Page 11 of Vicar
She wasn’t sure why she said it considering Raven’s reaction to Tor and the fact he was in love with someone else, but she did. Maybe because she knew it was safe to say. To hide behind. Not to mention, he was exceptionally level, which she appreciated in a man.
“But I’m not your sort,” he assured, kind in his rejection. “Not when I know Vicar already cares. That you mean something to him. Something he’s yet to figure out, but I sense is strong.”
She had to give the guy credit for standing by his cousin even if his real reasons were more obscure.
Rather than counter him because he was right as a whole—the sparks just weren’t there between them—she focused on what Loki theorized. “Could I have somehow entered two Norse worlds before passing through Helheim?” She ran her hand along the cool, sparkling rock, more enchanted with it by the moment. “Could I have passed through Alfheim as well?”
“It would explain why you feel so comfortable here when this place works against dragons.”
“Why is that?” She frowned. “Why would the Múspellsheimr dragon who created this Realm for dragons have put things in it that worked against our kind?”
“A question many have asked over the years.” Tor eyed her with amusement. “Perhaps now we have our answer.” He gestured at their surroundings. “Níðhöggr knew a great war was coming, which means he likely knew who would be needed to win it. In your case, perhaps he put pieces of Alfheim here to offer you comfort or to trigger your memory.”
“Which would mean he would’ve foreseen Loki creating the Forge.” She narrowed her eyes. “Going off that premise, assuming I passed through two worlds before being born, is there anything here of dragonkind’s homeworld, Múspellsheimr?”
“Yes.” His eyes darkened. “But only in Mt. Galdhøpiggen’s underbelly.” He shook his head. “A place you should never go.”
Loki had trapped Goddess Carman’s son, Darkness, there, but Trinity wasn’t daunted. Something about knowing that’s where she would find remnants of Múspellsheimr pulled at her. Didn’t frighten but compelled her in a way that made no sense.
“Yet I want to go,” she said softly, certain she needed to. “Haveto go.”
“No.” When Tor’s eyes sparked with concern, she realized it was for Vicar because he knew he’d follow her. “He can’t go there, Trinity. It’s far too dangerous for him.”
“Then he won’t.” Grateful her normal side was able to repress it, she shivered against the demon trying to roar up in her. “Not if I don’t let him.”
Tor stopped and narrowed his eyes, evidently sensing the slight shift in her. The other side struggling to surface but repressed not by her normal side, she realized, but by this place.
“You think you can stop Vicar?” His brows whipped together. “That you could go anywhere now without him following you just like his young dragon did in that memory? Following you, because he’s drawn to you in a way Vicar isn’t drawn to any dragon, let alone a female.”
She ignored the uncomfortable thrill that shot through her at the power she already had over him. A sense of possession she would never, ever feel about another human, never mind a dragon. “You say that like he has issues with the opposite sex.” She had made sure she understood Vicar’s history on a broader scale. “You say it like he didn’t single-handedly lead dragons from Múspellsheimr to this world in another life because he didn’t want females brutalized anymore. He wanted them to be considered equal to their male counterparts.”
“Vicar does have issues with females but not in the way you think.” Tor sighed, clearly not happy speaking so freely but doing so regardless. “He allows them close to satisfy his cravings. Never for love. It’s never been his way.” He shook his head. “He doesn’t like to make emotional connections with anyone, especially women. I’ve seen him...treat them poorly if they try to get too close.”
Anger swept through her. “Like hit them?” Or just as worse. “Mentally abuse them?”
Tor seemed equally taken aback. “No.” He frowned as they headed back toward the main cave. “He shuns them. Sets them aside once they’ve satisfied him.”
While that didn’t sound all that much better, her shoulders relaxed a fraction. She might be able to forgive a lot of things when it came to men, but abuse wasn’t one of them.
“That couldn’t have been easy on them.” She worked hard not to show more emotion than she anticipated. Frustration, jealousy, and anger toward perfect strangers who clearly didn’t deserve it.
“No, it wasn’t easy on the few females he should have never taken,” Tor conceded before snorting, telling her far more than she wanted to know. “As to all the Múspellsheimr females, I’d say they love him all the more for it, considering they wait patiently time and time again for another turn.”
“Lovely,” she muttered, thankful dragons couldn’t catch sexually transmitted diseases because it sounded like Vicar should be a walking Petri dish of nastiness.Sosuper-hot in a guy.Not. She’d slept with a few guys but not many and always fully protected.
Tor had no time to respond before they returned to the others, but that was probably for the best. She was done talking about Vicar’s harem of women. Done thinking about it altogether, for that matter.
Or so she thought until she spied the new arrivals sitting around the fire.
