Chapter Twelve #2
Her astute gaze homed in on me before she continued.
“A connection you're taking advantage of, determined to use Katana as bait, thinking you’re powerful enough to defeat him before he harms her and somehow gets the crown.” She arched her eyebrows.
“Something I imagine will happen sooner rather than later now she’s in heat and possibly carries your offspring, giving him a great deal of power over you both.
” She cocked her head when she must have sensed how much that alarmed me in a fashion I hadn’t expected.
“Or did you not think of that when you seduced her, obsessed with only your own wants and desires?”
I wanted to counter that what my mate and I did was none of her concern, nor were our offspring, but I couldn’t seem to put it into words.
Truth be told, I had thought everyone’s concern cowardly, not seeing the vulnerability in it until now.
Not seeing the weakness and vulnerability, as I typically would.
Granted, my mate was in heat, and I was determined to claim her properly before my other half could, but I now clearly saw the foolishness in my actions.
Actions I would have seen before, which made me wonder just how much the darkness might be influencing my behavior. How attached to each other we actually were, which would mean he would be equally connected to my son or daughter.
“You’re not entirely at fault in this, Torsten,” Katana said softly, resting her hand over mine. “I could have said no, and I know you would have listened, but I didn’t.”
When I looked her way and gazed into her teary eyes, I tried again to speak to keep things in perspective, or better still, keep control of the conversation, but I realized they had effectively backed me into an emotional corner that my weaker half swiftly took advantage of.
I shook my head, trying to stop it, but it was too late.
My weaker side screamed past me, and I blinked, horrified by what had happened.
Cursing, I entwined my fingers with Katana’s and squeezed her hand.
“I cannot tell you how sorry I am, my mate.” I shook my head, furious at my darker side, wiping a tear from her soft cheek.
“He had no right, and ‘twas not your fault in the least. He took advantage of the situation, especially knowing you are in heat.”
“It’s okay,” she said softly, relief in her eyes at seeing me again.
“He didn’t hurt me, Torsten, so let’s just move on.
Please.” She swallowed hard and straightened her shoulders in a way that meant she wasn’t about to let this stop her from accomplishing her goals.
“And for now, be grateful you managed to overcome your other half when he’d seemed so convinced you would not resurface until we knew if I was pregnant. ”
“Why is that?” Ragnar wondered, nodding hello to me along with the others, glad to see this side of me again, too. “Should we assume Katana did not conceive, then?”
“No, that's not it,” Marjorie said, seeming to understand something we didn’t, and perhaps even Katana, given the softening in her eyes.
“I would say it had more to do with Torsten’s darker side being affected by the love he refuses to feel, not just for Katana but for his unborn child.
Of being accountable for his actions when he typically does no such thing.
” She met my eyes. “If you were aware of that and desperate to sidle past him, that would be the weakness, as he calls it, you would need, no matter what.”
“Because love conquers all,” áma echoed. “When it comes to dragons and their offspring, whether those children have been conceived yet or not.”
“’Tis good news,” I replied, offering her a warm smile and nod of reassurance that I was finally glad to see her here among kin, not forced to live all alone.
“’Tis,” Blaze agreed, not seeming as pleased as he might have been when he looked at Marjorie, having clearly been speaking with her telepathically. “Tell them what else you just saw.”
“Things that are relevant to the prophecy,” she revealed, looking at me first. “Your other half was wearing the silver crown sparking with darkness until this side of you resurfaced, and when you came back it suddenly vanished.” She looked at Drakkar.
“When that happened, the phantom axe strapped to your back became less ethereal.”
“Which tells us that ‘tis becoming more likely I will not inherit the throne nor will Skarde succeed in getting my crown,” I assumed, wondering at their troubled expressions. “Is that not good?”
“It would be if Marjorie didn’t feel such uncertainty attached to Drakkar,” Blaze said bluntly, looking at him with reassurance despite his words, because we knew without a doubt he would stand by us always. “We cannot say what that is, only that ‘tis something to do with your fated mate.”
“I don't know how to respond to that,” Drakkar replied, growing overly serious as he sometimes could. “Other than to say my loyalty is to you above all others, my Liege.” He nodded once at Marjorie. “And to you, Marjorie.”
“And we don’t doubt that,” she returned without hesitation, yet I felt the unease in her, as we all likely did, before she looked at Katana and surprised us. “I fear, at the moment, the bigger concern might lie in Azura.”
Katana frowned and tensed. “Why?”
“Because I sensed her near Drakkar’s axe.” She shook her head. “I can’t explain how, only that her inner beast was in a frenzy about something. To the point that it would risk everything to accomplish its goals.”
“Which would be?” Katana wondered.
“I have no idea.” Marjorie frowned, clearly troubled. “All I know is it bears watching.”
“Yet she’s over a thousand years in our future, is she not?
” Ragnar said, seeming more interested in this than Drakkar, who almost appeared put off by the topic, as if he wanted nothing to do with a fated mate, which might be true, given he made it clear he wanted to remain unattached so he could enjoy many women.
Or so he always claimed, despite us rarely seeing any women around him.
“Azura is still in the future,” Marjorie confirmed, her curious gaze flickering between Ragnar and Drakkar, as if she saw something we couldn’t, before looking at Katana and me again. “Where she may or may not stay, depending on how things are handled now.”
“And how do you think things should be handled?” I asked, not so sure I liked the look on hers and Blaze’s face. It was almost as if they were going to ask something of me I wasn’t going to like.
“There’s only one way to handle it,” Katana said gently, already knowing the answer as she squeezed my hand, urging me to look her way so she could recommend the last thing I wanted to hear.
Something I refused to let happen.