KODRAN REMAINED SILENT but worried as he took a tally of who had arrived. All of Erica’s siblings and none of their mates. He could only imagine the state of panic and fury his kin would be in having lost their women somewhere in time. But it seemed he had problems of his own as Kage, who he only knew through Erica’s mind, eyed him up and down with a frown.

He knew Kage had done a great deal for his tribe and while tempted to greet him cordially, he got the impression Erica’s brother wasn’t about politeness but impact. So he crossed his arms, squared off and stayed blunt. “I’m Kodran. Erica’s mate.”

“Yeah, so I heard.” Kage narrowed his eyes. “And how’s that going for you so far?”

“It’s been difficult,” he said.

When Kage’s brows perked in question, Kodran continued. “How did you expect me to respond considering she’s had to cope with Hallstein for so long?”

Kage was clearly weighing what those words meant. “And what did she tell you about how she coped with him?”

Kodran remained vague because he knew Erica kept her secrets closely guarded. But at the same time, and though Kage had done a lot, he felt a nugget of frustration. After Kage learned about Erica a few months ago, he had allowed her to keep doing what she had been doing with Hallstein. He had knowingly let her remain with that monster.

“You tell me, Kage,” Kodran ground out. “You’re the one who’s been there in the twenty-first century. The one watching over her when I couldn’t. The one allowing her to risk her life day after day.”

When Kage narrowed his eyes and stepped closer, Kodran did the same.

“Enough, boys,” Erica bit out. “I don’t need anymore drama right now. And Kage...” She shot him a look of amazement. “Aren’t you just a little more concerned about meeting Eydis?”

Kage frowned at her only to widen his eyes on Eydis when Erica introduced her.

“Ma?” he whispered.

When Eydis looked at him with confusion, Erica shook her head. “She’s not quite who we know yet, Bro. We’ll chat later. Trust me, it’s a hell of a story.” Her eyes met his. “One I wonder if you didn’t already know.”

“You know I didn’t,” he muttered. “Not to this extent anyway.”

Though both kept glancing at Eydis, Samantha walked around the tree eying it with curiosity as Lauren contemplated it with as much fascination. Cybil and Shannon, however, were solely focused on Eydis.

Eydis, meanwhile, seemed perfectly serene and clueless.

Yet Kodran wondered.

“So why are all my siblings here?” Erica frowned. “It seems a bit much doesn’t it?”

Eydis said nothing but turned her eyes to the base of the tree. “Shelter comes soon then you will understand more.”

“Shelter?” Erica shook her head. “You mean we’re all going to the...”

Her words trailed off as white flashed around them and they ended up back at the base of the Gungnir blade cave. Everyone had traveled with them except the one person with all the answers. Eydis.

“Oh, man,” Erica groaned as she frowned in dismay. “I seriously don’t need this right now.”

Kodran had sensed her thoughts before, but now he seemed to follow them much more clearly.

And what she didn’t need to deal with right now was her sister Cybil.

She was fine with the rest.

Or so she thought until every last sister turned on her with a frown. Kage flinched and shrugged from behind them as he mouthed, “Sucks to be you, Sis,” then winked.

When Erica frowned, Kodran shifted closer and slipped his hand into hers. 

“Thank you for your support but no, Kodran,” she said into his mind before she pulled her hand away. “I have to do this on my own. They’re mad that I didn’t keep them in the loop and I get it.”

He nodded but didn’t go too far.

“Listen,” Erica started as she eyed her sisters. “I know I’ve been distant over the years and—”

“Yeah, you’ve been distant all right,” Sam cut her off as she approached with a heavy frown. “Not telling us anything. Making us think you hated us so you could take on the enemy single-handedly.”

Erica was about to defend herself but stopped. They weren’t saying what she thought they were going to. At least not Samantha.

“Did you think Kage wouldn’t eventually share everything?” Lauren said. “Did you think he would not tell me and everyone who loves you what you had done for us?”

When she glared at her brother, he shrugged and winked again. “Sorry, Sis. It’s long past time you had back-up.”

“How didn’t I know this? I’m your twin,” Shannon said as she approached. “How did I never sense it?”

