The Dragon's Hunt

by Jane Kindred

  Theia looked up at her with a hesitant smile. Her eyes looked a little puffy. Maybe it was all the perfumey candles. All four of them were a bit allergic to perfume, and all of them suffered through it, because they loved scented things.

  “Hey,” said Theia. “I’m glad you came.”

  “Who would want to miss Rafe and Dev in Hello Kitty aprons?”

  Theia grinned, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them as she glanced into the kitchen over the breakfast bar at the pair of khaki-clad muscular behinds topped by the pink bows of the apron strings. “Yeah, the view is pret-ty nice from here.”

  “Of course, it would be better if they weren’t wearing pants.”

  Theia covered her mouth to stifle a loud burst of laughter. “Dammit, Rhe, now I’ll never get that image out of my head.”

  “It’s a good one, isn’t it?” Rhea rested one ankle on her knee, and Puddleglum came unglued as the pompons from the furry boot swung from the end of the tie. Without Rhea having to do a thing to entertain him, he was batting and flipping the furry balls wildly, hanging on with both paws as he twisted around.

  “Those are the boots I got you.”

  “Yeah. They’re perfect for this weather. It’s kind of crazy, huh?”

  Theia leaned back with her arms behind her, palms braced against the stone hearth. “We don’t even have this much snow in Flag yet. Guess you’re learning to drive in the white stuff, now, huh?”

  “A bit, yeah.”

  “So what happened to your car? It’s still under warranty, isn’t it?”

  Rhea jiggled her foot to swing Puddleglum, now attached by both feet and his jaws. “It’s just the alternator or something. I’m sure it’s covered.”

  “Listen, whatever I did—”

  “We don’t have to talk about it.”

  Theia’s face fell. “We do, though. I want to make it right.”

  “You can’t.”

  “Rhe—”

  To Rhea’s relief, Phoebe swept into the room with a tray full of tapas, ending the conversation. “Okay, we’ve got puris from Dev and empanaditas from Rafe, and of course Yiayia’s spanakopita.”

  Ione followed, setting out little plates decorated with holly, and Rhea got up to load her plate.

  Phoebe set the tray on the coffee table amid the candles. “And the vegetarian options are on the left for you weirdos who are tormenting yourselves in that fashion. Luckily, everything’s delicious.”

  Rhea slapped Phoebe’s hand as she reached for one of the options she’d pointed out. “If they’re all so great, stick to the carnivore side, meat monger.”

  “Meat monger?”

  Rhea popped a curry puff into her mouth. “If they’re all so delicious, you can leave the vegetarian stuff to Ione and me.”

  Ione reached for one of the beef empanaditas as the words left Rhea’s mouth. “Oh, I’m not doing that anymore. We have to keep meat in the house all the time for Kur, and Dev has to eat a fair amount of it himself because of his metabolism, so I kind of gave up on it.”

  “Gone to the dark side because of a man. Typical.”

  * * *

  After dinner, they all struggled to make room for Phoebe’s pumpkin pie accompanied by eggnog spiked with tequila and whiskey—another of Rafe’s specialties. Being the heir to the Diamante Construction fortune had its perks, one of which was apparently having a massive wet bar of the finest liquors.

  Rhea had just sat down with a second piece of pie when they heard a car on the drive. She tensed and threw an accusatory glance at Theia, thinking she’d gotten Laurel to come after all, but from her spot by the window, she saw the car was a MINI. She paused in midbite. Leo was driving it.

  Chapter 21

  Sitting across from her on the faux leather chair, Phoebe followed Rhea’s glance. “Isn’t that your car?”

  Rhea nodded dumbly, watching as Leo’s large frame somehow managed to exit the vehicle with grace. He stood beside the car, looking around as though he wasn’t quite sure how he’d gotten there. Neither was Rhea.

  She set down her plate and went outside. “Leo. What...?” She couldn’t think of a reasonable question.

  He stuck his hands in his pockets and swayed back on his heels. “I was halfway to Tucson when I just...felt wrong and had to turn back. And something led me here.”

  “Felt wrong? You stole my car.”

