Viking's Ransom (Viking Ancestors: Rise of the Dragon, #4)

by Purington, Sky

  Not surprising because acting had never been his strongpoint. Only detachment. He wasn’t bad at distraction and changing the subject though.

  “You are not growing weaker,” he mentioned. “Like the last time you were in Helheim.”

  “No,” she agreed. “Not yet.” She cocked her head. “So what’s the deal with the prophecy?”

  “Why do you think that is?” he asked, ignoring her question as he turned the spit. “It is strange you are not growing weaker, no?”

  “Not nearly as strange as the Goddess of Helheim telling you your fated mate knows about a prophecy that risks your safety,” she countered.

  “So you and Leviathan are no longer ill around me,” he murmured, still trying to distract her. “Now Helheim is becoming more tolerable for you.”

  “Seems that way,” she agreed, not easily swayed as she kept her intent on what she wanted to know. “Tell me about the prophecy, Eirik.” Her hand slipped into Leviathan’s. “Or I’m off to relieve stress, and your I-want-her-I-don’t-want-her routine won’t detour us this time.”

  “It’s not a routine,” he growled before he could stop himself.

  “Wasn’t it though?” She frowned. “Considering you’re all torn up inside about what to do with me...to me.”

  “Yes,” he said bluntly. “And no.”

  “Yes and no to what?”

  Good question. But deep down he knew and had said it because he wanted her to know too.

  “I am torn up about what I want to do with you,” he ground out, his eyes hard on hers. “But not about what I want to do to you.”

  Just like that, the scent of her arousal hit the air, and though tempted to growl along with Leviathan he buried the urge and kept his eyes locked with hers.

  “Tell me what I want to know, Eirik,” she pressed, focused despite her arousal.

  “I have told you what there is to tell.”

  She snorted and shook her head. “Not by a longshot.”

  “I have told you,” he began, but it seemed she’d had enough because she shot to her feet and yanked Leviathan up with her.

  “You haven’t told me shit, dragon,” she spat, her eyes flaming as her anger built. “And I’m tired of trying to get it out of you.” She gave Leviathan a purposeful look before her eyes returned to Eirik. “This is your last chance. Come clean, or I guarantee your dragon isn’t going to like what happens next.”

  “But my dragon will,” Leviathan assured as he reeled her closer.

  As expected, Eirik's inner dragon reared up in response, not pleased with what was happening. Not pleased that its human counterpart was going to let her do this. Had to.

  Eirik and Kenzie’s eyes continued to hold for a long, torturous moment before he forced himself to nod once, and let her go. “Do what you must, dragon.”

  He shut his eyes to the sight of Leviathan scooping her up again. To him striding away with the woman who was once Eirik’s mate. With a woman who had belonged to him, heart and soul.

  When he opened his eyes, they were nearly to the forest’s edge. To the darkness beyond and all the wonders that lie there for Leviathan if she was in his arms. The passion he sensed his friend would find with the little emerald eyed Gemini Dragon.

  He looked to the fire as he thought of the flames in her eyes and the passion he knew she was capable of. The way she would spread her legs for the Ancient and bring him into her body. The blazing perfection Leviathan would experience.

  No, he said to himself. Let her go. Do what is best. Protect your kin. Protect what matters most.

  Yet he kept envisioning bliss ravaging her delicate features. Euphoria not meant for anyone but him.

  Stay strong, he thought. You have been strong and have done right to this point. Do not weaken now.

  Yet more and more images flashed in his mind’s eye. Not just of her satiny flesh against his, but of her little dragon tucked by his side. Of her serpentine body molded perfectly to his.

  Where it should be.

  Where it was supposed to be.

  No, he said to himself again, but it was already too late. He could not stop the images.

  His wants, needs, utter loneliness...

  “Stop,” he murmured softly but knew she heard him even as she and Leviathan vanished into the darkened forest. “We have a son.” He hung his head and revealed one of his greatest secrets. “Hel and I have a son.”

