Chapter Three

"HELLO, ASTRID," ZOEY said softly after Magnus and Arne left. She kept her head lowered in respect to a Viking who could only be a medicine woman. Her Norse had been off when she first arrived, but thanks to her connection to Magnus, she was becoming more fluid in the medieval dialect. "It is an honor to meet you."

"I believe the honor is all mine, child." Astrid's tone was as gentle as her touch when she tilted Zoey's chin until their eyes connected. "I have been waiting for you for many moons. My king has been waiting just as long, if not longer, whether he realizes it or not."

Astrid wore long dark robes, had several beads and small bones interwoven in her thinning hair, and bluish face paint delicately etched around the numerous lines in her lovely but aging face. Her eyes were nearly the same shimmering light silver as her hair and outlined with charcoal, and her wrists laden with talisman-ridden bracelets.

"So you know of me?" Zoey said, somehow not at all surprised.

"I do." Astrid searched her eyes as if making sure of something before a small smile curled her mouth, and she nodded once. "I have since Magnus was but a babe in my arms." A shadow crossed her face. "Then every day since he could no longer be a babe in his mother's arms."

"So you are his guardian of sorts?" Zoey assumed, eager to get to the heart of Magnus despite having come to the conclusion he might not be worth it. "Because his mother passed when he was young?"

"I am his grandmother," Astrid clarified, surprising her. "As well as a medicine woman when he is in need of one."

While she'd be inclined to say the two of them must not be close based on the terse way Magnus had interacted with her, she sensed that would be incorrect. Saw it in the way Astrid's eyes gentled ever-so-slightly when she spoke his name.

"He means a great deal to you," Zoey murmured, hinting at a layer to him she hadn't expected when it came to an old woman, be she family or not. Especially given that Astrid was entirely human with seer abilities. Yet she sensed she was right. "And you mean a great deal to him."

"He does, and I do." Astrid searched Zoey's eyes for another moment before she clearly saw what she was looking for and nodded slowly before stepping away. "But not nearly as much as he will love you and you, him."

"Perhaps in our last life," she admitted, not about to bury her head in the sand about how she'd felt when she was trying to protect him in her nightmare. "But I'm not so sure about this one."

It wasn't a matter of being in denial, either. However Adonis and godlike he might appear with his chiseled features, mesmerizing pale Caribbean blue eyes, thick dark blond hair, and beard, looks had never been a priority for her. Not even looks like his. Not when coupled with a personality she wasn't impressed by so far. She'd much prefer a plain man with a reasonable, sound mind and an amiable nature over a gorgeous man with a sour disposition and an impetuous, unbending temperament.

"Give him time," Astrid said softly, pressing her hand to Zoey's heart. "Give him time to show you." She murmured a soft chant. "And give yourself time to see."

Zoey glanced down in surprise when she realized she now wore mostly black Viking attire, from practical winter boots, trousers, a loosely fitting black top cinched at the waist, and a silvery-white fur cloak around her shoulders. She fingered the tiny turquoise beads in a few skinny braids that had been magically interwoven into her hair.

"Do you see yet?" Astrid wondered softly. "Not much, but still, so very much at the same time."

Zoey narrowed her eyes, not following what sounded like a riddle until she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She glanced at the window only to spy a tiny, all-too-familiar dark turquoise baby dragon poking its head over the sill. Like before, it narrowed its glorious little eyes in challenge and dropped out of sight as if daring her to follow.

"Ah, you do see, then," Astrid said. "Come, child. Let us see where the wee one means to take you."

She led Zoey outside and straight into a past she'd known was coming but still struck her when she spied numerous buildings with thatch-covered roofs slanting nearly to the ground. When she took in the medieval Viking attire of all the people milling about. Her gaze rose to the towering, snow-covered mountains backdropping the village before she looked to the Viking ships in the distance, bobbing on a sweeping aquamarine sea. The salty air had a gusty bite to it, mixing with the scent of brine, spices, and freshly baked bread.

As to be expected, people looked at her curiously, so she did her best to be cordial, smiling and nodding hello. All the while, she tried to locate Magnus's little dragon only to spy him peeking his head around the corner of a building ahead and narrowing his eyes in challenge once more before he vanished.

"Where are you leading me?" she murmured, certain he wanted to show her something and dared her to follow. She tried, but it seemed more and more villagers grew curious about who she was, including the children, who seemed quite taken with her.

"You have a way about you," Astrid noted as more children surrounded Zoey, smiling up at her in curiosity. "They sense peace within you. Happiness without fear. Hope. But I suspect you know that...suspect this is not the first time this has happened to you."

She was right. It wasn't. Several times, she'd experienced the same response in poor, war-ridden villages. Seen the same hope in children's eyes. In the gazes of their mothers when they'd offered her small smiles.