  Leo’s eyes were defiant. “I didn’t come back because I was sorry.”

  “So you’re a jackass and you decided to come tell me that on Christmas Eve.”

  “No, I—I don’t know why, but I had to come back.”

  Rhea hugged her bare arms, the cardigan abandoned inside by the warmth of the fire. “Why did you leave?”

  “You want me to give up my life. For him.”

  Her stomach knotted. “You heard me talking to Phoebe. Leo, it’s not that I want you to give anything up. I’m trying to help you. You need your hugr. And it needs you.”

  “Says who?” He paced away from the car, his expression pained. “I came back because the farther I drove away from you, the more the sense of wrongness overwhelmed me. Not emotionally or physically but in everything around me, as though the fabric of the world was unraveling. I’ve felt this before.” He took a breath. “It’s magical.”

  “Magical?” She smiled quizzically, thinking he was talking about the two of them together, but he didn’t return the smile, and hers faded.

  “I’m bound to you. I don’t know if you did it consciously—”

  “Leo, I would never—”

  “Then it’s her. It’s Kára. She’s behind this.” He stepped close to her finally, and the defiant look was gone. “But if she had to bind me to someone, I’m glad it’s you.” He stroked Rhea’s cheek with the back of his hand, making her shiver. “I won’t go back, you understand. I will fight you. I will fight him. But I didn’t like being away from you, magic or no.”

  She didn’t know how to respond to that. Parts of it made her feet feel floaty beneath her, and parts of it felt like a threat.

  But Leo didn’t wait for a response. “You’re freezing.” He rubbed her arms and pulled her into the circle of his own. “Should we go inside? Or do you want to be alone with your family?”

  Rhea shook her head, looking up into eyes as bright and blue as tumbled sea glass. She’d felt wrong too with him gone. She couldn’t bear the thought of him leaving again.

  “Are you guys coming in or what?” Phoebe was at the screen door. “We’re about to open presents.”

  Rhea turned, biting her lip. “I didn’t bring mine.” She hadn’t brought them because she hadn’t bought them. Because she was flat broke.

  “Sweetie, Rafe has so much money he doesn’t know what to do with it. The only present we need from you is you.”

  After bringing Leo inside, Rhea introduced him to Rafe, who was standing just inside the living room. It was the first time she’d ever seen Rafe look shorter than anyone, which she assumed was an illusion of the sunken floor until Leo stepped down to shake his hand. Somehow, it was irrationally pleasing that Leo was taller.

  “Ione and Dev you’ve already met,” said Rhea. “And this is my...” She glanced awkwardly from Leo to Theia, remembering belatedly that they knew each other all too well.

  Theia rose and held out her hand. “As you know, I’m her evil twin. Nice to see you again.”

  Leo studied her quizzically as he shook her hand. “Have we...?” He paused, still holding her hand as she tried to pull it back, looking embarrassed. “Ah! Theia Dawn. The one who ‘swiped right.’” He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it. “Delighted to make your acquaintance in the flesh.”

  Theia frowned as she withdrew her hand. She probably thought he was messing with her.
r />   “Leo has some short-term memory problems,” said Rhea. It was the easiest explanation for now.

  Theia still looked suspicious, like maybe Rhea was in on whatever game Leo was playing. “You don’t remember meeting me?”

  Leo smiled and shrugged. “Not specifically. I am aware of who you are, though. Of how we met.”

  Theia glanced at Rhea, trying to gauge the situation.

  “It’s complicated,” said Rhea. “He retains certain details, like a narrative, even if he doesn’t consciously recall them as having happened to himself.”

  Theia nodded, clearly not convinced.

  Leo put his hands in his pockets. “I’m afraid I’ve interrupted your gift giving.” He looked around for Phoebe.

  Phoebe smiled. “You didn’t interrupt. We were just about to get started.”

  Dev offered Leo his seat on the couch as Ione brought an extra slice of pie and a glass of eggnog from the kitchen. Leo examined the glass as he sat. “What’s this?”

