Chapter Twenty-Four
Sven
Sven stood behind Bryn with his hands on either side of her head. She held her hands out in front of her, palms up. “Close your eyes,” he told her. “Focus on your hands.”
“You’re touching me,” she complained. “How am I supposed to focus on anything when I just want to rip your clothes off and make love to you?”
He caressed her ear with his fingers. “We’ll get to that, but first you have to make sparks.”
Her eyes squinted and her nose wrinkled as he watched. She was trying but they were getting nowhere. Frustration poked at him. While the danger was present at the castle, he needed her safe. She needed to learn her powers and thus far, they didn’t even know what those were.
Bryn stomped her foot. “I can’t do this.”
He thought back to the day that she pushed him. She had been angry when she sent him flying. He leaned down and whispered to her. “You can do this and you have to. Failure is not an option.”
She sucked in a breath. “You make it sound so easy.”
“No, I don’t necessarily want to become a trophy for the Skelvarn scum. But if you’re okay with them shooting me full of arrows,” he taunted, “then we can just call it a day.” He dropped his hands. “You’re right. You may never figure it out and it’s not like we can just go ask someone.”
Her eyes widened. “Do you really think I want to see you killed?”
He threw his hands up. “What am I supposed to think? You can’t figure it out. I have no idea what you can even do. We can’t even get the damned sparks to come from your hands again. We’re just wasting our time.”
He could see her temper rising. Her cheeks flushed with anger as she advanced toward him. “Do you think I enjoy this? If I knew how to make the sparks, Mr. Perfect, I’d damned sure do it.”
“You’re right.” He felt horrible goading her the way he was, but he needed to see if he could get a reaction.
“You don’t enjoy it, I don’t enjoy it, we’re wasting our time.
When the time comes to fight, you just make sure you hide in a corner.
” He turned his back to her. “But if you don’t mind, can you at least heal me when I’m hit?
You seem to do that without having to figure it out. ”
She made a guttural noise as she stormed over to the punching bag. “If you think,” she pushed on the bag, “that I’m going to sit in a corner,” she slapped the bag, “while you fight the battles, you got another thing coming.”
She reared back and punched the bag with her bare fist. Sparks flew and the entire bag flew from its perch and hit the wall. Her hands glowed and little fissures of lightning arched between her fingers. The look of shock on her face made him laugh.
“That certainly worked.”
Bryn looked from her hands to the bag on the floor. “What the hell? I didn’t mean to break it.”
He walked over and kissed her gently. “Strong emotion is the ticket to your gifts. When you’re angry, you can call up the sparks or the energy, whatever you want to call it.
When you’re healing me, it’s a strong emotion whether it’s concern or love.
That one just comes naturally to you so I suspect it’s your main gift.
You just need to learn how to manipulate your emotions when you need the power of the sparks. ”
“Power of the sparks.” She grinned and his heart did a flip flop. “I like that.” She held her hands up above her head with her fists clenched. “Behold, I have the power of the sparks!” When nothing happened and no sparks appeared, she giggled. “Well, I’ll work on it.”
He kissed her again. “You’re a crazy woman and I am so happy that you’re all mine.” When the kiss deepened, he pushed her away. “Before we get too far into that, go take a shower. We need to stop and see my mom before any extracurricular activity.”
She pooched out her bottom lip. “Whatever. All work and no play makes Sven a very bad boy.”
“I think it’s dull boy, and we’ll work on the bad boy part later in the privacy of our own quarters.” He kissed her nose. “We’ve made good progress today, even if it was just figuring out that I needed to piss you off.”
She sauntered toward the locker room and exaggerated the sway of her ass.
Sven fought the urge to chase her down and spank her until she cried for more.
But they really did need to see Freya, even though the thought made his palms sweat.
They were going to try and set a date for the wedding, and he had no idea how Bryn would react to it.
He hadn’t even asked her properly yet, but his mother was pushing to get started.
Royal weddings couldn’t be done with a day’s notice according to her.
Lars burst into the gym and Sven knew from the stony expression that something had happened. “What?”
“You need to come with me. I think we may have caught our mole. The guards are holding him in the surveillance room.”
“The surveillance room? What was he doing in there?”
“No idea. I came to find you first when I was notified. Apparently our good guards noticed someone checking out the cameras who wasn’t supposed to be there.”