  Chapter Nine

  SHE MIGHT HAVE expected Eirik to reveal a thousand different things but never what she heard him say so softly and almost to himself.

  He had a son. With Hel.

  “Put me down,” she murmured to Leviathan. “I have to go back.”

  “Yes,” he agreed, doing as she asked before his eyes met hers in the darkness. “I will give you time alone with him.”

  Though disappointment flashed in his eyes because they didn’t get to see through their entire ruse, she also saw concern for his friend. Eirik meant more to him than getting her into bed, and she found that admirable.

  “Me spending time alone with him might be a good idea.” She stood on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.” She squeezed his hand. “Don’t go far in this place.”

  He nodded and vanished into the night as she headed Eirik’s way, not entirely sure what she was going to say. All she knew was that she had to say something. She had to be there for him. So she sat beside him this time rather than across the fire and murmured, “Tell me more.”

  Eirik said nothing at first until the words started to flow. “As lonely as me in some ways, Hel wanted a son, so I gave her one. It was the least I could do after her friendship...her affection.”

  Though his words sounded clinical, she detected deeply repressed emotions behind them. He cared a great deal for this child. His child.

  “Where is he now?” she said softly, resting her hand on his arm, sexual consequences, be damned. “With Hel I assume?”

  “Yes,” he confirmed, sadness flickering in his eyes as they went to the fire. “Unfortunately, what neither of us foresaw was that he would never be able to leave Helheim.” He paused a moment before he continued. “Because my dragon is so much a part of Helheim and she is its ruler, our offspring was doomed to live in the afterlife from the moment he was born.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, unable to imagine that. But then having a child period was unimaginable. Beyond her grasp. “It must have been hard on him when you and Hel ended your relationship.”

  Because who knew which one of them had actually done that. Yet as her hand rested on him, memories began to flicker through her mind of a beautiful woman with flowing hair. Dressed from head to toe in supple leather, there were an admirable amount of weapons strapped to her.

  “Hel,” she whispered, blinking as the memories of her and Hel’s brief time together ebbed and flowed, just beyond her grasp.

  She had definitely been with the goddess before she ended up back in Winter Harbor. They had spoken at length. And in that short time, likely because she was a goddess, Kenzie had gotten to know her well. Had grown close enough that she trusted her. Listened to her. Yet only bits and pieces came through now.

  “You haven’t been together for a long time,” she murmured, her eyes on his profile, trying to gauge his response. “And even when you were together, it wasn’t love but friendship.”

  “Very good friendship,” he confirmed softly as his eyes finally met hers. “But no, we did not share the sort of love that my kin have found with their mates.”

  Just like before, she was caught in his eyes, drawn in and unable to escape. As the intimate moment stretched, she became all too aware that he wanted to kiss her. Taste her. Feel her in a way he feared Leviathan would have. Almost had.

  That's when she realized she was reading his thoughts.

  They were coming through that clearly.

  “Leviathan and I are only friends,” she murmured before she could stop herself. Her dragon wanted to make sure his dr
agon understood that. His old friend wasn’t a threat so give him half a chance.

  But that wasn’t the only reason she said it, was it? No, she had said it in direct response to Eirik's revelation about him and Hel. The certain knowledge that they had never been in love. Caught off guard by her emotional response, she tried to focus on what was most important right now.

  “What is your son’s name?” she said softly. “And do you get to spend a lot of time with him?”

  It would make sense considering how much time he apparently spent in Helheim. You would think his kin would cut him slack for that too. But his son hadn’t been mentioned when she heard about Håkon and Sven’s aggravation with him for being gone so often. As far as she could tell, Eirik’s son was his family’s best kept secret because she hadn’t heard a thing about him.

  “My son’s name is Dagr,” he replied. “And I do not see him nearly as often as I would like because he’s even more a part of Helheim than I am.”

  “What does that mean exactly?” She couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice. “How often do you actually get to see him?”

