Chapter Fifteen
–Katana–
ICOULDN’T SAY precisely what happened as I navigated Drakkar’s storm and darkness alongside Torsten, flying for the first time in years, except for one moment I felt strong and confident, and the next, consumed by such need, I had no choice but to veer off.
No choice but to go to Skarde when he called out to me.
“I am waiting for you,” he murmured softly into my mind, the sound of his voice so alluring my dragon grew desperate. “I have always been waiting for you, my mate.”
He had, hadn’t he? We had known each other for years. Felt one another in dreams. Or had we? Somehow, that didn’t seem quite right, yet he pulled me to him regardless, calling out to me as only a fated mate could, drawing me to him as only my other half could.
So imagine my surprise and subsequent rage when Drakkar decided to come between my mate and me. When he came between me and the only man I had ever loved.
“Stop,” I roared. “Let me go!”
I tried to break free of him in a state of fury, but his powers were too strong, and his dragon forced me downward in the opposite direction until he stopped abruptly, catapulting me forward.
If that wasn’t bad enough, I was abruptly shifted back against my will, only to be scooped up in Torsten’s talon.
“No,” I roared, struggling to break free of it, but his gentle grip tightened, making it impossible to move. A blink later, I found myself lying on my back in a cave, pinned down by his great beast in such an aggressive manner that I went perfectly still, realizing what had happened.
Torsten’s darker side had surfaced.
When he lowered his great head, coming so close I dared not breathe, I knew his anger was at a boiling point, and I had never been in a more vulnerable position.
“If you ever do that again, I will chain you in the Keep’s dungeons and never let you out,” he growled into my mind. “For you have shown me that you are incapable of caring for what is most precious to our future and that of our Realm.”
That’s when it hit me, and I blinked back tears, feeling a stirring in my womb his dragon picked up on even faster than I, given I’d been forced back to my human side. Swallowing hard, I also realized why he was able to surface again.
I had conceived our child with this side of him.
“Do you understand, mate?” he rumbled, his pupils flaring in a way that told me I had best answer correctly.
“I understand,” I replied without hesitation, not only because I meant it but because I sensed áma and Drakkar were about to use magic that could harm him, and I wouldn’t allow it.
Yet I wasn’t a coward either, even dealing with Torsten’s darker side.
“But then, as I’m sure you know, I didn’t have much choice.
” I flared my dragon eyes right back at him, daring him to tell me I was wrong.
“You might have been repressed, but I’m sure you felt Skarde’s influence over me. ”
“All I felt was your willingness to go to him,” he returned, seeming reluctantly pleased. “Then, as it should be, I felt your need to come back to me.”
My need to go to him? What was he talking about?
I nearly asked, too, but decided it might be best to wait until his dragon didn’t have me pinned down by his talon.
“I will only ever want to be with you,” I said softly, meaning every word as I gazed up at him. “Always.”
He narrowed his eyes, challenging me despite the hope flickering in his gaze. “Ja?”
“Yes,” I said, praying I could reassure him. “Only you.”
While I was tempted to say all of you, both sides, as I did with his kinder half, I knew that wouldn’t go over well.
“And you will never let yourself be lured by Skarde again?” he warned.
“No,” I replied, even though I knew I might not have any control over it. Reasoning with this side of him wasn’t the way to go right now. Saying what he wanted to hear was my ticket out of this.
He eyed me for a long moment, clearly gauging how serious I was and if I truly meant it, before he seemed satisfied with my answers, shifted back, and held out his hand. “Take my hand so we might soon reign together, then our offspring after that.”
After Drakkar shifted back, he leveled a murderous glare on Torsten.
“You’re under my rule so long as you’re in the Dragon Lair, brother,” he growled, his dark aura pulsing as he narrowed his dragon eyes at him. “Fated mates or not, you do anything like that to Katana again, and you will suffer the same fate as others have at my hands within these walls.”
“I will treat my mate as I see fit,” Torsten shot back, yet offered a reluctant nod. “Yet I appreciate your ruthlessness in keeping order under your roof, so I will comply when it suits me.”
Drakkar’s eyes flared in warning again, and he rested a hand on the sheathed dagger at his waist. “You will comply all the time, or you will leave now without your mate.” He glanced from me back to Torsten.
