Chapter Five
–Katana–
IWASN’T SURE what surprised me more. That Torsten had not sought me out after dreaming of me on purpose, or that Marjorie had confirmed Torsten and I were tethered to the bad guy.
If that weren’t enough, now Taro was here with Frey, sharing a mutual interest in each other I sensed would escalate just as quickly as what Torsten and I shared.
While I was happy to have my friend here, I worried about him.
Not only because he could very well be subjected to the darkness we were trying to evade, but also because the flip side of Torsten could be just as problematic.
Proven by the bristling I felt coming off him as we headed back in the other direction.
According to Frey, despite seeing nothing but an endless path in front of us, this was the only way out.
Which was right because when we made it back to the root we saw when we first arrived, the air wavered in front of us, revealing an exit not too far away.
“How is that possible?” I exclaimed, frowning at Torsten. “You would have thought one of our dragons would have sensed it there.”
“You would have thought.” He met my frown and shook his head, looking at Frey. “And you say you came from that direction?”
“We did,” Frey confirmed, looking from us to the opening ahead with curiosity. “Yet you didn’t see it there until now? Truly?”
“No, ‘twas all the same in both directions.”
“Interesting,” Frey murmured. “And mayhap helpful, ja?”
“Why’s that?” Taro asked, having remained quieter than usual since we got here, undoubtedly assessing these two, trying to anticipate their next move and if we could ultimately trust them.
“There are only so many places that could create such an illusion for some people and not others, tricking both their human and dragon halves.” Frey gestured between her and Torsten. “And our godly halves.”
“And those are?” I prompted, getting an odd feeling I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
“The Forest of Memories and the Keep,” Torsten replied, standing closer to me than necessary. I suspected it had everything to do with Taro and the jealousy this version of Torsten tried to keep at bay, whereas I knew his darker half would be far more forthright about it.
The last thing I ever would have expected when I finally met the man from my dreams was that I would be protecting one of his personalities from the other.
That I would find myself being a middleman, or woman in this case, between two distinct sides.
Yet I was, and would continue to do so, because I was equally drawn to both.
That had been clear enough when he protected me earlier.
He had been noble and gallant, putting himself in the line of fire even though I knew he wanted to throw caution to the wind, as his darker half would, and pull me into his arms, kissing me with a loving passion I wasn’t sure his other side would be capable of.
And hell, if I hadn’t wanted him to do it.
Prayed he would.
Yet in the end, he’d shown self-restraint. A strength of character and honor that lent me some semblance of much-needed comfort, though I worried about the drain using his godly magic put on him, and intended to address it eventually.
“This clearly isn’t the Keep,” Frey said, pulling me back to the present conversation, her eyebrows bunched in confusion. “Nor is it the Forest of Memories.”
Thanks to my ever-growing connection with Torsten’s dragon, I knew the Forest of Memories captured traumatic events or memories and replayed them, and that for some it could be a rough place to experience.
“It doesn’t appear to be either location,” Torsten agreed as we stepped out of the tunnel onto a grassy knoll beside a small pond, surrounded by thick woodland.
Like my gaze, his eyes locked on the lovely tree by the water's edge with its weeping branches and purple blooms. A tree that most certainly didn't belong in medieval Norway.
“Or is it, in some way we have yet to discern, the Keep or Forest of Memories?” Torsten went on. “As that tree is not native to our area.”
“It’s a purple cherry blossom tree from my homeland,” I said softly, drifting toward it. “How is that here?”
“’Tis not.” Torsten unsheathed his blade and stayed by my side, protective, shooting Taro an unsettled look when my friend pulled a blade, too, and did the same. “Yet ‘tis familiar to me as well.”
“How so?” I wondered absently, marveling at the delicate tree. Once I was close enough, I caressed some of its lower-hanging branches, sparking memories from when I was very young.
“I could not say,” Torsten replied, his voice growing rough, perhaps with emotion, as he touched the flowers as well and looked at me. “Other than ‘tis as familiar to me as you are, as though...”
“We were here in a dream,” I said, my voice catching as I gazed into his golden eyes. “You were younger, though... yet just as conflicted.”
