Chapter Twenty

"IWOULD NEVER have expected any of it," Zoey said later that night as she and Magnus cuddled together on his docked ship and eyed the northern lights billowing across the sky. "Every part of the past few days has been terrifying and amazing." She smiled at their surroundings. "Even this." Her glorious eyes reflecting the lights overhead, turned his way. "Especially this. You. All we've found together, and I mean that quite literally."

No doubt she did because much had been found.

As it turned out, after they left ancient Ireland behind, knowing their daughters would be safe, Zane and his top commanders, who seemed privy to what was happening, had staged a mock but brief battle in the skies just over the border of the Realm.

After deciding to share everything they had learned with the others, plans were made. Per Zane's suggestion and Ulrik's ultimate approval, they all decided it was best to make things seem worse than ever. So Ulrik, Keira, Athena, Tyr, and ?se had slipped away, given most didn't know they had been there to begin with. Meanwhile, the rest of them fought as though Rafe, Magnus, and their mates had made the foolish mistake of entering the Realm and instigating Zane.

It mattered not that they didn't have warriors backing them up. They made it seem like they thought their Valkryie dragons were enough as they made a show in the sky of attacking, though no actual harm was done. More of a driving off of enemies by Zane and his men.

"Zane is right to worry that his people will be daunted by him attacking two Valkyries," Zoey murmured, resting her head against his shoulder as she sat on his lap.

"Which says much about the lengths he's willing to go to figure out who this unseen enemy really is," he returned, sounding more like her now. "Lengths that should convince our true foe we are more divided than ever. That full-out war simmers on the horizon."

While he still felt a sense of unease at all they'd learned that day, there was no way around the fact Zane had not only saved Magnus's daughter but saw her well cared for and safe during a tumultuous time. Did he hate that he'd lost nearly three years with her? Yes. But in the end, he preferred having lost that time if it meant keeping her off the radar of a more significant threat. Because whether dragon or not, she was his offspring, which made her a target.

"I'm proud of you, husband," Zoey said softly, resting her cheek against his as they gazed up at the sky, neither caring much about the icy wind swaying the ship as their warmth seeped into each other. "Proud of the strides you made. The peace you found with your enemy for now."

And he had with Zane, put adequately for now, because anything was possible when dealing with multiple personalities. Yet still, he and Zane shared something profound today, as they enjoyed spending time with their daughters. Found a comradrie Magnus had thought long lost to them.

As to how Rafe, ?se, and Tyr felt about Zane? Time would tell.

They had been caught off guard by what Zane had done. The kindness he'd shown Magnus's daughter. Not just that, they were equally surprised to learn he had a daughter as well. While the three had remained silent when they were finally allowed access to what happened in ancient Ireland, Magnus sensed they had been touched by the change in Zane when he was around his daughter. Did they fully trust him yet? No. But there had been a thawing in the tension between everyone, which was a promising start.

Zane was no closer to making amends with Knud, but he didn't seem as bitter as he'd once been about everything that happened years before. Like Magnus's father, as time went on, he seemed more open to discussion.

"So we will form yet another secret alliance," Zane had said before they'd left ancient Ireland behind and the offspring they loved, as only dragons could love their young. A bond he and Zane shared as his brethren gripped his shoulder. His dragon eyes had remained locked with Magnus"s. "Yet this time, only our leaders and those most trusted will know about it. And with it, I do not doubt we will find the darkness amongst us once and for all."

"Will this alliance include my father?" he'd asked gravely because he could not betray his patriarch. Would not.

Zane had looked at him for a long, hard moment before he finally nodded once. "It will." He'd then glanced from where his daughter Freya had vanished into the forest back to Magnus. "Tell him while I do not forgive him, I will work with him to root out this evil. To figure out what is harming our women so dragonkind will go on, and our children will have a chance to grow old."

"It was good for you," Zoey said softly, following his thoughts as she brought him back to the present. "Good for both you and Zane, I think, reconnecting like you did." Sarcasm made its way into her voice. "Despite beating the crap out of each other first."

"It was," he agreed, thinking about it. "He has changed in ways I did not expect. Kinder, no matter what personality we dealt with today."

"Because of his daughter," Zoey said, agreeing because she knew he referred to how Zane had treated female dragons during their teenage years.

"Ja."He reflected on how he and Zane had left off before returning to the cave, where they'd decided to share everything with those present. They had clasped hands and finally spoke to one another as the good friends they'd once been.

"Until we meet again, cousin," Zane had said, his dragon eyes flaring in the way they had when they were boys.

"Until we meet again," he had agreed, nodding once, his dragon eyes flaring in return.

"I still can't believe I came to Aada across time, even if via a ghostly dream," Zoey said, pulling him back to the here and now yet again with the emotion in her voice. "Can't believe..."