And it seemed she wasn't the only one who had that effect.

She nearly bumped into Quinn, who had a cluster of women and children following her, when she and Zoey crossed paths at the corner of a building. Not surprising of her friend, given her lovely healing aura and softly glowing golden skin.

"Quinn," she exclaimed, amazed by how she looked. She now undoubtedly appeared to the eye as she'd always been on the inside. "You look...." She released a sigh of relief she hadn't realized she'd been holding since arriving in such a foreign land with so many dragons...with Magnus in all his grumpy, glorious, far too big glory. "You look so unbelievably beautiful, sweetie."

"Zoey," Quinn exclaimed in return. Seeming to understand what she needed to hear, her friend wrapped her up in a much-needed hug, held on tight, and murmured, "You're not alone anymore. We're here and we're in this together."

By we, Quinn meant she and their friends. They would stand by each other in this strange medieval Age of Embers every bit as much as they had in their Fire Anonymous support group.

Quinn eventually pulled back, held her at arm's length, and searched her eyes. "How are you doing?" She spoke telepathically, without a doubt, so others didn't overhear. "I'm so sorry about Magnus's behavior. I can attest he has a lot going on, so I'm sure he's just confused. I'm sure he's just—"

"Displeased on many fronts right now,"Magnus growled into their minds, appearing around the corner with another equally attractive man who could only be Quinn's husband, Rafe, with his longish dark brown hair and eyes the color of the sea behind him.

She sensed Magnus's anger and attraction to her when he took in her new attire, and it was a wicked mix. Yet again, she tried to set aside her attraction because it struck her anew seeing him among his people. Watching the way they didn't cower from him in fear or even look down as if afraid to meet his eyes but gazed at him with respect, awe, and hope.

A telling thing, indeed, when it came to a leader.

A surprising thing, given how damn stubborn he could be when it came to brokering peace. Peace that would make his people happier still because she didn't need to be from this century to see their clothing, while well-mended, was faded and old. That even though there was rosiness to their cheeks, they weren"t as healthy-looking as they could be.

"My people," Magnus boomed, his deep voice carrying as he spread his arms in welcome and introduced Zoey not as a hostage like he'd wanted her to remain for now, but as she clearly was thanks to his baby dragon leading her out here. "Meet our latest friend from the future, Zoey." He lowered his head to Quinn, his affection and respect for her clear. "While I cannot say if she's Valkyrie, she follows and loves Queen Quinn just as I do." He smiled at the ever-growing crowd, reminding Zoey just how handsome he actually was. "So, might we welcome her with open arms and invite her to join this afternoon's festivities?"

Everyone roared in approval, many eyeing her with anticipation, making her uncomfortable because she knew what it was all about. They hoped she might be meant for Magnus. That they would have their very own Valkyrie queen, too.

"Very good," Magnus replied, still smiling an all-encompassing gorgeous smile of which she would have never thought him capable. "Until then, I will see to my guests and look forward to joining everyone later today."

Naturally, people remained curious about Quinn and Zoey, but Magnus had a way of gently steering everyone away while getting what he wanted, which was, in this case, the people he needed to speak to most right now. Those who would carry their mission forward as they gathered in a large lodge toward the back of the village tucked away against the foot of the mountains.

A lodge she knew was Magnus's the second she stepped inside.

And it surprised her in more ways than one.

Not only did she catch his spicy pine scent right away in the spacious building with a sizeable fire pit, numerous weapons, and painted wooden shields hanging on the walls, but that wasn't all she caught. A truly unsettling realization because her noticing it, and better still being pleased by it, had nothing to do with her and everything to do with an inner dragon she rarely acknowledged. A beast that suddenly made it more than clear she'd been biding her time peacefully so she could get this far.

So she could find out if another female's scent would be here.

"What the?" she muttered under her breath, trying to shake the embarrassing sensation. Because it was that, at the very least. Embarrassing and unwanted.

Meanwhile, Magnus returned to his disgruntled persona when he asked his men to discreetly fetch Tyr and ?se and requested Quinn and Rafe give him a few moments alone with Zoey before they all talked. He recommended they greet Tyr and ?se and catch them up, then they would discuss what came next.

"I would rather Quinn stay," Zoey began, but it was too late. Her friend, who clearly trusted Magnus, didn't follow her into Magnus's lodge when he shut the door.

"First, you were sorry that Magnus kidnapped me,"she said into Quinn"s mind, confused and more than a little unsettled. "Now you're fine with me being left alone with him?"

"Yes,"Quinn replied, surprising her with how calm she sounded. "Magnus won't hurt you, love. Granted, I worried about it days ago when you were pestering him and Arne across time and then when he kidnapped you, but not anymore."