“Either way, I will continue to keep her safe, as I swore I would back at the Keep.
‘Tis up to you whether you choose to stay and help me.” His aura darkened further, and his eyes grew more lethal, their intensity alarming.
“I would hope now that she carries your offspring, you will make the right decision.”
I could see why Drakkar and the darker side of Torsten might get along better than most, given how similar they were.
While most would be rightly intimidated or outright frightened of Drakkar at the moment, Torsten wasn’t.
Instead, he seemed to weigh out how much he wanted to push him, yet in the end, a glimmer of respect lit his eyes, and he nodded once in acknowledgment.
“As you wish, brother, and as I have said a time or two over the years, you will continue to reign here as a lesser king when I finally take my rightful place as Liege of the Realm.”
When Drakkar merely nodded curtly in response, as if this wasn’t the first time these two had a confrontation like this, nor was it the first time Torsten made the same promise, I got the distinct impression Drakkar wasn’t all that interested in who oversaw the Keep.
He was just fine right where he was.
“We should discuss what just happened up there,” Drakkar said, gesturing for us to follow as he headed deeper into the cave.
“Initially, I was going to suggest we remain here in my lair until we figured out what to do next, lest your mate being in heat stir this place into a frenzy, but ‘tis no longer an issue. Therefore, we’ll go to the main lair away from any opening lest Skarde be hovering nearby.”
Right, because I was no longer in heat, so I was less likely to attract the other males.
“How do you feel?” áma asked softly, her voice compassionate when she fell in beside me when Torsten joined Drakkar, occasionally glancing back to keep an eye on me.
Her kind eyes flicked from my womb to my face, seeing things others could not.
“’Tis quite the thing to find out you're with child at such a time. And ‘tis your first, no less, ja?”
“It is,” I confessed, surprised by how comfortable I felt with her, though I suspected it might have something to do with her mystical gifts.
A new kind of warmth curled through me as I considered her question.
“I feel happier than I expected, given having kids wasn’t even on my radar, and most certainly not having one in this day and age.
” I swallowed back the sting of pain I felt at Torsten’s almost callous attitude toward it.
Lowering my voice, I went on, fully aware he could follow what I said, nevertheless, if he even wanted to.
“I can’t say I’m overly thrilled by his response to it. ”
“My response?” he replied into my mind before áma did aloud, paying close attention, which gave me some hope. “’Twas exactly as it should be, mate.”
“Being held down by a talon and threatened is not how it should be,” I replied, tempted to say his other half would have responded differently, but bit my mental tongue, since he was behaving right now.
“It is when you so foolishly endanger yourself and our baby,” he cut back, making no apologies.
“A baby that you love?” I wondered, understanding he refused to use that word when it came to me, but perhaps it would be different with his child? He’d certainly responded strongly enough back there to imply he might feel that way beyond merely wanting heirs to rule in his place someday.
When he didn’t reply right away, my heart leapt with hope that he might say what I longed to hear. What should come naturally to any father.
“Our offspring will serve a purpose,” he finally said bluntly, cutting my hope off at the knees.
“Give him time,” áma said gently. While it seemed she was responding to my comment about Torsten not reacting as I wished he had, something told me she might have caught our telepathic conversation, too. “’Tis not easy being different sometimes.”
When her gaze lingered on mine, I realized what she alluded to and fought a wave of emotion.
She wasn’t just referring to his multiple personalities, but to his fear that our offspring might inherit the gene and face the same struggles he had.
While I could certainly see his kinder half worrying about that, I wasn’t so sure about this side of him, unless, of course, he thought having the same affliction would make his children weaker.
We didn’t make it much further before the tunnel we were traversing spilled out into a massive cave adorned with several firepits and more lethal-looking medieval weapons than I could count adorning the walls.
Though daunting, with darkened corners filled with dragon eyes peering back, it suited Drakkar perfectly, and that became clearer the longer he was here.
His dark aura seemed to fluctuate depending on which dragon was meandering around, giving me the sense he warned them in varying degrees to be on their best behavior, even as he declared to all who I was and my rank at the Realm.
A rank higher than I imagined, given I wasn’t even married to Torsten.