  “It’s nog.” Rhea grabbed her own and took her seat in the papasan, not wanting to appear like lovestruck teens who needed to sit in each other’s laps and couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Like certain sisters she could name.

  “Nog?” Leo’s eyes crinkled. “Is that like glögg?”

  Rhea shook her head, taking a sip of hers. “Eggnog. It’s cream and eggs with tequila and whiskey.”

  Leo looked askance at the glass. “Eggs?”

  “Just try it. It’s good. What’s glögg?”

  “Mulled wine,” said Theia.

  Leo tasted the beverage hesitantly. “Interesting.” He looked up at Rafe. “This has your Peligroso in it, doesn’t it?”

  Rafe smiled quizzically. “How did you know?”

  Dev grinned. “I made your Mexican chocolate for them the other night.”

  Phoebe was hauling presents out from under the tree. “Okay, enough about alcohol. Present time. Theia, this one’s for you. And one for Rhea.”

  Rhea’s was weighty...and felt like some kind of metal case. “No. No, you didn’t.” She ripped the paper off to find a full professional tattoo kit, complete with more than a dozen bottles of ink, ink cups, needles and the works. “Oh my God. You guys...” She was too choked up to thank them properly. Theia smiled at her, acknowledging the unspoken gratitude. Only Theia would have known exactly what brand Rhea preferred.

  “And this one’s for Leo.”

  Leo’s expression of surprise was almost comical as Phoebe set the package in his lap. “You got me a gift?”

  “Of course we did. It’s Christmas. It’s from all of us.”

  He turned the package about as though it were a foreign object. “I don’t really do Christmas. I’m not a Christian.”

  Phoebe snorted. “Neither are we.”

  “Speak for yourself.” Ione’s tone was reproachful.

  “Right. Sorry,” said Phoebe. “With the exception of Ione, the high priestess of her local coven of witches, neither are we.”

  “Nice,” said Ione. “And...not wrong.” She admired the candleholder she’d unwrapped.

  “So call it a Yule present,” Phoebe said to Leo. “Go ahead. Open it.”

  Leo unwrapped the paper carefully, setting it aside before opening the plain white box. Nestled in tissue paper inside was a leather-bound book with a fancy pen.

  “It’s a blank book,” said Phoebe. “For writing down things you want to remember. They say doing it physically with a pen and paper helps memory.”

  Leo smoothed his hand over the leather cover. “That’s very...thoughtful.” He glanced around at the others, seemingly overcome. “I don’t remember ever receiving such a nice gift.”

  One thing Rhea had come to realize since Leo’s munr had been freed was that he had no use for casual lying to make someone feel good. The munr was motivated strictly by his desires. He didn’t do flattery.

  Pretending to examine one of the bottles of ink, she looked down at her lap to suppress the sudden rush of feeling for him, that he was so moved by such a simple gift. And that he’d never received anything thoughtful before was a testament not to his lack of memory but to what his existence had been since the curse. His memories through Leo’s experiences would have yielded that sort of detail. And his personal memories were of nothing but confinement. It made her heart ache.

  Dev, standing by the breakfast bar, picked up a small gift bag from the floor. “Ione and I got you a little something else as well.”

  Bemused, Leo took the bag and folded back the tissue paper, pulling out a knitted scarf and a matching cap in a pale grayish-blue. He put the scarf around his neck and tugged the cap onto his head with an amused smile directed at Rhea. The cap he’d worn before had belonged to Leo the Dull. The color made the blue of his eyes pop like aquamarine gemstones.

  “Rhea mentioned you’d lost a few things in the fire,” said Ione. “We thought you could use a little something to keep you warm.”

  “But that’s really just the wrapping,” said Dev. “Dig deeper.”

  Eyebrows knitting with curiosity, Leo fished in the tissue in the bottom of the bag and pulled out a bottle of Peligroso with a red bow tied around the neck. His laugh as he held it up was the sort that made Rhea tingly.

  “Thank you. Sincerely.” He gripped the bottle like he’d won an Oscar. “This will indeed keep me warm.”

