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)
But warfare in this realm is unlike any other. With their bombs and guns and planes, humans have found an entirely new way to fight war. It's more barbaric in many ways, infinitely more violent, and yet there are rules and niceties to it that don't exist in any other realm. We've studied it closely in the last three hundred years. We never involved ourselves, even when we wished we could.
Humans are complicated creatures, far more complex than anyone thought. It's not hard to see why they've survived when the other realms faded one by one and died. Destroyed by pride and their own foolish belief that they alone could stand against the dark.
Humans, while often arrogant, understand that they aren't invincible. They accept that death comes for everyone eventually. They're far more willing to work as a unit to change the flow of time instead of seeking to have their names written in the stars. That willingness to work together, even when it means working with an enemy, for the greater good, is something no other realm has ever been able to master. Not even the Fae.
"You know destroying the car won't hold them off for long," Reaper says as we near Abigail and Letty's door. "Sooner or later, they're going to find her."
"I know."
"She has to be ready."
"I know," I growl.
"The best thing you can do to protect her is to train her."
"I know that too." I turn to glare at him. "But I can't train her if I can't even convince her that I didn't drug and kidnap her, now can I?"
"Skíta." Reaper's eyes widen. "She still doesn't remember what happened?"
I hesitate, not sure how to answer that. "Bits and pieces. Enough to make her leery of me." I blow out a breath. "Whatever he gave her wiped big chunks of the night from her memory."
"GHB," Reaper says with a nod. "She's probably familiar enough with it to suspect you doused her drink with it."
I glower at the thought, something dark and deadly twisting through me. If someone doused her with it before, they'll live just long enough to regret it when I find them. No one touches the Valkyrie. No one.
Especially not the fiery little Valkyrie refusing to leave my room.
She's mine.
Abigail and Letty's front door pops open as Reaper and I near the porch. Snow stands two inches deep on the arms of Letty's favorite rocking chair. Icicles hang like stalactites from the eaves and gutters.
The irrepressible eighteen-year-old Seer bounces out, bundled up in a fluffy coat and gloves, with Damrion hot on her heels. Strands of her wild red hair frame her round face.
"Dax!" She flashes two dimples at me, smiling brightly. "Damrion said I could go meet the Valkyrie today."
"I did not say that," Damrion rumbles. "I said maybe you could meet her later."
"Same difference." Abigail beams. "Is she as beautiful as she was in my vision, Dax?"
"Ja," I say quietly. "Like the sun."
"You love her already."
I eye her, surprised.
She places her hand on my arm. "It's okay. She's going to love you too. Just like Gerðr loved Freyr."
Damrion and Reaper share a look.
"Abigail, ást-meer," I say gently. "Did you know that Rissa was going to call my soul?"
"Her name is Rissa?"
"Ja, it is."
"Answer him, Abigail," Damrion orders.
"Yes." She glances between the three of us, her expression worried. "But I couldn't see when it happened. I didn't want to say anything in case it didn't happen right away." Her teeth sink into her bottom lip. "Are you mad?"
"Nei, ást-meer." I share a look with Reaper, shocked. Never in recorded memory has anyone been able to Foretell a bond, not even the Valkyrie. "But it's important that you tell us everything you see. Even the things you believe are unimportant."
Her teeth sink deeper into her bottom lip. Last year, Letty grounded her after Adriel caught her outside the gates alone. She retaliated by filling Letty's bed with frogs, the one thing in this realm the old woman fears. When the old woman discovered them, Abigail wore the same look she's wearing right now. Guilt.
"You know something," Reaper says, reading the same thing I do on her face.
"We have to go see Rissa."
"Abigail."
"She's going to try to sneak out the window!" Abigail cries. "I thought if I went to see her, I could convince her not to do it. But if we keep standing here, it'll be too late."
"Skíta," I growl, spinning on my heel to run back to the house. She's going to break her fool neck. Nei. I'm going to spank her perfect ass before she has a chance to do that.
What is she thinking?
Do I even need to ask?
She's fleeing for her life. Literally.
I burst through the front door, hitting it so hard it slams into the wall before flying back at me. I catch it with my shoulder, grunting.