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)
"Did I…" She pauses to wet her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. "Did I kill them?"
"You can't kill what's already dead, Rissa."
"You keep saying that," she whispers.
"Because it's true." I stroke my fingertips along her cheeks. "I won't allow you to carry guilt that doesn't belong to you. The varulv willingly sold their souls to the dark upon death. They allowed the Forsaken to twist what they were into what they became. They were already dead. There was no Light in them left to extinguish, just like there is none left in the Forsaken. You expose the shadow in their twisted souls to the Light, a Light they haven't felt fall upon them in Gods only know how long. That isn't death. That's mercy."
"They screamed like they were dying," she mutters, shivering at the memory.
"Dark doesn't give way to Light easily, lyseste ljós."
She frowns at me.
"When you turn on the light in a room, does the shadow hide or does the light vanquish it?" I ask her.
"How should I know?"
"Humor me, Rissa."
"I don't know, Dax. I never thought about it. I just turn on the light."
"Ja. You just turn on the light and the shadow goes away. The same thing happens here. You shine your Light, and the shadow burns away. But if the shadows in that room could speak, do you think they'd go silently, lyseste ljós? Or do you think they'd scream their defiance the whole way?"
"I don't know. I never thought about it," she whispers. "I guess they'd probably scream."
"Ja. They would. The dark doesn't give way to the Light easily," I repeat. "It goes with a scream of fury, reminded that the only thing more powerful than the dark is the Light. The only thing capable of defeating the dark and burning away those shadows is the one thing it loathes. Light." I brush my thumbs across her cheeks. "They didn't scream as if they were dying, Rissa. They screamed in horror. They screamed in rage. For the first time in thousands of years, the Light fell upon them, and they were forced to remember what they willingly gave up."
"Their humanity?"
"Love. Alt du gjør er gjort i kjærlighet."
Her gaze flits across my face, searching. "Sometimes, I feel like what you say is right at the forefront of my mind, as if I should be able to remember it and I just can't recall. It's so familiar, even though I've never heard the language before."
"Your heart remembers, Valkyrie, even if your mind does not."
"What did you say?"
"I said that all you do, you do in love."
"Oh." She swallows audibly, her throat working. "You felt what I did tonight, didn't you?"
"Ja," I whisper.
"I couldn't let you die trying to protect me, Dax. You said a person can't live with only half a soul. You were right. I can't live with only half of mine," she whispers, tears shimmering in her lashes. "If you die…I can't…I don't…" She licks her lips and tries again. "I don't want to live in this world without you."
"What are you saying, Valkyrie?"
"I'm saying…" She blows out a breath. "Whatever I have to do to complete this bond, I'll do. Whatever it takes to bind my soul to yours, I'm in. I want it, Dax."
This is the place humans call heaven. This is rapture. It must be because I've traveled the realms with the Valkyrie. I've walked the Shining City and knelt in the Hall of Warriors. I've raced through the forests of Alfheimr and bathed in its deepest pools. Every haven of Light, I've seen. But none come close to this drafty room and this one perfect, peaceful moment. None could even hope to compare to the Valkyrie spread across the bed, her bright blue eyes locked on my face. This has to be rapture, because I know no other name for the soul-deep sense of wonder coursing through me. There is no word for the adoration pumping through my veins.
Ja. All we do, we do for love. I'd raze kingdoms and destroy realms in the name of it. Just for one more moment with this powerful Valkyrie. That's how completely she owns my soul. That's how wildly my Fae heart beats for her.
"Rissa," I breathe, crawling onto the bed with her, pride and awe and joy crashing together in the center of my chest. "My Valkyrie."
"Tell me what to do, Dax," she whispers, draping her arms around my neck. "Tell me how to complete it."
"You already have, Valkyrie," I breathe, leaning down to press my lips to hers in a fervent, devoted kiss. My tongue tangles with hers, drawing her taste into my mouth, her breath into my lungs. "When you thought I was in danger, you threw your soul open wide to me. You allowed me to claim it."