  Rhea’s imbibing, meanwhile, had made her more than warm. She got up to use the bathroom, and when she came out, Theia was waiting in the hallway.

  Before she could step aside, Theia steered her back in and shut the door, blocking it with her body. “Okay, who is that?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That is not Leo Ström. Not the Leo Ström I met. When Phoebe told me you were seeing him, I thought, ‘Well, that’s nice for Rhea. He’s a little indecisive and aimless but very cute, and very sweet. She’ll have fun with him.’ But that guy...” Theia jerked her thumb over her shoulder toward the door. “He’s like something out of a sexy pirate movie. He talks different, and he exudes—” Theia’s cheeks colored. “He’s like walking man candy.”

  Rhea blinked at her, stunned. “Are you actually jealous of me?”

  “No, I’m not j—” Theia stopped and looked at the ceiling. “Okay, yes, in the pure abstract, I’m seething with jealousy. Not because I wish it had worked out between him and me but because I’ve never had anybody look at me the way he looks at you—like he worships the ground you walk on.”

  Rhea laughed. “Yeah, sure you haven’t.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh my God, Thei. Every guy looked at you like that in school. You were the one they wanted to ask out. I’m the one they came to when they wanted to know whether you’d say yes if they did.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Jesus, what alternate reality were you living in?”

  “That doesn’t even make sense. We’re identical.”

  “Really? You’re trying to play the ‘identical’ card with me? Look, I’m not upset about it. I mean, sometimes I am, because it sucks being the one guys want to be friends with so they can get close to my sister who looks just like me. But it is what it is. I’ve never blamed you for it. We’re different people. Just...own it, for Christ’s sake.”

  Theia’s arms dropped to her sides. “I had no idea you felt this way. Honestly, I never knew that was happening when we were in school. I guess maybe I was a little self-absorbed.”

  “Well...wake up, Cupcake.” Rhea flicked Theia’s forehead with her thumb and forefinger, like she would a ripe melon.

  “Ow!” Theia rubbed her forehead ruefully. “My apparent superiority aside—” she jumped to the side with a grin to avoid another head flick “—quit avoiding the quest
ion. Who is that guy?”

  “He’s Leo Ström. Mostly.”

  “What do you mean, mostly?”

  “He’s...” Rhea lifted her shoulders with a sigh. “He’s a thousand-year-old Viking living under a Norn curse that separates his essential selves every Yuletide while his soul goes off to lead the Wild Hunt. His soul is AWOL at the moment. That’s why he can’t remember anything. The Norns exacted a price for his life—his mind and his will. Leo—the Leo in Phoebe’s living room—is his will, and he’s been trapped in a sort of limbo until I helped free him the night of the fire.”

  Theia leaned back against the door abruptly, her head striking it with a thud. “Wow. I—did not pick up on that on our handful of awkward dates.”

  “Well, you know...you’re self-absorbed.” Rhea grinned. “So you really think he worships the ground I walk on?”

  Theia laughed. “Yeah, I really do.” She shook her head, still looking a little dazed. “What are you going to do about his soul?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. Neither of them seem particularly keen on reintegrating. But if he doesn’t do it before Yuletide officially ends, he won’t be able to do it at all.”

  “So the soul-Leo—”

  “The hugr. This one’s the munr.”

  “The hugr. Is that who I met in Flagstaff?”

  “Oh, I doubt it. The hugr’s kind of an asshole. I assume you met the same one I did, the fully integrated Leo, except with his mind and will suppressed.”

  A loud knock sounded on the door. “Other people have to pee, you know.” Phoebe rattled the handle.

  Theia opened the door. “Don’t you have another bathroom?”

  “Yeah. That’s why I said people, as in more than one peeing person. Ione’s using it.” She moved Theia aside. “You two are welcome to stay in here and watch me do my thing if that’s what floats your boat, but I’m not waiting any longer.”

  Theia grabbed Rhea by the hand and headed out the door. “No, thanks. You can float your own boat...and that metaphor is really gross, Phoebes.” She paused in the hallway after Phoebe shut the door. “So we’re... Are we good, Rhe? I’ve really missed you.”