Sven hollered at Bryn before they headed off. Anger at his home being invaded amplified with each step.
“There’s a possibility that this is all about nothing. It could just be a case of mistaken identity,” Lars muttered.
Sven knew Lars’ words were to prevent high hopes being dashed, but his jaw clenched.
They had known in their guts that something was off for weeks.
“It could also be our enemy.” Just the fact that someone was caught in the surveillance room, a place very few even knew about, suggested that whoever they had detained had knowledge only an insider would possess. “Someone like Magnus.”
Lars glanced at him. “You truly think he would risk it? Enter the castle himself?”
Sven’s lips pressed to a hard line. “If there’s anyone arrogant enough to believe he could walk among my people unseen, it is Magnus.”
They turned down the west passage that led toward the armory.
The surveillance room was just up the hall and normally empty.
The only time it was manned was if Lars or someone appointed by him, needed to watch security footage from the many cameras around the castle grounds.
This section of the castle was remote and no one would just happen upon the doors.
Sven opened the door and two guards turned to him and bowed. “Sire. We haven’t allowed him to touch anything.”
But his attention was on the man seated at the small desk, who looked up at him and smiled.
Magnus.
Time fell away in an instant. Sven saw the boy who had once raced him through the hallways and helped him steal cookies from the kitchen.
Back when laughter and mischief were the most important parts of life.
But now, that boy was long gone. The man who slowly rose from the chair before him wore the sharp grin of someone who knew too much.
“Well look who it is,” Magnus drawled, his posture relaxed and comfortable as if he visited an old friend. “Bet you didn’t expect to see me here.”
Sven kept his voice low. “You dare set foot in my castle?”
Magnus chuckled. “Your castle, yes. Once upon a time, it was my home too. Don’t act surprised. Who else could slip past your guards so easily? I grew up within these walls, Sven. Every tunnel, every passageway. I know them as well as you do. Better, perhaps. You always did prefer the open skies.”
Lars stepped forward, fury in his eyes, but Sven held out a hand to still him. His own blood burned with anger, and Magnus’s arrogance did nothing to turn down the heat.
“What are you doing here?” Sven asked in a voice as cold as iron. “Why did you let us catch you?”
“That wasn’t exactly my plan.” Magnus spread his arms. “That was a mistake on my part. I guess I’ve spent so much time here that I got a little too comfortable. And, of course, you doubled your guards and one of them happened to be paying attention for once.”
Sven’s dragon stirred inside him and urged him to end this game. “What are you doing in here?” He gestured around the room.
“Sven.”
He turned to Lars, who pointed at a monitor. The gym. He watched Bryn leave the locker room. “What do you want with her?” His words were ice cold and sharp as a knife as he moved closer to his enemy. The desire to grab him by the throat almost overwhelmed him.
Magnus tilted his head and his smirk faltered for the briefest moment. “She will be magnificent once her powers are explored.”
Before Sven could move, Lars lashed out and punched Magnus in the jaw. The man flew into the desk and crashed to the floor.
“You will not speak of our future queen like that.”
Sven pushed his guard to the side and stood over Magnus. “How is Alitta involved in all this? Why did she call Bryn out to the deep?”
Magnus shrugged. “All in due time.”
“Where is Erik?” Lars demanded. “Why do you have him?”
Magnus picked himself up off the floor and attempted to resume his nonchalant attitude. “Gentlemen, so many questions.”
This time Sven’s fist caught him in the face. Magnus stumbled backwards and caught himself. He swung his arm, but Sven easily blocked it and punched him again.
“Try answering the damned questions.”
Instead of answering, Magnus backed away and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a vial but Lars tackled him before he could open it. They crashed to the floor and the vial went spinning across the floor.
Lars rose. “Pretty sad you resorted to the oldest trick in the book. You’re not killing yourself today.” He moved to the vial and picked it up. He held it up to Sven. “I’ll have Martin analyze this. Maybe it can give us more answers than this asshole.”
Magnus cussed at them. “This changes nothing. You can’t stop the wheels that are already turning.”
Sven yanked him up off the floor. “If anything happens to Bryn, the dungeon is going to be the absolute least of your worries. I’ll inject you with your own toxins myself..”
“No dungeon can hold me.”
