Page 15 of Vicar
“Are you all right, sweetie?” Jade cocked her head and frowned. “Something feels off about you, all of a sudden.”
“Not off,” she whispered, struggling to make sense of her conflicting thoughts. Emotions that felt familiar despite her never having felt them before. “Not off at all...”
“Sis?” Jade said, but she sounded far away as Trinity continued down the mountain path like she’d walked it a hundred times before.
“Trinity?” Jade called after her. “Hey, wait up! What’s going on?”
She passed familiar trees, navigating roots and rocks like it was second nature before she broke from the tree line and stopped short on a cliff. While she knew deep down she was still herself, she was also anything but as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the gothic-looking castle beneath a majestic golden ash tree. Níðhöggr’s Ash.
“Hey!” Jade skidded to a halt next to her, followed swiftly by the other three. She frowned at Trinity. “What thehell’sgoing on?”
Trinity inhaled deeply, relishing the cool air. The renewed power coursing through her. The difference she felt, not just within herself but all around. Something had changed big-time. Scratch what she’d said moments before.
She wasn’t herself by any means and enjoyed it immensely.
“You tell me, Jade.” She narrowed her eyes at her sister, about over her groveling. “What thehell’sgoing on?” She chuckled and eyed the Keep again. “Because it’snotyou anymore. That sad boat has sailed.”
Jade managed to whisper, “You don’t swear...this isn't you,” before her jaw dropped, and Thorulf pushed her behind him, his weapon aimed at Trinity. In turn, Vicar was there too, his blade aimed at his brother.
“Enough.” Tor stepped between them, facing Trinity and Vicar. “What’s happening here?” His eyes narrowed at Trinity with good reason, considering the enemy gods everyone had faced lately. “You don’t seem like yourself, Trinity...not at all.”
She chuckled, rolled her eyes, and focused on the Keep again. Like Jade had wanted to visit the Fortress when she was younger but was kept away, Trinity had wanted to go to the Keep. She knew it like she knew she did, in fact, have a very naughty side.
One that had completely taken over, and she couldn’t be more pleased.
“Enough of this,” she muttered. “I grow bored.”
Leaving the squabbling behind, she strode down the path that would ultimately bring her to a Keep she should have been able to access long before this. She knew Vicar followed. That his mood was changed too. That he wasn’t half as soft and pitiful as he’d been the night before.
“You grow bold, woman,” he growled from behind her. “Above yourself.”
His Múspellsheimr side had surfaced. She felt it in her bones. Her very soul. Felt the pure hatred and lust she had for it. She didn’t bother responding but chanted herself into form-fitting dark brown supple leather and strode on.
“And you thought I was a problem whenIarrived,” she heard Jade say from what seemed across a great divide. “I was nothing compared to this.”
This? Why did she sound so wary? Becausethisfelt great. Everything Trinity was supposed to be.
“Trinity?” Tor caught up with her. “What’s happening? Why are you—”
“Why am Iwhat,Tor?” He was allowed to remain by her side, but that was it. The only one worth her time at the moment. Nothing against Thorulf, but he served no purpose. “All is well.” She winked at Tor. “Never better, actually.”
Before he had a chance to respond, she jogged the last few feet down the current path, broke free from the tree line, shifted, and launched into the air. Exhilarated, she roared with the freedom of spreading her wings when she so rarely did.
“Not without me, woman,”Vicar growled into her mind.“That is my Keep, not yours.”
“You mean Leviathan’s Keep,”she mocked, not bothering to slow down or look back. Not when his dragon only weakened her.“A Keep I’m long overdue to visit.”
When a tiny part of her flailed at her behavior, she stomped it down and roared at whatever tried to keep her leashed. Roared fire at any tree that possessed Alfheim magic. Why had sheeverfled to that Alfheim cave? To that awful repressive peaceful magic when there was so muchviolenceto be had?
“Visit the Keep then,”Vicar granted, swooping out ahead of her, his great crimson beast admirable enough.“But only in my tailwind.”
As if.
Not about to let him show her up, she roared fire at him, not concerned when her behavior gained her a great deal of attention. Not just from Vicar, who wasn’t just competitive now but surprisingly alarmed for her well-being when several dragons headed their way with teeth bared.
“Foolish woman,”Vicar muttered.“You make enemies far too quickly. Enemies far stronger than you.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”She knew the enraged dragons were Vicar’s cronies. Devout worshipers. Múspellsheimr dragons that only respected brute power. Something she might not necessarily have due to her size, but she had other methods. Maneuvers that occurred to her out of nowhere.