“You know why,” Cybil said softly.

“Right,” Shannon murmured as she searched Erica’s eyes. “Because you’re Maeva. Powerful.” She swallowed hard and shook her head. “But you’re still my sister, and that means something, Erica. I would have been there for you.” Her eyes grew damp. “Why didn’t you ever tell me you were just helping Anthony? Why let me keep thinking...what I was thinking?”

“Because I couldn’t tell you the truth,” Erica whispered. “Too much was at stake, and I knew...” She had trouble holding her twin’s eyes. “I knew what he had to do, Shannon.” She couldn’t stop her own eyes from becoming damp at the memory. “I knew what he had to do to bring you and Matthew back together. To bring your family back together.”

Shannon looked at her for a long strained moment before she pulled Erica into her arms and whispered, “What a terrible burden you carried. What things you’ve had to do...volunteered to do, to protect us all.”

Erica’s thoughts were all over the place.

She wasn’t sure what to say or do at first until her arms seemed to know, and she finally wrapped them around Shannon. While dealing with Hallstein had been one set of hellish problems, keeping secrets from her sisters, especially her twin, had been another. Letting her sister believe she might have been having an affair with her husband when it was the furthest thing from the truth.

“I’m sorry,” Erica whispered.

“Don’t ever be sorry,” Shannon murmured and ground out, “Never.”

When Shannon pulled away, she saw the same sentiment in all of her sisters’ eyes. All except Cybil’s because she wasn’t ready to look her big sister’s way.

“But you need to, Erica,” Cybil said, her voice as gentle as before. “It’s time for all of us to unite. We might have found our mates and the power behind that, but I don’t think any of it will matter if we siblings don’t truly find each other first.”

“I tried to find you a long time ago, Cybil,” Erica reminded. She felt the same old anger she thought she had dealt with years ago surfacing as her eyes finally met Cybil’s. “Don’t you remember? I was around ten? Mom had just been diagnosed with cancer, and I couldn’t get near her because...” She blinked away tears, ground her jaw and refused to cry at the memory. “I couldn’t spend much time with her because I had to become a recluse in my bedroom or wherever else because my dragon was trying to surface so much. I was a freak.”

“You were not a freak,” Cybil whispered. “Just advanced.”

Sam, Lauren, and Shannon had grown very quiet as they listened.

“Advanced?” Erica narrowed her eyes. “That’s not what you told me at the time, Cybil. You told me I was sick and needed to keep it a secret so that I wouldn’t upset mom while she was fighting her illness.”

“That’s not how I phrased it,” she defended.

“That’s exactly how you phrased it,” Erica bit out. “I remember it word for word as though you said it yesterday. Yet...” Her eyes went from sister to sister before landing on Cybil again. “I know now that you aided all of our sisters at one time or another with their repressed dragons, mostly in their teenage years. I also know that not once did you make them feel like a freak or tell them they were sick.”

Cybil’s body might have trembled slightly, but she didn’t sit or run away from the conversation. Instead, she stood directly in front of Erica, looked her square in the eyes and confessed. “It’s time you heard the truth. You were different from the day you were born, Erica. Special. More special than any of us. More important.”

Cybil hesitated before continuing, clearly fighting emotions as she kept her head held high, ever the queen. “I didn’t know all the details, but I did know you were meant for great things, and if I didn’t keep you repressed, those great things would not happen.” She shook her head. “Not for you, me or our sisters.” Her eyes went to Kodran then back to Erica. “And not for the Sigdirs. None of this would have been possible if you hadn’t gone down the path you did. If I didn’t...” she trailed off but gathered herself quickly. “If I didn’t do the things I did.”

Kodran tried to comfort Erica within the mind as she struggled. She might know Cybil was a prophet, which in itself was a burden, but that didn’t make her words any easier to hear.

“You were my big sister,” Erica whispered and kept frowning with disappointment. “That means you should have found a way to...do it differently...to not drive me away...”

“My intention was never to drive you away, Erica.”

“But you did.” She shook her head when Cybil tried to take her hand. “And since then, I’ve managed just fine on my own.”