When she trailed off, he understood and gathered her more tightly in his arms, never more grateful that her dragon had brought her to his daughter and Freya. Never so thankful that somehow she was able to be there for them.

Because she had been, according to Zane.

She'd haunted that cave in her dreams, and the tunnel leading to what Tréan would eventually ensure led back to his time and a safe haven for the girls. Then, she'd haunted Aada and Freya in the best way possible, being a friend when they needed one most. She"d even shared stories about Zane in their last life, painting a better picture of him than she might have.

"However questionable his methods in our last life," she said, still following his thoughts, "I really do think Zane was only ever trying to find a better place for full-blooded dragons. Trying to find a less hostile world where everyone could peacefully co-exist."

He could only hope. Had to hope. Because his daughter was in Zane"s hands. Yet she had been for years, and she was safe. Happy. And that said something.

Even so, he still had a spy in Zane's ranks to keep an eye on things.

"And what of Tréan?" Zoey wondered, her tone telling him she hoped he answered the right way. "Do you imagine he'll be helping out more than he already has? Or was his role in all this to keep the girls safe?"

"I could not say." He kissed her temple and said what she wanted to hear, meaning every last word. "Either way, I'm indebted to him and will make that clear when next we meet. He will know how thankful I am for everything he's done for me and Aada. For Zane and Freya."

"I'm glad to hear that," she said softly. "Because he's been a hero in his own right."

He had been, and Magnus would not forget it.

As they learned after returning home, the kingdoms had been run well in their absence. Especially Rafe's, as Mea and Arne had no choice but to work together to show Rafe"s people how unified Rafe and Magnus's kingdoms truly were now. That, in turn, gave them a chance to mend fences, or so it seemed because they were at least talking now.

"Oh, I suspect they're doing more than talking," Zoey murmured with a small, womanly smile. "Mea seems to have an extra sparkle about her, and I doubt that her dreamy, permanent smile has much to do with the headway we've made over the past few days."

He was pleased to hear that. "You think they have found love again?"

"I'd say it's more than possible." She sighed. "Now, all we have to worry about is Savannah."

So it seemed because, according to Keira's most recent feedback, Savannah saw nothing via Rune's magic. The Maine chalet was just as it had always been. Worse still, she had packed up her bags and left, claiming her friends were better off without her.

"Why would Savannah do that?" Zoey murmured, clearly hurt. "Why would she leave when she knows I'm here? When she knows how much I love her?"

"I could not say." He kissed the top of her head. "Other than I strongly suspect if she's Valkryie and a part of all this, she'll only be able to run so far before she's pulled back to her mate just like the rest of you were."

"And that could only be Zane."

"So it seems," he agreed, "because I would say, and I know you agree, when she woke you saying you needed to find her, she was undoubtedly referring to Aada, which means she"s very much a part of all this in ways we"ve yet to understand."

Long past tired of talk and what came next, Magnus tilted Zoey"s chin until their gazes aligned, never more in love with another than he was with her. Never more thankful to someone for all she'd done, not just for him but his daughter. He didn't need to ask her if she minded raising a child that wasn't hers because he already knew the answer.

Aada was hers in her heart.

She had been for some years now.

"No more talk," he murmured before he closed his mouth over Zoey's and spoke into her mind. "Just us. This. Tonight and all the nights that follow."

Right there with him, her tongue wrapped with his, and their kisses grew passionate within seconds. As did everything else as she straddled him on the bench, chanted away their clothes beneath the fur he'd wrapped around them, and at long last, sank onto his impatient arousal, ripping away everything but pure pleasure.

So it was that she rode him and loved him just as passionately as he loved her on a swaying ship beneath the northern lights. The gods' lights. Forced him to let go inside her time and time again as they found their pleasure and began a new life together. One that had started in forbidden ways but ultimately ended in perfection, even if it took two lifetimes.

The great time of strife in Norway's kingdoms wasn't over yet, but it was drawing closer with every connection made across time. Though bad blood hadn"t been entirely set aside, all kingdoms outside J?rn's, wherever he may be, had come together in one massive secret alliance.

So, as Zoey had wanted and would continue to navigate based on her title of Bringer of Peace, they were closer to better times than ever. People were communicating now rather than blindly hating. Family was coming back together. Hope lay on the horizon when it came to their ill because females were being cured, and their fates were no longer cut in stone.

Better yet, love that had been ripped apart in another life was coming back together, and not just Valkyries were becoming their queens, but fated mates were reunited. Just as Magnus had been with his mate as they loved each other well into the night, eager to give Aada lots of brothers and sisters.

More eager still to bring their children into a world of peace.

A world he knew his queen, mate, closest friend, and diplomat would keep that way if it were the last thing she did.

THE CLOCK IS TICKINGdown to the grand finale of Viking Ancestors: Age of Embers. Find out what happens next in the steamy, action-packed, epic conclusion, Her Viking Dragon Destiny.