Page 66 of Vicar
Chapter Twenty-Six
“WHAT DO YOU mean, dead?” Trinity asked when Tor said the girl who had haunted him, the source of his prophecy, was dead. The girl he had become more and more convinced was Raven. “I thought the wordhauntedwas figurative.”
So had Vicar. He frowned at his cousin, waiting for an answer.
“I never got the sense she was alive,” Tor replied. “Not like you, Trinity. I knew your ghost was an astral projection of your real self.” He shook his head. “But whatever connection I had with Raven wasn’t like that. At least I don’t think so.”
Vicar understood Trinity and Jade’s frustration and worry. He would feel the same if he were in their position.
“You don’tthinkso?” Trinity said, putting emphasis on the word that provided the most hope. “So there’s room for error?”
“There is.” Tor handed out meat. “But I’m rarely wrong about these things.”
He wasn’t. Tor had always been exceptionally accurate when it came to the spirit world. More so, even, than Dagr, who derived from Helheim itself.
“Well, you’re wrong this time, Tor.” Jade nodded at Trinity with reassurance. “Because Raven’s very much alive.”
Tor merely nodded, and they set to eating, but there was no missing the lingering unrest. What were the missing pieces in all this? How could Raven have been alive yet seemed dead to Tor? Did Raven know more than she was saying? And what was the connection between Raven and Revna? Because Vicar didn’t believe in coincidences. Especially not ones this profound.
“I should have asked Tor more questions,” Trinity said when everyone went their own way for some much-needed rest. “Because he knows more than he’s saying. I can feel it.”
They had asked him more about what he remembered of meeting Trinity as a ghostly child, but it was sporadic. He knew Vicar loved her deeply and hoped they would someday be mates. That she would be able to meet all of Vicar’s kin. Because she never had. Not even when she traveled back regularly.
“We were too worried about your other half to share that you even existed,” he recalled, leading her into one of the cave’s smaller chambers. A cozy space with sparkling water running down one wall into a cave below and a bed of soft, vibrant green grass that shouldn’t exist in a place like this. “We were too concerned your Múspellsheimr side might do something.”
“Which makes me wonder about Violence possessing random dragons over the years to influence me.” She arched her brows at him. “Wouldn’t those dragons have told your family about me?”
“Not necessarily.” He saw it clear enough. Saw how he had been transitioning right along with her but far slower. “Not if they were Múspellsheimr dragons.”
She frowned. “Which means they should have remembered me, right?”
“Ja.” He removed his weapons and set aside his fur cloak, growing tired of speculation. Not when she had made promises to him earlier. Vows to his other half that he fully intended to take advantage of. “Don’t forget, however, that everyone on our kin’s adventures forgot things too, so it’s not surprising the same happened to not just us but fellow Múspellsheimr dragons.”
“True.” Eyeing him with just as much desire, Trinity removed her weapons and cloak as well. “So I guess we’re at another wait-and-see part of our journey.”
“So it would seem.” He yanked off his tunic and pulled her close, well aware of how much she liked his chest in particular. “Until then, best to get back to what you promised me outside.”
