Valkyrie Blade (Valkyrie Bound #4)

Chapter Seven

Marion

I know I'm dreaming as soon as my feet touch the ground. Everything around me is hazy and insubstantial, the same way it always is. Darkness clings to the edges, as if I'm looking through a set of binoculars.

I don't recognize where I am.

Wait. That's not true.

I spin in a circle, my eyes falling on a small cabin hidden amongst the trees. It's tiny, like the cabins hunters use, with a rickety front porch and small windows covered with paisley curtains.

My brows furrow, memories shifting through my mind. I think I've been here before. The cabin is familiar…comforting. Why do I know it?

"Marion! Come here, solsken !"

Papa?

I wheel around, my gaze falling on the man stepping from the edge of the woods.

"Papa!" I cry, scurrying through the tall grass toward him.

His handsome face breaks into a grin as he kneels, holding his arms out for me. I fling myself into them, squealing.

They close around me, strong and comforting. The scent of cigar smoke swirls around me as he pulls me close, his beard tickling my forehead.

"Have you been a good girl today, solsken ?"

"Yes, Papa!" I promise, squealing with laughter as he kisses all over my face. "Show me! Show me!"

He chuckles, rising to his feet. "I suppose since you've been a good girl…" He adjusts me on his hip, my feet dangling high above the ground, and stretches one hand away from me.

I watch in awe as a blazing sword of Light appears in his hand, burning bright as the sun.

"Pretty, Papa," I breathe. So he is. The same Light radiates from him, golden and warm.

"Your turn now, solsken ," he says, his green eyes gentle as he looks down at me. "Show me what Papa taught you."

I hold my hand out and squeeze my eyes closed, concentrating. Light gathers inside like a breeze blowing through me, wispy and insubstantial. It grows stronger, becoming a stiffer wind, a bright flame.

"Good girl! That's it!"

I pop my eyes open to find a little blade of Light wavering in my outstretched hand. It's tiny and half-formed, nowhere near as bright or powerful as the Light coming from his sword. But it's there. I did it.

"Look at you," Papa says, stroking his hand through my hair. "So strong already, solsken . Your mother would be so proud."

My mother…

"I want to see mama," I whisper.

"I know, solsken . And you will one day," he promises. "When it's safe. Remember what I told you?"

My shoulders droop. "She had to go away so the monsters wouldn't find me."

The scene spins wildly, everything twirling in a kaleidoscope. I lose track of Papa. Lose track of myself. The cabin fades away. So does the forest.

"Papa!" I cry, reaching for him, but it's no use. I can't hold on.

I'm sucked through the tunneling kaleidoscope…

And dropped heavily into another dream.

I spin around wildly, trying to make sense of where I am or what's happening. It's dark and loud. Everything is so loud.

Why? What's going on?

I stumble forward, trying to make sense of what's happening. Three men are attacking Papa. His sword spins through the air, pushing them back.

"Where is the Valkyrie witch, Fae?" one of them asks. "Tell us and we'll let you live."

" Fareu í rassgat ," Papa spits.

"Papa?" I whisper.

He flicks his gaze in my direction. "Run, Marion!" he says, fear and pain burning in his eyes. "You have to run!"

One of the men attacking him turns to look at me.

I shrink back, screaming in terror. He isn't a man. His eyes…his nose…his face…it's all wrong. Everything about him is wrong.

"Papa!" I cry.

"Run!" he orders, command ringing in his voice.

I obey on instinct, my feet flying over the floorboards as I scurry for the door. Somehow, I get it open and rush out into the dark, sobbing. My heart pounds as I flee into the woods, sticks and branches gouging into my bare feet, thorns scraping my arms and legs.

I don't know how long or far I run, but the sounds coming from the house fade behind me. Everything is dark…silent. I'm lost, completely alone.

And then a branch snaps behind me.

"Papa?" I spin around, so scared my knees shake.

"Nei, little one," a woman says, her voice drifting from the dark. "Your papa sent me to help hide you."

I hesitate, not sure I should trust her. What if she's with the bad men? What if she wants to hurt me like they were trying to hurt Papa?

"It's all right, little one," she says gently. "Remember what your papa showed you?" A second later, a little ball of Light appears a few feet ahead.

I squint my eyes, trying to adjust…only to realize that she's holding the Light. Just like I can. She's like me and Papa. She even looks like me, with red hair and green eyes.

"See?" she says, holding out her other hand toward me. "He sent me to find you. He said we have to hide from the monsters."

"Ma…mama?"

"Yes, little one. I'm your mama."

I rush toward her, pressing my face against her leg.

"Sweet girl," she whispers, running her fingers through my tangled hair as her Light winks out. She bends, scooping me into her arms. She smells like the forest, like honey and earth.

"I'm scared," I whisper, resting my head against her shoulder as tears leak from the corners of my eyes. "I want Papa."

He always makes it better when I'm scared.

"I know, sweet girl," she croons, carrying me through the forest. "I know you do. But it's not safe for you anymore." Her shoulders shake, her voice cracking. I think she's crying too. "Now that they know about you, they'll never stop looking. We have to keep you hidden at all costs."

"Marion."

I jolt awake, crying out.

"Easy, ljúfr ," Malachi whispers, running a hand down the side of my face as I scramble backward on the bed. "Easy. It's just me."

"Malachi," I gasp, clutching my chest. "I…"

"You were having a nightmare, ljúfr . You were crying." He strokes gentle fingers beneath my eyes. Only then do I realize my cheeks are damp with tears. He's right. I was crying. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I…" I stare at him, not even sure what to say. I think…I think I saw my past. I've dreamed versions of it for years. Dark visions that haunted my sleep. I never understood what they meant or where they came from. For so long, I thought the faceless, evil men were just nightmares. And then the Forsaken opened a portal into my living room and I realized they were real. But even then, I didn't understand.