“We’ll see about that. Take him,” Sven ordered.
Lars and two guards moved swiftly. Magnus resisted, but his bravado quickly failed him when shackles closed around his wrists. His eyes locked with Sven’s, still defiant, but there was a flicker of fear beneath.
“You’ll regret this,” Magnus hissed.
Sven stepped close enough that only Magnus could hear. “No. You will regret ever threatening my mate.”
Magnus was dragged away. “This isn’t over.” His words echoed down the long corridor.
Where are you?
Sven looked behind him, expecting to see Bryn. It took him a moment before he realized that her voice was in his head.
You figured out how to initiate telepathy.
I focused on how much I love you and poof. Strong emotion and it worked.
Meet me at my mother’s room.
Lars eyed him with questions on his face. “Private conversation?”
“Bryn is learning. It’s a good thing.”
“You know Magnus was right, don’t you?”
“About more trouble? Yeah. This isn’t over. We have to assume that he means Alitta will take the helm in his absence. Make sure they lock him away properly under extra guard. I sure as hell don’t want him proving us wrong if she tries to rescue him.”
Bryn waited for him when he arrived at his mother’s quarters. He kissed her, but she pulled back.
“What did I feel?”Her hand touched her chest. “I thought I imagined it, but you were angry earlier. I felt it. Like a storm pressing against my mind.”
“You did not imagine it,” Sven said. His voice softened. “You’re coming into your own.”
Her eyes searched his. “What happened?”
He cupped her cheek and his thumb brushed lightly across her lip. “We caught one of the threats.” He told her about Magnus. “Whatever happens now, we face it together. Always together. Especially now that you seem to be their primary target.”
“Alitta is the threat now.”
He nodded. “But first, we talk to my mother.” He paused before he knocked. “Bryn, please keep an open mind. I know everything between us has been very unconventional, but we’re trying to get back on track the way things should be.”
She frowned but nodded. “As long as you’re not sending me away, I’m good.”
As it turned out, his worry was for nothing. Within an hour, they had the wedding date set in two weeks, and Freya had made an appointment with a seamstress for a wedding gown. They all agreed that the official ceremony should be before any pregnancy was known.
“Can I invite my sister?”
“Of course, sweetheart. She can stay right here in the castle. Invite anyone else from your family.”
“No, just my sister. My parents would not fit in here.”
Sven agreed. After the way Bryn had been treated her whole life, he couldn’t help but wonder how her mother would feel surrounded by dragons.
It might be more than the woman could handle, and she had already punished Bryn enough throughout her lifetime.
He also made a mental note to check with Martin.
He would bet that the doctor had already done a pregnancy test with the blood he drew from Bryn.
They left Freya in a tizzy of wedding preparations. Bryn laughed as they went back to their room. “I think I’m very happy that she is willing to take on the bulk of a royal wedding.”
“This is Stagholt,” he laughed. “Not England. We’re nowhere near as formal or as big as that royal family.”
“Still, it’s nice that your mom is so involved.”
He ran a finger across her cheek. “I never would have thought that a woman who shut herself away from the world for so long is suddenly so very much alive. Same with Grandma. I honestly thought she was nearing the end and suddenly she’s very much alive again. And it’s all thanks to you.”
She kissed his finger. “My pleasure.”
“Speaking of pleasure.”
Sven bent his head, his lips brushing hers with the tenderness he reserved only for her.
The world narrowed to the warmth of her body against his, the scent of her hair, the spark of her gift humming between them. Everything was forgotten and danger was momentarily distant. He picked her up and carried her inside their room. He set her down long enough to secure the door.
Clothes were shed in a trail behind them and he lifted her onto the bed. For now, there were no enemies, no kingdoms at stake. All that mattered was the bond between them, fierce and unbreakable.
He laid her on the bed and took in her naked beauty.
He leaned over and kissed her with love and passion before he moved to her neck.
He ran his tongue down her chest and around her breasts before moving across her stomach and down to her hips.
He found her tender spot between her legs and let the sounds of her pleasure take over his senses.
When he felt her climax, he moved up and entered her with a single thrust. Their bodies moved as one and he lost himself in the sensations they created together.
Sven’s last thought before surrendering to her completely was simple and certain.
She was his future.
The world faded into darkness as love consumed them both.