“To retrieve the Jewel of Dreams,” Sorin reminded him.
“And maybe to do more,” Ere persisted.
Sorin was silent.
“Come on. What about Morgan’s verses? The same ones that were tattooed into your hand and arm, the side of your face?”
Those ancient runes had disappeared entirely from Sorin’s skin, put there by another witch many millennia ago. Once upon a time, they had kept him alive when he would have died. They’d glowed with the magic of the ancient gods themselves.
“What if Guinevere is the queen in the curse or prophesy, just like Ashlu was? And Arthur is the king. And Wolfe is the champion? What if we’re here to help Arthur and Wolfe? What if the Jewel of Dreams is just a means to an end, not the end itself?”
His mate remained silent, but Ere could almost hear his thoughts. He was mulling over the possibilities of what this could mean.
Ere waited for long moments, his own brain spinning a thousand miles per hour.
Just when he opened his mouth to argue further, Sorin said:
“Before the portal to return to our world reveals itself, we will see this through.”
Ere’s face lit up with excitement and conviction. But before he could crow his triumph, Sorin silenced him with a hard kiss.
“You are a meddlesome dragon,” he rasped into Ere’s mouth.
“But you love me to pieces anyway,” Ere said delightedly.
“No,” Sorin corrected. “Because of it.”
“Mmm,” Ere purred, wrapping his arms around the warrior’s neck. “One of these days, I’m going to make you say the words.”
Ere enunciated them slowly and clearly, “I. Love. You.”
Sorin pressed his nose into Ere’s long, dark hair and breathed in deeply.
“I say them every day,” he uttered low.
Ere shivered from head to toe in anticipation and pleasure.
“I know.”
And he did.
Sorin told him countless times every day, with a look, a gesture, a touch, how endlessly and completely he was loved. He might tease the warrior for his reticence, but Ere heard him loud and clear.
Always.
~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~
Wolfe was impressed.
He didn’t know why, for he knew Rui was a formidable warrior with unfathomable skills, but to see her in action…
He was impressed.
When they tallied up the results from the morning’s race, target shooting and hunt, she was the clear winner in every category except for the hunt. Though he suspected that was by her own design. Because she excelled so well in the other parts of the event, she was comfortably counted in the group that advanced to the next round.
She raced through the obstacle course like her horse had spouted wings. It was a fast horse, but she rode it not just as if they were one, but more like she was weightless. Like she wasn’t even there.
However, she was clearly present, for the arrows she let fly, easily hitting every target dead center. Sometimes, she released two or three arrows at a time, using the angle, the wind, and the feathered ends to direct them to different targets.