“What was he to say to you?Hi, my name’s Erik and you’re actually a dragon.”
They both laughed at Hilda’s vocals as she imitated Erik.
Bryn shrugged. “Do you think he knew who I was?”
“I have no idea. We need to get him back and ask him.” Hilda pointed at Sven. “And I also believe that there are two different things going on here that have merged into one.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your attempted assassination was the original plan for Magnus, and possibly Alitta. I don’t know what their end game was, but I suspect that when Bryn intervened, they grabbed Erik as a backup plan to get to you. But then Alitta discovered Bryn’s secret and their mission changed. Tapping into unknown powers could be quite intoxicating for those with ill intent. You must get your brother back to find out the whole story.”
Bryn stood to leave. “We will. And we’re going to put an end to this, once and for all.”
“And quickly, too, if the ritual was successful,” Hilda reminded them. “If you’re with child, you don’t need to be running around fighting the enemy. And if they sense a child, they will double their efforts to capture you.”
“She won’t be anywhere near them,” Sven promised. “I’ll keep her safe.”
“Seems to be that she’s been saving you.” Hilda raised one eyebrow as she bantered with him.
Bryn watched the two of them banter. Whatever was going to happen was going to be soon. But she was ready. Ready to claim the fire in her blood. Ready to fight for Erik. And ready to face Magnus himself.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sven
Sven stood behind Bryn with his hands on either side of her head. She held her hands out in front of her, palms up. “Close your eyes,” he told her. “Focus on your hands.”
“You’re touching me,” she complained. “How am I supposed to focus on anything when I just want to rip your clothes off and make love to you?”
He caressed her ear with his fingers. “We’ll get to that, but first you have to make sparks.”
Her eyes squinted and her nose wrinkled as he watched. She was trying but they were getting nowhere. Frustration poked at him. While the danger was present at the castle, he needed her safe. She needed to learn her powers and thus far, they didn’t even know what those were.
Bryn stomped her foot. “I can’t do this.”
He thought back to the day that she pushed him. She had been angry when she sent him flying. He leaned down and whispered to her. “You can do this and you have to. Failure is not an option.”
She sucked in a breath. “You make it sound so easy.”
“No, I don’t necessarily want to become a trophy for the Skelvarn scum. But if you’re okay with them shooting me full of arrows,” he taunted, “then we can just call it a day.” He dropped his hands. “You’re right. You may never figure it out and it’s not like we can just go ask someone.”
Her eyes widened. “Do you really think I want to see you killed?”
He threw his hands up. “What am I supposed to think? You can’t figure it out. I have no idea what you can even do. We can’t even get the damned sparks to come from your hands again. We’re just wasting our time.”
He could see her temper rising. Her cheeks flushed with anger as she advanced toward him. “Do you think I enjoy this? If I knew how to make the sparks, Mr. Perfect, I’d damned sure do it.”
“You’re right.” He felt horrible goading her the way he was, but he needed to see if he could get a reaction. “You don’t enjoy it, I don’t enjoy it, we’re wasting our time. When the time comes to fight, you just make sure you hide in a corner.” He turned his back to her. “But if you don’t mind, can you at least heal me when I’m hit? You seem to do that without having to figure it out.”
She made a guttural noise as she stormed over to the punching bag. “If you think,” she pushed on the bag, “that I’m going to sit in a corner,” she slapped the bag, “while you fight the battles, you got another thing coming.”
She reared back and punched the bag with her bare fist. Sparks flew and the entire bag flew from its perch and hit the wall. Her hands glowed and little fissures of lightning arched between her fingers. The look of shock on her face made him laugh.
“That certainly worked.”
Bryn looked from her hands to the bag on the floor. “What the hell? I didn’t mean to break it.”
He walked over and kissed her gently. “Strong emotion is the ticket to your gifts. When you’re angry, you can call up the sparks or the energy, whatever you want to call it. When you’re healing me, it’s a strong emotion whether it’s concern or love.That one just comes naturally to you so I suspect it’s your main gift. You just need to learn how to manipulate your emotions when you need the power of the sparks.”
