Page 25 of Vicar
Chapter Twelve
WHILE VICAR WAS desperateto go fight, to tear what had tried to take Trinity from him to shreds, her inner beast did indeed bring him to heel. Leaving her to battle anything became impossible. What was this power she had over him? This immense connection she shared with his dragon? Because it was most certainly their dragons at work. Their dragons seeing the wisdom of remaining together now rather than battling anything just yet.
So he nodded in compliance.
“Yeah?” Her beautiful fiery eyes never left his. “You’ll stay?”
“Ja, I will,” he managed, going from rage at his unseen enemy to desire at the feel of her delicate hand on his heated flesh. He wanted her cool touch everywhere. Touching places no woman had, however impossible that technically was.
Undoubtedly sensing it, her hand lingered a moment longer than expected before she pulled away and looked at Jade and Thorulf with concern. “Are you guys okay?” Her brows flew together. She looked Jade over. “Are you hurt anywhere, sis? Was your negativity brought too low? Do you need me to balance you out?”
“No, I’m fine.” Jade breathed a sigh of relief and glanced between them. “I’m just glad you are too.” Her attention returned to the storm still raging beyond not just one magical wall of protection now but three. “That was fucking unbelievable.” She frowned at Thorulf. “Whatwasthat exactly? A god or something else?”
“A god,” came Loki’s booming voice before he materialized out of a fire that combusted in a nearby fire pit. He eyed the ongoing storm with a mix of fury and anticipation. “It seems brother number three has arrived and has a personal vendetta against Vicar.” His warning gaze cut to Trinity. “More than that, a shockingly hearty appetite for you, dragon.”
“Why?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“By brother number three, I assume you mean Carman’s son, Violence,” Jade said before Loki had a chance to reply. “Because what the hell else would cause that kind of weather? That kind of violent hatred?”
“Ja, Violence,” Loki confirmed. “His brother Darkness had hinted Evil wasn’t the only one to slip through, but I refused to believe it.” Disgust flared in his eyes. “How could not justtwobutthreeCelts have slipped by us?”
“Good question.” Back to his Sigdir side, Vicar frowned. “And why Trinity? Why me? What else do you know, god?”
“Very little at this point other than you must stay here until I say otherwise.” Loki homed in on Trinity. “Then, when Thor and I feel it’s right, we will go where your dragon leads us next.”
“Why my dragon?”
“Because yours is the one that, without doubt, passed through Múspellsheimr before being born,” he replied. “That means something to Violence. We could feel it in the way he focused on you. In the way he longed for you and loathed Vicar.” He looked at Vicar in warning. “He sees you as a wall between him and Trinity. Always has. Which means his best hope will be in exploiting your Múspellsheimr side. In making you act rashly and impulsively.” His gaze returned to Trinity. “Thor was right giving you the stone from Alfheim’s cave. Without it, you wouldn’t have stayed balanced, and Violence would already have you.”
“Balanced?” Trinity frowned, incredulous. “I felt anything but balanced when it...” She choked off before clearing her throat. “I’ve never been so easily sucked into anything.”
“Had your other personality been present,” Loki informed, “that kindred to Múspellsheimr,” he shook his head, “you would have flown into Violence’s rhetorical arms so fast none of us would have been able to stop you. Your craving for what he has to offer, what makes up his very essence, would have been irresistible.”
What she has to offer is mine, Vicar nearly growled but refrained. Trinity didn’t need to be any more frightened than she already was. Or should he say unsettled? Because he sensed she wasn’t as afraid as she should be and with good reason based on what Loki said next.
“Trinity’s Múspellsheimr side continues to influence her but is held back by her Alfheim stone,” he said. “A stone that won’t be strong enough as time goes on.”
