Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 47068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 235(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 235(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
"D-Dax, what are you? Are you one of those warriors?"
Neither are the question I expected her to ask.
"Nei, Rissa. I'm not."
"But you aren't human, either."
"Nei."
"Tell me."
"My brothers and I are Fae, the oath-sworn Guardians of Valhalla."
"B-brothers? How many of you are there?"
"167. The last of the Fae." I pause. "The last flickering flame of Valhalla."
"And you're all stranded here? On earth?"
"Ja."
She expels a soft breath, which shakes upon her lips. "And you think I'm one of the Valkyrie you're looking for?"
"I know you are, Rissa."
"How?"
"Because you are."
"How do you know?"
"I feel it." I tap my chest, right over my heart. "Here."
Her gaze follows my hand. "A-are you s-saying…?"
Ja, little Valkyrie. That's exactly what I'm saying. You called my soul.
I lean forward, brushing my lips across her forehead instead of answering her question. She isn't ready. Not now. Not yet. If I tell her that truth, it'll shatter whatever trust she's decided to give me. I don't have to know her to know that. I see it in her eyes. Accepting the truth about Valkyrie and Forsaken and the fate of the world is one thing. But accepting that her soul is tied to mine? That thought terrifies the hell out of this little warrior.
"Rest, Valkyrie. We'll talk again when you've had time to process."
I step away from her, striding toward the door.
"Dax."
"The fire last night. Um, the one that killed that…that Forsaken," she whispers behind me. "I really started it, didn't I?"
"Ja."
"I killed him."
"Nei, Rissa. You can't kill what's already dead. You protected yourself. That's all."
She sighs, a forlorn, devastating sound that shatters my heart. I turn to cross back to her, unable to leave when everything in me demands I comfort her. But I'm not even half a step before she throws up a hand, halting me.
"Please, just go," she whispers.
It kills me to give her what she demands, but she holds my bond. I'm no more capable of defying her order as I am of harming a single hair on her head.
"I'll be downstairs if you need me."
She crawls onto the bed, not speaking.
My last glimpse of her is of tears shimmering in her lashes, my pillow gripped to her chest as if she's trying to draw it into herself.
Chapter Four
Dax
"You're still alive." Malachi tosses one booted foot up on the coffee table, clasping his fingers together behind his head as he grins at me. "I knew you'd handle the bond well."
"You're full of shit is what you are," Reaper mutters, kicking his foot off the table. It lands on the wooden floor with a thud, jolting Malachi forward in his chair. "You're betting against him."
Malachi's grin grows, his expression unrepentant as he immediately stretches his legs out, unbothered by Reaper. "Yes, well, I'm trying to off-load my share of our fortune before we make a triumphant return to Valhalla."
Despite living simply, we've amassed a small human fortune over the last three centuries. It's not hard to do when you've got nothing but time. We use it only when we must, to ensure the safety of the Fae and the Blooded who find their way to us, or to aid in our mission. Riches have never mattered much to the Fae. When you live forever, they lose their luster.
Several of the Fae, like Malachi, make a game of winning—and losing—vast sums of money. They bet on everything. Including, apparently, whether I can win the heart of my Valkyrie or if I'll fuck it up.
I'm not a patient Fae and I never have been. My brothers know this. And Rissa hasn't left my room in two days. She barely lets me through the door. I do not like living under the same roof with doors closed between us. But I'm trying to give her time to get used to me. She's been through a lot.
That doesn't make me any more of a patient Fae.
Reaper's deep, disbelieving laugh booms across the living room. "How you've survived this long is a mystery, Malachi."
I tune them out, looking at Adriel, who's seated at the dining room table for the first time in days, slowly shuffling through a deck of cards. "Did you get rid of the SUV?"
"Drove it all over the state and then pushed it over a cliff two hours east of here. If they have a tracker on it, it won't lead them here," he answers without looking up.
"Do we have warriors guarding the gates?"
Unlike most towns nestled this deep in the Cascades, ours is a fortress carefully constructed for defense. Two entire blocks are designed to look exactly like every other tiny human town in this part of the world. Those, we allow the world to see. But the rest is carefully hidden behind walls no one is allowed behind unless we decide to let them. Most never even realize that they're even here.