  “One full night a year,” he murmured. “On Walpurgisnacht, the dead have full sway upon Midgard, so we are able to spend it together though he is not technically dead.”

  Stunned, she couldn’t find her tongue for a moment as she stared at him. He only got to spend one night a year with his son? How awful. “I’m so sorry, Eirik.” She frowned. “So even though you have easy access to Helheim you still can’t interact with those on this world?”

  “Not to the extent I can with those on Midgard,” he responded. “I have crossed paths with my cousin Dahlia more than my own son. Because Dagr is born of Hel, he is more immersed in Helheim where Davyn’s twin merely passes through for now.”

  “Right,” she whispered, recalling what she had learned from Shea. “Though stillborn, Davyn's twin’s spirit grew alongside him in Helheim and is currently helping out Bjorn and Heidrek in Múspellsheimr.”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “So has your family even seen Dagr?” she said. “This has got to be tough on them too.”

  “They do not know about him,” he said. “Hel swore me to secrecy to keep him safe from those who might wish harm to the Ruler of Helheim’s child. Then as time went on and my family only grew more uncomfortable around me, it seemed it was for the best. It was hard enough on them seeing me less and less never mind having a grandchild or nephew they could never meet.”

  “Damn,” she whispered, eying him with compassion. “So you barely see your family because of your connection to Helheim, and almost never see your son because of his even deeper connection to Helheim.”

  “That is correct,” he confirmed. “The only person I can spend time with is Hel because she is the goddess of it all.”

  She shook her head, suddenly very grateful to Hel. “I’m so glad you had her...have her.”

  And she really was. Sure, she was a little jealous because her dragon couldn’t help itself, but it was tolerable. Normal, she supposed.

  “I don’t think Hel’s what I imagined she would be considering who she is,” she said. “I keep having flashes of the brief time I spent with her. I get the feeling we got along well.” She kept her eyes with his. “I liked her...I think.”

  “She is likable.” His expression was finally a little less stiff, and she knew it was because he had someone to talk to. Share with. “I’m sure you will remember the entirety of your time with her soon. She is closing the distance between us quickly.”

  “Speaking of distance and you and Hel playing whatever games you are right now,” she said. “I need to know what you two are up to. What’s this prophecy she’s warning me about?”

  His eyes lingered on hers as the silence stretched. Whatever he was keeping from her bothered him greatly.

  “What is it, Eirik,” she prompted, genuinely concerned but at the same time desperate to know. “I would rather you tell me so we can establish some trust between us instead of me eventually learning the truth via your thoughts.” She gave him a look. “Because we both know it’s only a matter of time before that happens.”

  His eyes held hers for another too-long moment before he finally spoke. “Several years back Hel began speaking of a prophecy within a prophecy. One with profound consequences.” He seemed to struggle with how to phrase things before his eyes returned to the flames and he continued. “She foresaw our son being taken. Stolen and brought to the land of dragons...to Múspellsheimr where he would suffer certain death.”

  “That’s awful,” she murmured, thinking it over. “So I take it she feels one prophecy is related to the other because we’re in a war with those on Múspellsheimr.”

  He nodded. “It is a logical conclusion.”

  “It is,” she agreed, contemplating him and the prophecy. “With all due respect when it comes to your son, I’m curious...how exactly does this prophecy put me in danger? What about it made Hel take me first before you snatched me back?”

  Though his eyes remained on the fire, she sensed his emotions rising to the surface. A great need to protect his son. Untouchable love when it came to his child.

  “Eirik?” she prompted again as his jaw tensed then his eyes slowly returned to hers. Hardened eyes he had long perfected by the looks of it.

  “The prophecy foretold that my son would be taken and the only way to get him back alive is to turn over the woman I love, my fated mate.” He unsheathed a dagger and held it on his lap in clear warning. “Hel was trying to keep you safe from me, Kenzie.” His eyes hardened even more as though he were trying to put more distance between them. Quite a bit, in the end, considering his next words. “She was trying to keep you safe because I intend to ransom you to save my son.”