“Tell her everything, Cyb,” Kage murmured.

Erica frowned at Kage with dismay. “You’ve reunited with her for what, a day or two, and you’re already on a nickname basis?”

“It’s been a little longer than that,” Sam said. “More like a few weeks or so since Kage and Vivienne traveled back in time to join us.”

A few weeks? Clearly, Hallstein hadn’t shown up yet, or they would have said something.

“We know what was kept secret from us,” Cybil said softly. “Kage and I know we’re full blooded siblings. And I now know who my real mother was... Mema Angie.”

Erica’s thoughts continued to stream through Kodran’s mind. How Cybil saying that suddenly felt like a weight had been lifted off Erica’s shoulders. One she had no idea she had been carrying. Erica’s eyes went from Sam to Lauren to Shannon. All seemed okay with the revelation. She had been so worried for such a long time. And while she wanted to say she was sorry for keeping such a big secret from them, she just couldn’t seem to find the words. All she felt was anger directed at Cybil.

“I need some space,” Erica murmured. For too long she had been a loner because Cybil set her on that path. And though it was necessary, it didn’t make it any easier to accept. She looked at the caves above. “I’ll go.”

“No.” Cybil shook her head and looked up as well. “It’s daylight outside, and this is a safe space for anyone close to you and Kodran.” She looked at her sisters. “Shift and find shelter. Rest and gain your strength as dragons.”

He felt how impressed Erica was by the sight of her sisters shifting then one by one shooting up through the hilt and blade of Eluf’s creation then settling in its jagged edged caves. There was a certain power in it. Rightness. And she felt it in the wind. In the echoes left behind by their mighty wings.

Yet it seemed one wasn’t so quick to follow Cybil’s orders.

“You all right, Erica?” Kage narrowed his eyes on Kodran. “Because I don’t need to rest to be strong.”

Kodran scowled in return.

“I’m okay.” She offered Kage a small smile and nod. “Thanks, Brother.”

“You sure?”

She glanced at Kodran then back to Kage. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“All right, darlin’ but if you change your mind, just say the word.”

She nodded. “I will.”

His eyes lingered on hers for another moment before they narrowed on Kodran in warning. Soon after, he shifted and then launched. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean the grand exit he had probably hoped for in front of another male dragon as he sort of slammed into the ceiling then did an awkward shimmy up the blade. After all, though there were a few larger caves mixed in, this place was made for a female dragon, not a male twice her size.

When Kodran chuckled, Erica frowned and shook her head before she spoke within his mind. “Leave him alone. He’s new to the whole  flying thing, and you clearly rile him up.”

“I can see that.” He glanced upward. “Don’t worry. We’ll work things out.”

Erica nodded, but he could tell her mood had darkened considerably as she tried to deal with Cybil.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you, Erica,” Cybil said softly, still standing nearby. “Though I had no choice in my actions, it doesn’t mean I don’t wish I could have gone about it another way. I never meant to make you feel like a freak because you weren’t. Not at all. You were the furthest thing from it. You were someone who had to follow her own path to save everyone you love, and I had to make sure you made it down that path.”

Erica didn’t bother looking at Cybil but stared at the fire Kodran had started. “Go away, Cybil.”

“Erica, just hear her out,” Kodran started, but Erica cut him off.

“You get out too, Kodran,” she grumbled. “Like I said, I need time alone.”

“Erica,” Cybil started to say, but Erica spun on her sister and roared, “Go!”

There was no missing the pain in Cybil’s eyes as they held Erica’s for a long moment before she shifted and launched.

Erica spun just as quickly and roared at Kodran, “You too! Go!”

“No,” he said softly, his eyes locked on hers. “Never.”

The pain that she had been hiding so well moments ago started to bubble to the surface, and she averted her eyes. “Please, Kodran. I just need...”

When she trailed off, he pulled her into his arms, pressed her cheek against his chest and held her. She remained perfectly still, frozen almost. He said nothing but stroked her hair and offered comfort. Now he understood the beginning of her long road.

