Chapter 20 First #2
“Well, I still love drakainas. One drakaina, in particular.” Bjorn chuckles as his strong hands grip my waist. “But I think… I’m not as vehemently opposed to touching another drake now, when we’re all together.
Not Strom or Mikkel. Strom is too familiar to me, and Mikkel just pisses me off. But Baldur…”
“He’s special, isn’t he?” I understand what Bjorn’s saying.
“Our magics resonate. I can’t really explain it.
” Bjorn frowns, then tries again. “When we’re around each other, our inner dragons rush and roar through each other, far more than with any of your other drakes.
It’s almost like what my dragon does with yours, Rikyava.
Not quite, but almost. And though a part of me is still territorial over you, even around him…
I’m realizing it’s only because I thought I’d be left out in the cold, if you wanted to be with another one of your drakes, rather than me.
But Baldur’s presence in our group makes me feel…
loved, important. I know you love me, and Strom will always be like a brother to me, even though we fight.
Perhaps Mikkel and I will never get along beyond what we do for you.
Baldur heals others, though. And something about him… is healing for me.”
I nod soberly now as Bjorn bares his heart. Because it’s far more depth than I think I’ve ever gotten out of him; I always knew this kind of emotional depth was in him, but it’s like it’s able to surface now, thanks to our bond.
Our bond with Baldur has been additionally good for that. But as Bjorn thinks about it, he frowns now.
His golden gaze flashing as it pins me.
“We need to get Baldur some help. Quickly.” Bjorn growls now as he sits with me in the water. “With his unresolved issues about his magical addiction, he won’t be able to work on this Soulstone thing without addressing it. He needs decades of therapy in days, Rikyava.”
“He’ll fight for this, I know it,” I tell Bjorn with certainty, even though something darkens inside me now, knowing my First Drake is right. “Baldur has spent his entire life waiting for this—to be here, with me and with us. He’ll dive into his darkness and take a good look at it. I know he will.”
“Maybe if we both try to get through to him,” Bjorn sighs harshly now.
“Maybe these rings will help us.” I smooth back one of Bjorn’s long, wet braids, nodding at the other three rings by the side of the pool. “These silver rings have some ability to bond us all closer than we’ve ever been. King ?rn Magnussen was certain of it.”
“King ?rn Magnussen?” Bjorn blinks now, his golden gaze sharpening on me, hard. “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a god’s age. He was a legend in our clan. Details of his ancient past were lost, but his name lives on, in infamy.”
“With good reason.” I nod.
Briefly, I launch into everything that ancient King and First Bloodmate of Aesa’s told me, in the silver mirrors. Bjorn listens as I explain it all; the history between Hedda, Aesa, and her drakes, plus the War and how the silver and black rings figure into it all.
Bjorn stews more as I talk. His energy is churning as I finish, flickers of red-gold Bloodwind surging around us in the hot pool, before I fall to silence.
Bjorn pauses, frowning hard, before he speaks.
“If King ?rn Magnussen is right, then we don’t have a lot of time to linger here.
” I feel Bjorn’s commander’s mind working a thousand miles a minute now, thinking through what we need to do to be ready for this fight.
“We’re all back to full power now that Baldur’s curses are gone.
If there’s a secret location here where Hedda created her Usurper, then we need to find it and figure out if it could help us.
Especially if the dragon-wights of the Five might be called back here, to re-imbue themselves into the Black Dragon, should Aesa’s protection around this city fail.
We could find ourselves in a serious shitstorm. Promptly.”
“Plus, we still need to investigate this etheric fire we’re all making now, whenever we experience intense emotions,” I add, thinking it through with him.
“Because it’s helped us a few times, to get out of sticky situations.
It was because of that fire that I was led to the mirrors to even find the silver rings at all.
The way it burnished the runes on the walls…
and led me right to King ?rn Magnussen.”
“It can banish the Black Dragon’s curses.
” Bjorn eyeballs me now, alert. “That’s no small feat, Rikyava.
I agree with you. We need to find out what our auric fire can really do.
Because it’s clear that Aesa and King ?rn Magnussen set up their hiding spot for the silver rings and all this knowledge, so you wouldn’t find it until you could make that fire—until we all could.
Now, we apparently are strong enough to merit the gifts they gave you.
Which means we’ve come a lot further than we thought, in our ability to potentially take on the Black Dragon. ”
“Not as far as we need to be,” I say darkly now, and Bjorn nods his agreement.
We fall silent then. With a deep inhalation, Bjorn suddenly stands, heaving up out of the hot pool and offering me his hand. I take it and he hauls me out. As we brisk off, then dress, him in his all-black leathers and me in my quilted crimson robe, he lifts his chin.
“Strom and Baldur are back.” Bjorn feels their presence nearby, even before I do. “We should talk to them and get Mikkel. Decide what to do.”
“And give them their rings,” I say as I scoop them up into my palm. As I gaze at them, I see them sear with a small blaze of our etheric fire before it subsides.
“To bond us better, as one,” Bjorn says as he watches it, too. “Now that we can all finally get along.”
I nod, heaving a deep breath as I ready myself.
Then turn with Bjorn, heading out to whatever comes next.