long have you been playing the part of a woman trying to convince Hallstein that you’re his? How long have you been—”

  “No,” she cut him off, yanked her chin away and narrowed her eyes. “What I’ve done to help our people is not because—”

  “Because you’re meant to be together?” he cut her off just as readily, as he turned things around on her. “Because you’re not, are you?” He shook his head and narrowed his eyes as well. “You’re not supposed to be with him.” His voice dropped to a whisper as the truth hovered just out of reach. Like a memory he was right on the verge of remembering. “You never were, but something happened...”

  Something he needed to understand, so he thought fast. If one thing had been proven true with his kin and their mates it was that intimacy seemed to speed up their mental connections. So why not get things moving in that direction?

  It seemed Erica followed his line of thought because a moment later she started to move away but he caught her. With an arm around her lower back, he yanked her against him, cupped the back of her neck and kissed her.

  The moment he did, everything changed.

  Or at least that’s how it felt as her lips softened beneath his and her kiss became one he had felt thousands of times before. A kiss unlike any other. One that belonged to him. Erica groaned, almost as if she was getting ready to deny him and pull away, but instead melted against him and gripped his tunic.

  As the kiss deepened, he knew he would never be able to get enough of this. Her. The way they came together. It was too powerful. Too arousing. In fact, he was moments away from lifting her against the wall and taking more, when her lips stilled, and she pulled away slightly. Her eyes fell to the dagger. A blade she could have used against him if she really wanted to stop that kiss.

  “It’s heating up,” she whispered.

  Seconds later, Eluf and Maeva materialized at the entrance on the other side of the cave caught in a kiss just as passionate as theirs had been. They clearly had no idea Kodran and Erica were there.

  No, they were part of the past and what had happened at this very location.

  Though it was obvious Eluf didn’t want to stop, he reluctantly ended the kiss. Excitement shone in his eyes. “Come.” He pulled Maeva after him. “I want to show you what I made for you.”

  Her eyes widened as they came to the edge of the hallway opposite them. “What is this?”

  “This is a protection spell of sorts,” he explained. “The rock is carved into the shape of Loki’s Gungnir dagger. The one he gave to Odin.”

  Her eyes lit up as they met his. “And we know very well what Bard thinks of Loki.”

  “He is not fond of him.” The corner of Eluf’s mouth inched up. “So what better way to protect you than with this shape?”

  So the Gungnir blade was not a myth after all? Who knew.

  “You mean it will protect one half of me,” Maeva murmured.

  “The important half,” Eluf said. “The half that matters most.”

  Maeva nodded, trying to remain upbeat for him as she looked up and her dragon eyes surfaced. She was seeing everything he had created. “All the dagger edge gashes are perfect for my dragon.”

  “That’s right.” He wrapped an arm around her from behind and pulled her back against him. “Each one is part of the protection spell. A variety of spaces for you to choose from. Each and every one just as lethal as the next if Bard tries to get to you.”

  There were tears in her eyes as they met Eluf’s. “You’re very good to me. Too good considering—”

  He put a finger to her lips and shook his head. “There’s nothing to consider, Maeva. I love you. I’ll always love you.”

  “But he has part of me,” she whispered. “A part of me that he’s made want him.”

  “Through dark magic,” he growled. “And you’ve got to remember that she’s not really you but a doppelgänger created for the sole purpose of keeping him away. To keep you safe.”

  “A version of me that’s not very pleasant,” she murmured.

  “We all have parts of ourselves that we shed each life. Something we no longer need because our spirits have grown,” he reminded. “She is nothing but shed skin. A darkness that existed in one of your previous lives.”

  “One that’s uncomfortably compatible with Bard,” she quipped then frowned. “Eventually he’s going to figure out what you did, Eluf. He’s going to figure out we deceived him.”

  “By that time he will be destroyed,” he vowed, “and it will no longer matter.”

  “So you hope.”

  Eluf ground his jaw. “He will be and by my hand.” He turned her, cupped her cheeks and searched her eyes. “He has no claim on you, Maeva. She may be his mate, but you are not. Nor will you ever be.”

  As he kissed her, they faded away.

  Kodran’s eyes turned back to Erica’s. She was no longer looking at the couple but staring aimlessly as if caught in the memory.

  “I remember that moment,” she murmured as her eyes drifted to his. “We spent a great deal of tim
e in this place, you and me.” She looked at the ledge. “There’s a spot at the base of the hilt where we can rest. A place where we went when I was in human form.” She stepped away. “We should go there...then talk.”

  Kodran nodded. Because they certainly had things to talk about.

  She stopped at the edge and held out the blade. “I assume we can move around in these caves without shifting if we touch this.”

  The moment his hand wrapped around hers on the hilt, everything transformed and they were in a large dome shaped cave with an open ceiling that went up as far as the eye could see. The energy of the location hit Kodran strongly. Somehow it was his. Better yet, Eluf’s. Though everyone had always thought the main cave was the ultimate source of power in the mountain, they were wrong. This spot was. Made by the most powerful seer on Midgard, the magic it took to make it was profound.

  Magic born of true love.

  His eyes honed in on the unique bed. Low to the ground but large, it almost seemed to be carved out of the trunk of a tree. He knew that tree. He had brought it with him from his home world Vanaheim. A place that future generations of Norse would say was the world of Vanir gods. Those of magic and sorcery. Though the second part was true, the first was debatable. Seers certainly weren’t gods, but to a primitive people, they very well could seem it.

  “The tree still lives though, doesn’t it,” Erica murmured, looking at the bed as well. A bed they had lain together in frequently despite the laws prohibiting it. “Somewhere along the shore.”

  “It does. At least in this era,” he replied, remembering more because of that kiss. “It was the mother of all ash trees on Midgard.” His eyes went from hers back to the bed laden with thick furs. “And it was born of the Yggdrasill. Not the one in Maine but that which has connected our nine worlds since the beginning of time.” His eyes returned to hers. “The bed’s power alone is great enough that it would keep my fellow seers and your dragons from knowing we were intimate.”

  Though he could sense her turbulent emotions, she still managed a small smile. “Eluf thought of everything, didn’t he?”

  “It certainly seems that way.” He sheathed the blade. “But then in this day and age, he would have had to. Outside of primitive humans, there are nothing but powerful beings walking this planet.”