While Cybil might have been focused on the bigger picture, it was clear Erica needed something far different when she was young. “I am sorry,” he whispered, wishing he could have been there for her as a child every bit as much as he wished he could have protected her from Hallstein.

She didn’t say anything for a while just let him hold her until she pulled away and sat in front of the fire. Even then she remained silent for a time, lost in thought. Eventually, she sighed and looked his way. “You know, most of what I’m feeling now is pointless and can’t be changed. So why remain angry? It’s not going to solve anything.”

“No, it won’t,” he agreed. “But you are allowed to feel it and work through it.” His eyes met hers as he sat beside her. “Just as long as you don’t allow it to cloud your judgment.”

“Which it will,” she murmured. “If I keep blaming Cybil for a less-than-perfect childhood.” She ground her jaw. “A part of me knows she did what she had to, just like I did, but it doesn’t stop the emotions.”

“Understandable.” He held her hand. “But maybe you should focus more on what you just said. Like you, she did what she had to do, and that meant not being truthful with her family. Being set apart from them in a way that she couldn’t change.”

Erica didn’t respond but seemed to mull that over.

So he continued. “Consider how you felt when all your sisters appeared and turned eyes your way. You expected them to be angry with you, yes?”

“I did,” she murmured. “But they weren’t.”

“That’s right,” he said. “And they weren’t angry because they realized that though you weren’t truthful with them, you had their best interests in mind. More than that, you were trying to protect them...protect all of us.”

Her eyes went to his. “Just like Cybil was.” She frowned and eyed the fire again. “I thought mating with Hallstein was bad. But Cybil having to say those things to her kid sister to ensure a favorable future is right up there with awful things done for the greater good.”

“It is,” he agreed and squeezed her hand. “And though the situations are somewhat different, consider how quickly your sisters forgave your behavior once they understood its origin.”

Her eyes slid his way again. “Not just intelligent but wise.” She shook her head. “For all my smarts, I seem to be flailing, huh?”

“An emotional response has nothing to do with intelligence,” he said. “And you are allowed to feel the way you do. Just don’t let it consume you and make you do things you’ll end up regretting.”

“Noted,” she whispered as their eyes held. “Thanks, Kodran...for being a good friend.”

“No need to thank me,” he murmured.

While he intended to keep his distance and give her time to think things through, she slid closer and kissed him. It was soft and gentle at first but grew passionate quickly, so he pulled away and shook his head. “I think it’s best if you got some rest. Things will not be quiet between us if we mate again and your sisters should not hear that right now.”

“My sisters?” A grin curled her lips. “Or my brother?”

“Despite his earlier clumsiness, I get the impression he can fight well,” he conceded. “And I don’t think you need to see any strife between him and I right now.”

“No, I’d rather not,” she agreed. “Not that I think he’d necessarily kick your ass for sleeping with me. He knows I’m a big girl.”

“Kick my ass?” He snorted. “I think you might have that turned around.”

She rolled her eyes and grinned. “Some things don’t change with men.”

“Dragons,” he reminded.

“Whatever.” She patted him on the shoulder and headed for the bed. “Time to get some sleep.”

This time, Kodran sat against the wall beside the bed. When she looked at him in question, he shook his head. “After what we just experienced beneath that tree, I won’t be able to keep my hands off of you.” He rested his arm on the bed. “Holding hands is about all I’m willing to risk.”

“Coward,” she whispered then grinned. “But I understand.” She eyed the floor. “I don’t mind switching positions.”

“No, I want you on the bed,” he said. “Please.”

“Okay, but if you change your mind, let me know.” She laid down on the edge of the bed closest to him and took his hand. “About both sitting on the floor and lying here with me.”

Kodran nodded to appease her then closed his eyes. Rest didn’t come easy, but he knew it would not with so many around. He felt responsible for them and though Cybil seemed to think this was a safe place for all, and Eluf had said as much, what if it wasn’t? There were far too many dragons here that were of great importance to his kin. Of great importance to him and Erica.

