“So?” Ström’s grin is priceless; he knows I have something up my sleeve, as Baldur smiles a lovely cat-got-the-cream smile, as well.
“So, I’ve been talking with our King, and Annika… and we’ve decided to set up an official mentorship program as a joint effort between the Crown and the True Knights, for those who are learning their powers fast and need guidance.”
“You’re setting up a school. For Bloodwalkers. And you’re going to train them… just like Maryse did.” Bjorn blinks at me now, amazed.
“Not just like Maryse, but yes,” I say now, as I nod at Baldur. “Baldur will train those with shamanic skills, whereas I will be more battle-magic focused. We’re working with our King and the True Knights to identify and help those who’ve opened to their powers faster and more furiously than others. But it will be for everyone, eventually. As a Bloodwalker’s previous drakes, my stepfathers Trublut, Khosh, and Vjen are already in. But I was hoping you all would be interested in helping us. Teaching, mentoring… in whatever way you might help best.”
“I’m in,” Ström says, as his emerald eyes shine. “Even though I’m busy as the new Eriksson Jarl, this is important. All our people will need to learn their new powers—already, uncanny skills are emerging that many dragons didn’t have before. This is the new way of things for our Lineage. I would be proud to be a part of it.”
“Absolutely.” Bjorn gives me a deep smile. Gripping my hip beneath the water, his eyes shine pure gold with the power of his dragon as he responds. “As a Jarl myself now, I have a responsibility to help my people with their awakening powers. But even if I weren’t a Jarl, I’d be honored to help with this, and pave your way into your new life.”
“We are a people united now. We need to live that way,” Mikkel says, as he shares a glance with his sister, and I know they’re both on-board.
“Everyone needs to feel whole with their new powers, now that they have them,” Lærke adds, as they share a matching smile. Because both twins are whole as Bloodwalkers now, together, even though Lærke isn’t in our Bloodbond. The twins are busy with their empire, but I feel howthey’ve got my back, as Lærke reaches out and squeezes my hand and Mikkel slides a hand to me also, caressing my shoulder.
“By the way,” I say, as I ponder Mikkel and Lærke, pinning Mikkel with my gaze as my eyes slip down to the beautiful sea-raiding ships and oceanic monster-dragons that coil around his left shoulder and heart. “I never asked you both: how did your tattoos help you resist that soul-killing blast from the Black Dragon? And why does Lærke not seem to have them?”
Lærke and Mikkel share a long glance before Mikkel answers me.
“These tattoos,” he gestures at his chest, “were done for us in our teens, before we started our empire of clubs.”
“I don’t show mine.” Lærke smiles at me now, as she waves a hand. Shimmering white and red tattoos cascade out all over her shoulders and upper chest now, exactly like Mikkel’s, except that I’ve never seen them on her before. Waving her hand, she puts them away again with her power. “You should know that Bone Mages can disguise their appearance.”
“You’re a Bloodwalker now, sister. We all are.” Mikkel lifts an eyebrow at her before looking at me again. “In any case, Lærke and I traveled far and wide in our youth, searching for answers on how to control my mad beast, and how to open hers. We ended up going to a remote Blood Dragon enclave high in the mountains of Tibet. One of our Lost Clans, who never report to our King, inscribed these tattoos upon us, in our Danish clan-style. They imparted to me the ability to resist ever going fully into my darkest magic, so my dragon never took me over completely.”
“I was inscribed with the ability to open up fully into my power,” Lærke adds, as she glances at Mikkel. “Because we were twins, the power of the tattoos were linked. To always resist our darkest state—that which was ruining us.”
“I never figured it could resist the cosmic division energy’s ability to shred a soul back to the very fabric of the universe.” Mikkel holds my gaze, dark fire shining in his eyes. “But I suppose that is the darkest magic, is it not? Andthese tattoos… made Lærke and me able to resist our darkest place. Always.”
“Powerful,” Bjorn says, as a thoughtful look takes him.
“Incredible,” I say as I reach out, gripping Mikkel’s hand, then Lærke’s. “Because of your selfless sacrifice, we were saved—all of us. Thank you.”
“Hey, Mikkel was the idiot who leaped right in front of your blast.” Lærke waves a hand now, though her chiding smile is kind. “I just jumped in to save his ass.”
“You know I would sacrifice myself a thousand times over, drakaina,” Mikkel says deeply but sweetly now, his dark gaze intense, “if it means you come home to my arms.”
Gripping his hand, I share a moment with Mikkel now, as I lean in and he kisses me decadently in the water. I feel all of his goodness, then, and his sincerity, of how much he loves me and everything he would do for me.
It makes him shine with a bright copper fire, simmering off him in the water now, as we kiss. And his bad-boy goodness is everything I want, as our lips part and he strokes my chest with his fingertips.
His dark eyes on fire for me—always.
But it wasn’t just Mikkel who saved me in my darkest hour. I turn to Lærke now as I grip her hand, gratitude pouring through me for my new sister.
“Your stalwart love saved us so many times these past weeks,” I tell her now, as I hold her beautiful green-lavender gaze. “And you,” I say as I glance at Baldur, gripping his hand in turn. “You showed me what it is to be truly light, and that I could change my fate, when you opened your heart fully to me as you died, holding nothing back.”
“I would do it again, drakaina, to be with you wherever you go,” Baldur tells me now as we hold this powerful space together, in love.
“And you.” I turn to Ström next, as I hold his beautiful gaze, so ferventin the night. “You reminded me of my strength when you told me to hold on to my heart. Not darkness or light, butlove—a power that transcends both.”
“My love for you will never die,” Ström tells me quietly now as he rests our foreheads together. “I hope you know that.”
“I know,” I tell him quietly back, as I softly kiss his lips.
As I cuddle back into Bjorn’s lap now in the water, slinging my arms around his brawny shoulders, I know I have one last mate to thank. “You showed me who I truly was in the cosmos, after I went dark.” I gaze into his beautiful golden eyes, so vibrant in the night with the all-gold of his dragon. “You showed me that I was not my darkest night, but my brightest light, always. I’ll never be able to thank you enough for that.”
“I would do it again and again, Rikyava,” Bjorn rumbles as he cradles me tighter in his strong arms now, holding me close on his lap. “I am the beacon you come home to when the blackest night falls—we all are—to the end of the Void and back. Just love me, and us, for who we truly are. And we will love you forever, exactly the same way.”