  Chapter Ten

  ALMOST AS SOON as Eirik laid the threat, Leviathan reappeared with his weapons drawn moments before Rokar appeared as well. Naturally, the Ancient closed the distance, ready to come at him only to be stopped when Kenzie held up a hand and shook her head.

  “No, stop Leviathan.” Her eyes returned to Eirik’s. Surprisingly calm eyes considering what he had just told her. In fact, her words surprised him even more. Shocked him for that matter. “So you’ve taken me hostage to get your son back.” Her chin jutted out as her stubborn nature surfaced. “I’d probably do the same if I were you.” She nodded. “Of course, I’ll turn myself over to get Dagr back.” She rested a comforting hand on his arm again. “He’s going to be okay, Eirik. We’ll get him back.”

  Though their dragons were certainly drawn to each other, he was fairly certain his human half fell in love with her right then and there. How could he not? She was remarkably noble and selfless, willing to sacrifice herself to pure hell to save his son. A child she had never even met and shared no connection with.

  “And that surprises you?” Leviathan growled into his mind. “You see how she is with animals because she considers them innocent. Then you know what she did for me, and I tend to intimidate other dragons. Yet she thought nothing of saving me and risking her own life. Because I’m almost certain she would have let herself drown alongside me if she could not free me. I think she would do that for any creature in need.”

  He was right. She would. And while he hated taking advantage of it, he had no choice.

  “I accept your offer, Kenzie,” he said softly. “Thank you.”

  “Thor’s balls you do not accept her offer!” Leviathan growled aloud as he stepped closer but stopped again when Kenzie shook her head.

  Clearly determined to calm things down, she spoke firmly.

  “Thanks for defending me but please sit, Leviathan so we can figure things out.” Her eyes went to Rokar. “Hi there. Seems we’re meeting at a bad time. I’m Kenzie.”

  “Rokar,” his cousin grunted in greeting as he kept his eyes averted and set to removing meat from the spit.

  Kenzie eyed him for a moment, perhaps expecting more but that was all she was going to get. Rok
ar hadn’t been one for conversation for a long time. Not since he lost his wife and son several years back.

  Eirik nodded at Rokar in greeting, wondering how he was here because he should not be. It was impossible. So he asked him about it. “How are you here, Cousin?”

  “I came here from your lair,” Rokar replied as he set aside the meat to cool. “I went there looking for you but ended up here.”

  His lair? “That is not possible. Only I can get here from my lair.” He shook his head. “And people should not be able to enter this world without me bringing them.”

  Rokar offered a noncommittal grunt. “That is how I got here, Cousin. I do not know what else to tell you.”

  “What does that mean?” Kenzie asked, her concerned eyes on Eirik. “Because it sounds like a gateway just formed between Earth...I mean Midgard and Helheim that you have no control over.”

  “Maybe,” he murmured, eying Rokar. “Were you with anyone? I cannot imagine Sven sending you to the lair alone right now.”

  “I was with Håkon and Sage.” Discomfort flickered in his eyes. “Since we caught wind of your intentions, Sven has ordered small groups to find you...and to save Kenzie.”

  “So Hel has told everyone,” Eirik confirmed.

  “Yes.” Rokar began slicing meat, his voice deepening with emotion. The same emotion he imagined all of his kin were feeling right now. “Hel has told us about Dagr and wants you to know that she is keeping him safely by her side.”

  “Say what?” Kenzie frowned as her eyes shot to Eirik’s. “I thought Dagr was in Múspellsheimr?”

  “He will be,” he replied. “It is only a matter of time.”

  “Ah,” she said softly. “So you’re making sure you’re prepared when the time comes.”

  “Yes,” he said, overly aware that her hand still rested on his forearm in comfort.

  “Well, I’m glad to hear it.” She nodded once as though she would have done the same thing. “Not just that Dagr’s still safe but that we’re in position when, and if, the time comes.”