Wait, what? Pestering him and Arne across time? But first, why such trust? "Care to share?"

"Because I felt it the moment he laid eyes on you in the village,"she replied. "Saw it in his aura." Quinn's internal voice softened. "Magnus is no more your enemy than Rafe was mine."

She asked Quinn to elaborate, but her internal question fell on deaf ears as her friend withdrew from her mind, giving her privacy she didn't want.

"Quinn will return soon enough," Magnus grunted in response to Zoey wanting her to stay. He narrowed his eyes at her just like his baby dragon had. "Until then, it"s best I make things clear. From here on out, you will remain by my side and nowhere else." He shook his head. "Because it is clear you cannot be trusted in my absence."

"And how was I untrustworthy?" she countered. "Given I was ordered rather than asked to remain with your medicine woman as a hostage, no less yet she encouraged me to leave the lodge." Not about to be bullied by him, she raised her eyebrows and refrained from pointing out that hostages were typically imprisoned lest she give him any ideas. "Furthermore, trust should be earned, not freely given, and you've done nothing to deserve it. If anything, you've done the opposite by taking me against my will and not trusting that I might be able to reason with your enemy."

"Reason with Zane?" Magnus snorted. "Doubtful. Therefore, you gave me no choice but to take you." He stood in front of the fire with his arms crossed over his chest, frowned, and made clear he was catching her thoughts. "And while you might think my actions unacceptable, we both know I could have treated you far more poorly than I have thus far. Not to mention, I could've imprisoned you rather than trusted you to remain with my medicine woman when you discovered she was my grandmother and had no intention of harming you. Make no mistake, I will be speaking with her about this claim that she led you out of the lodge."

Before she could respond, he went on.

"Furthermore," he said with a touch of sarcasm as he mimicked her word, "though you might not realize it now, I saved you from what could have been a terrifying experience for a na?ve fertile female dragon such as yourself at Zane's Keep. One you never would have recovered from, never mind survived knowing his ilk."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Zoey murmured, unsure why she said it. She grew warmer and warmer the more she drew in his lodge's scents. The more his scent seemed to sink into her in a way she'd never experienced before. Consumed her in a fashion that made her acutely aware of her inner beast trying to make its way to the surface.

"Then you are more foolish than I already thought," he muttered.

"And how is that again?" She pulled back the animal skin over the nearest window and let the cool wind blow over her hot skin. Being in this room alone with him made her feel all sorts of things she didn't want to. Womanly things she knew had everything to do with her dragon. "Why do you think I'm foolish when you hardly know me? At least in this life."

"I know you enough to know your many opinions about how I should do things speak of ignorance at the very least."

He inhaled, and his gaze narrowed on her in a way that told her he was picking up on what was happening to her.

"What opinions?" she managed, mortified when an aching pleasure began between her thighs. One that had come and gone in her dreams over the past few days.

Please don"t let this be what she thought it was.

"The endless opinions you felt the need to give Arne and me across time without knowing anything about this era," he said.

This must have been what he was talking about when he"d first dragged her back in time. What Arne had been referring to when he spoke of her obnoxious viewpoints and relentless badgering. She"d been so focused on trying to remain calm and show no fear that she hadn"t overthought it.

Now, however, it seemed more than notable.

"I did no such thing." Although she had found Arne familiar, hadn't she? And she had dreamt strange things. Spoken to people in her dreams. Perhaps even advised them. "Not that I recall, anyway...at least not while I was awake."

God, why did they have to have this conversation here, of all places? Where Magnus slept? Where his blasted scent was everywhere? She tried to keep her eyes off his fur-covered bed and tilted her face a little closer to the window, praying for a good gust of soothing icy wind.

"So you spoke to all of us without realizing it?" He frowned, clearly not believing her. "To me, Arne and Quinn?"

"Quinn, too?" She met his frown and shook her head. "No, I have no recollection of that..."

She trailed off and swallowed hard when the pleasurable ache between her thighs became more of an intense, needy ache, and her vision flickered red for a split second. Seriously not good, considering she was alone with a male dragon. Worse yet, Magnus. She could only pray he didn't realize what was happening to her.

It seemed her prayer went unanswered because moments after her vision reddened with her inner beast, no matter how briefly, his all-too-familiar dragon eyes flared, and he inhaled sharply.

"Trust me in this," he said softly, his voice deep and guttural as he fought her effect on him. One he didn't hesitate to point out. "Now that you are in heat, it is safe to say I saved you from going to Zane's and too many feral male dragons to count."

Then he said something she didn't see coming.

Something that made her regret having followed his little dragon into the village after all.