So he gripped the blade on his lap and kept an eye out. Or at least he thought he did, but he must have nodded off at some point because he suddenly jolted awake to see Eluf sitting across from him staring into the fire. They were no longer in the Gungnir caves but in Eluf’s main cave surrounded by shields. Erica was with him, her startled eyes wide on what was happening. Her sisters and brother appeared as well, clearly caught off guard not only by their surroundings but by the fact they were in human form again.

Eydis stood silently in the corner with a grim expression on her face. She looked at Kodran, put a finger to her lips and shook her head. 

“I do not like the way Bard has been looking at you lately, Eluf.” Maeva shook her head as she paced nearby. “Or the way he has been eying me.” She frowned. “He senses something. I just know it. It started when you and Einar stood by me in court years ago.” Her worried eyes went to Eluf. “I should have paid more attention to him these past few years. I should have flirted...or something.”

“You should have done no such thing.” Eluf snagged her hand as she walked past and pulled her onto his lap. “Remember who we are dealing with. Had you given him a little attention, he would have expected more. He would have stopped at nothing.”

She shook her head. “You do not know that for sure.”

“I do.” He ran his finger along her jaw almost as if he feared it might be one of the last times he did. “And so do you. He hasn’t been our enemy in just one life, after all.”

Maeva frowned and was about to rest her head against his shoulder when everything started shaking. Kodran realized they were yet again watching history unfold when Maeva leapt off Eluf’s lap as a thunderous Bard appeared at the entrance with not only Bjark and Einar but a host of seers and dragons.

“I told you they were breaking the law,” Bard roared as he strode in, unfiltered rage in his eyes as he glared at Eluf. “A seer with one of our dragons.”

It seemed the clock had been rolled back a bit. They had to be witnessing what led up to Eluf creating the Gungnir cave to begin with.

Eluf stepped in front of Maeva before Bard could grab her. “You will not go near her in my mountain.” His eyes went to his fellow seers. “Protect her.”

When they made no movement, Kodran felt their betrayal like a blade to his gut. He felt exactly what Eluf did.

Meanwhile, Bjark looked at them with disappointment.

“I am so sorry, Grandfather,” Maeva said. Though she kept her chin up, there was sadness in her eyes. “I never meant to hurt you...” She rested her hand on Eluf’s arm. “I love him.”

“There you have it,” Bard declared as he glared at the other seers including Eluf’s apprentice, Asmund when he appeared. “I will see Eluf put to death.” His narrowed eyes slid to Maeva before they shot to Bjark. “And since she belongs to no dragon, I will take your granddaughter as my mate so that something like this will never happen again between seers and dragons.”

“I will not allow Eluf to be put to death!” Asmund declared and joined Eluf. “You will not kill our head seer.”

“Nor will I allow it!” another seer announced as he stood on the other side of Eluf.

When Shannon made a muffled sound, Kodran knew she had figured out who they were. Not just her husband in another life, but her brother-in-law, Cameron.

“You will allow it,” Bard ground out, the dragon flickering in his eyes. “Or we will declare war on your kind here and now.”

“No,” Bjark said. “There will be no war.”

“Then what I demand will be done,” Bard spat.

“No.” A heavy frown settled on Bjark’s face. “We will let the seers do what they will with Eluf, and we will declare an end to all relations between seers and dragons until we have had a chance to—”

“No!” Bard roared, his eyes blood red as he tried to move closer to Maeva again but Eluf stood in his way. He spun and glared at Bjark and Einar. “I want war, death to Eluf and Maeva as my own.”

“You will not take my granddaughter against her will,” Bjark said, his tone dark and threatening as he slowly unsheathed a blade. “If you ask her and she agrees, then and only then, will I condone it.”

“I would never be with this monster,” Maeva seethed.

“There you have it.” Bjark’s eyes narrowed on Bard. “All these centuries you have harbored anger and hatred toward seers. I ask you now to accept my proposal and at least see an end to our relations.” Disgust laced his voice. “That, I would think, would appease you some.”

Bard breathed deeply and continued to eye everyone, almost as if he were entertaining the idea until the last thing anyone expected happened. All dragons but Einar shifted and attacked.

Sadly enough, it was one of their own.

Bjark.