Chapter Nineteen
–Katana–
“IT’S HARD TO believe we’re sitting here having this conversation after what happened today,” I said softly as Torsten held me on his lap in a chair by the fire, and we gazed out at a sparkling moonlit sea that seemed as full of peace and contentment as we were. “I didn’t think...”
When I trailed off, trying to grapple with my still-raw emotions from nearly losing him, Torsten remained silent, understanding I needed to feel everything.
Every ounce of fear I had managed to hold back after the darkness nearly took him.
To feel his warm, strong, flesh-and-blood arms securely wrapped around me as I navigated the emotional aftermath.
I needed him all around me, both mentally and physically.
His kinder side had returned to me, yet some part of me would always sense both sides of him, if not in person, then very much within my heart.
“Yet all ended well enough,” he said softly, steering my chin until our gazes were aligned. “If not perfectly for us, if you agree to marry me, my mate. Will you, then? Will you become my wife?”
“Of course I will,” I managed, blinking back tears, never so grateful to utter those words and to know we would have a future together in the end. “A thousand times over.”
“Tomorrow, then,” he assured, brushing his lips across mine.
“Tomorrow,” I echoed, thinking about those who would not be able to share in our extraordinary moment.
“I only wish I’d been able to spend more time with Taro before he volunteered to go back to the future to keep Azura safe and to let her know exactly what is happening,” I went on, trying to focus on everything we had discussed with Blaze and Marjorie in the small seaside cave overlooking the Realm.
I couldn’t help but smile, remembering Taro’s warm embrace as he said goodbye.
“Though it’s safe to say Frey wasn’t too happy about it. ”
“No,” Torsten agreed, equally amused. “I would say she made that clear enough when she outright refused the order, claiming Taro would be safer with her.”
“Which, of course, isn’t true, given the darkness might have tainted her,” I said with a sigh. “áma and Drakkar could be too.”
“Ja,” Torsten agreed, though he didn’t sound convinced. “Yet none of them are acting like King Haldor, or Skarde did when they were first possessed, so I remain optimistic that we got lucky and are all free of it.”
“Here’s hoping,” I said softly, glad we didn't have to worry about it, or Skarde, who, in the end, didn’t deserve to be possessed, especially after everything he’d been through, when all he’d ever wanted was peace given how he felt about the Realm and its dragons.
The peace he hoped to achieve made him the perfect proxy king to have on the throne right now, considering he willingly entered into a secret pact with Blaze, agreeing to work together as time went on.
“I feel so bad for áma, though,” I said softly, my heart going out to her. She had been banned from the Realm again until she could be cleared of the darkness, too, even though she had only recently been welcomed back in. “It doesn’t seem fair.”
“Yet she seemed at peace with Blaze’s decision,” Torsten reminded. “If anything, she seemed to understand that it was best to remain by Drakkar’s side at the Dragon Lair.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“I could not say.” Torsten shook his head. “Only that there seems to be some sort of camaraderie betwixt them....”
Curious about the way he said that, I arched my eyebrows. “What kind of camaraderie?”
“A connection I cannot quite figure out.”
“So you think they’ll be safer together,” I assumed, hoping, “until the prophecy continues to unravel?”
Something we all knew was coming, which only made me worry about my friends in the twenty-first century and my people here in medieval Scandinavia.
Yet I was strictly forbidden to travel forward in time for the sake of my unborn child, and I knew, even if I tried to fight it, my inner beast would heed Blaze’s request.
“Ja, despite the turbulent connection we feel Drakkar has with Azura, I think he will keep his distance for now, and he and áma will keep an eye on each other,” Torsten replied, following my thoughts and gently guiding my chin until our eyes met.
“And I think your friends will be safe under Taro’s watch, as he’s a fine warrior indeed.
Even though he didn’t say it, I know Blaze will have him keep a close eye on not just Azura but your other friend and roommate, Bronwyn, too. ”
“I think you’re right,” I murmured, feeling a close enough connection to Blaze now that I knew I could trust his decisions.
While I was still worried about my friends, right now, as I gazed into Torsten’s eyes, the emotions I had suppressed earlier continued rushing to the surface, and my voice grew hoarse.
“I truly thought I had lost both sides of you today.” A tear rolled down my cheek.
“All of you, and I’m not sure I could’ve survived it. ”
“Yet you would have, because whether you realize it or not, you’re one of the strongest people I know,” he said, his voice just as rough with emotion. “And both sides of me, all of me, know
that. All of me would have found a way back to you because you are my light in the darkness.”
My heart leapt at those words. He could not possibly be implying what I thought he was, could he?
“You say that as though you still possess two sides,” I managed tentatively.
“Do I?” he wondered, wrapping his big, warm hand around the side of my neck, his gaze both lustful and loving at the same time.
“And what would you say if I still did?” The corner of his mouth curled up.
“Better yet, what would you say if you knew you could have us both? That we were one and the same now and bound to keep you in bed with your legs wrapped around me every chance I get?”
My breath caught at the warmth in his gaze, alongside a dark, sinful promise that had nothing to do with evil and everything to do with a long, loving erotic life in his arms.
“I would say what I’ve said all along,” I murmured, struggling to find my voice, ready for everything he was willing to give me, heart, body, and soul. “I love all of you, mate. Both sides. All sides. Every single—”
He took the rest of the words out of my mouth when he closed his lips over mine, kissing me long and hard before carrying me to bed, where he fulfilled his promise several times over.
An enemy still lurked out there, shrouded in darkness, but the bad guy had not won yet.
The Realm of Fire still stood strong, and enemies had become allies.
The prophecy was still in play, but we knew more than we did before, and I had, at last, come together with my long-lost fated mate beyond murky, forgotten dreams and nightmares.
More than that, though, I knew the story I had forgotten to write was finally written, and the ending turned out to be just as it should be. My crowned dragon myth was just that.
A myth.
Pure fiction.
My fated mate dragon wasn’t destined to wear a crown after all, but to accomplish something far greater. He became my hero, the king of my heart, the love of my life, and would without a doubt become a wonderful father to every child we ever shared.