“Because my darker side wanted to steal the moment from me.” Torsten clenched his jaw in frustration. “As he always did, but I never allowed it.” He shook his head. “Not if ‘twas the last thing I did.”
Even as he talked about it, I hoped he didn’t sense the truth. At least not yet, because the fact of the matter was, despite his best efforts, he had failed.
I had dreamed of his darker half just as much.
Both had come to me.
Little did I realize at the time they were two separate personalities. Yet the longer I was around him, the more vivid those memories became and the more apparent his personality shifts were.
Personalities I had been equally drawn to, yet for different reasons.
“So, this has to be the Forest of Memories?” I assumed. “Yet it doesn’t seem all that sinister.”
“’Twould seem the only logical place it could be.” Frey ducked beneath the tree and admired it. “Though I agree, ‘tis the opposite of sinister.” She glanced Taro’s way. “This is from your homeland too, ja?”
“One of my homelands, yes.” Uneasy, he joined her beneath it. “Is it wise for you to stand under this until we understand why it’s here?”
I bit back a small smile. He didn’t seem all that concerned about me being near it, yet Frey was another story. She was well aware of it, too, judging by the way she coyly looked at him, making it clear she could protect herself, but if he insisted on trying to protect her, who was she to stop him?
“The Forest of Memories is not known for replaying dreams, even if they could be considered memories.” Torsten looked around the area.
“Yet this does feel like a memory.” He looked at me.
“Of you, in this place, albeit younger.” He shook his head.
“Yet when I first met you in the twenty-first century, I had never seen you in your entirety, as far as I can remember.”
“Same here.” I took in our surroundings with a whimsical smile.
“This place looks like the only memory I have of Japan from when I was little. My parents took me there, and I loved it.” Still fingering one of the low-hanging branches, I inhaled its subtle, sweet, fresh scent and blinked back tears.
“My father held me up so I could touch it.”
“And I tried to do the same thing,” Torsten murmured, our mutual dream returning to us at the same time.
A small smile curled his lips as he wiped a tear from my cheek, his touch gentler than his darker half.
There was a tenderness to the gesture that appealed to me on a different level than his rougher, more dominant handling of me.
“I wasn’t nearly strong enough to lift you at that age, though,” Torsten went on, “and we toppled over.”
I couldn’t help but return his smile, grateful for the levity.
For his gentleness and the laughter he provided me then, as he had been plenty strong enough.
I just squirmed too much. Yet the dream brought me much-needed laughter during a difficult time in my life, after I had lost my parents, and he knew that.
“What now, brother?” Frey wondered, looking at Torsten. “I have tried to make contact with our kin, but there’s no response. You?”
Torsten shook his head. “Nothing. Nor can I feel their presence in my mind.”
“Stranger and stranger still.” Frey gazed around. “Something that would not happen in the Forest of Memories, nor would this lingering peaceful scene, ja?”
“Not to the best of my knowledge,” Torsten agreed. “Unless there’s a sinister or traumatic event attached to it.” His gaze returned to me. “Mayhap because you related it to the loss of your parents?”
“I do, but I wouldn’t necessarily relate this location to that,” I said. “If anything, this place created a good memory with you and...”
I trailed off as flashes of the dream continued to come and go.
Torsten and I toppling over in the warm, sunlit grass.
Laughing together when I had too often cried in those days.
The way my laughter had trickled away when our eyes met, as we lay on our backs beside each other with purple flowers dancing around us in the wind.
Though we were only teenagers, we understood the moment.
We felt the emotions as only those discovering young love for the first time could.
“Felt it even after the dream faded away,” Torsten said softly, catching thoughts that were becoming impossible to keep from him. His voice thickened with emotion, and his gaze, rightfully troubled, lingered on my face. “But it didn’t fade for you, did it, Katana?”
“No,” I confessed just as softly, knowing it was pointless to lie. “The dream continued for me and for your darker side, who seemed desperate to steal the moment. To make it his.”
My cheeks warmed, and my heart rate kicked up a notch at the memory of him propping himself up on one elbow, forward in a way his kinder half would never dare, when he cupped my cheek and gave me my first kiss.
I still felt his warmth on my lips when I stirred awake.
Still felt his touch on my cheek even though it was only a dream.