The night they kidnapped me wasn't the first time I saw them. They came when I was a little girl and destroyed my entire world. They're the reason I grew up in foster care…and my mother is the one who put me there. She hid me far away from her and my father so they wouldn't ever find me.

But even then, she watched over me. She made sure I wasn't entirely alone. My whole life, I thought I was unloved, unwanted.

The truth is so much more painful than that. I was always loved, always wanted. And they had no choice. To protect me, they had to give me up.

Who were they? How did they know so much about this world?

"Malachi, I…" I swallow hard, not even sure where to begin explaining the chaos in my mind or the questions roaring through it. Not sure where to begin asking for answers. There are important pieces missing, and I think those pieces hold the key to our future just as much as they do to my past. But the shape of them…the shape is terrifyingly big. I'm not sure I'm ready to face it yet.

His expression softens with understanding as he stares at me. "We don't have to talk, ljúfr . I have a better plan." He climbs from the bed, holding his hand out to me. "Come."

I eye him sideways. "Where?"

The mischief in his grin is contagious as it spreads across his face. "To see what your sisters have been doing while you recovered your strength."

I slip my hand into his hand, allowing him to pull me from the bed.

Twenty minutes later, Malachi holds the door open for me, allowing me to duck beneath his arm out into town. The smell of battle and burning flesh hits me like a sickening wave, turning my stomach.

"Malachi." I clutch his arm, my heart trembling with fear. I should have been out here helping, not sleeping! Not seducing him!

"It's all right, ljúfr ," he promises as if reading my mind. "We're holding them off for now."

"What? How?"

A mysterious smile is the only answer he gives as he slips his arm through mine, cutting a path toward the center of Eitr.

We weave through the maze of pikes and around trenches, a wall of sound echoing from the mountains around us. I shiver, wrapping my arms around myself.

I always imagined war would be loud, but I never thought it'd sound so…haunting. The screams of dying Forsaken and varulv end as abruptly as the start, leaving an eerie echo humming around us. It sounds almost like a song borne in rage, fading to silence. I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

"Is it always like this?" I whisper, glancing at Malachi out of the corner of my eye. He's fearsome beside me in his leathers and armor, dressed not for the world I was born into but for the world he was born into. He's Fae in every way as he leads me through Eitr, strong, fierce, and proud. And so damn beautiful. His umber skin shines with his Light, his brilliant eyes blazing with warmth. And yet…he still seems so human to me.

"Ja." He dips his head, looking at me. "War is always like this, ljúfr ."

I sigh sadly, but don't respond. What would I even say? This man has known a lifetime of war, of killing, and death. And he still stands. He still fights.

I've never been that brave.

A few moments later, we stop beside a massive building in the very center of town.

"What is this place?" I crane my head back to look at him.

"We call it the Hall of Warriors." A ghost of a smile flashes across his face. "In Valhalla, it was a place of honor. It's the same here, but on a smaller scale. It's where the portal spit us out when it collapsed."

I run my hand along one hand-hewn log. "It looks like it burned."

"Ja." His smile slips, a scowl overtaking his expression. "When the Forsaken last attacked, they set it on fire. Portions of it were burned." He pats a massive log. "But it resisted their magic."

"Are we going in?"

"Nei." He nods at a ladder carved into the side of the building. "We're going up, Valkyrie."

I eye the ladder nervously. "Is now a bad time to tell you that I'm afraid of heights?"

"Little coward," he says, chuckling as he nudges me toward it. "I'll be right behind you. Climb, Valkyrie."

I grumble wordlessly…but I grasp the first rung on the ladder and reluctantly haul myself up.

"Careful," Malachi murmurs, his hand against the small of my back as I slowly scramble up one rung at a time.

After a few minutes, I pause, glancing down. We're so high up, the air already feels thin. Snow freezes in my lashes as soon as it lands. The Fae look like ants milling below as they crash against the raging tide of Forsaken and varulv trying to batter down the gates.

The forest outside of town is overrun by hooded Forsake and their wolves. Everywhere I look, I see more and more of them. Inky portals stand like stains in places, Forsaken moving freely in and out of them.

I gasp in shock as a blast of Light sails over the wall into one, sending Forsaken fleeing like mice. Those not fast enough ignite with faint screams. So does the portal. It explodes in a shower of sparks, winking out of existence.

My sisters.

I stretch eagerly for the next rung, hauling myself up as quickly as I can climb. A minute or two later, I'm stepping onto a flat dais on the roof of the building. It's some sort of watchtower, and the view is incredible. From this height, I can see everything.

Tori, Rissa, and Abigail are huddled on the edge with several of the Fae, bathed in Light.

"There," Tori says, pointing into the distance.

Rissa nods and sends a blast of Light spinning in that direction. A moment later, another portal explodes, taking dozens of the Forsaken with it.

" Helvete ," the giant warrior behind Tori says. "They're getting good at this."

"Ja," the one-eyed warrior beside him murmurs dryly. "Only fifteen hundred or so Forsaken to go, and we can all rest easy."

The giant warrior rumbles laughter.

"It would go a lot faster if you'd let us out there again, Reaper," Tori complains. "we could take out three or four times as many in half the time."

"Nei, little Valkyrie," her mate—Reaper—protests. "It is not safe."

"They couldn't even touch us!"

"Perhaps not, but if Abigail is right and there's a Forsaken who doesn't burn, who's to say he can't touch you?" Reaper asks.

Tori grumbles wordlessly as Malachi hauls himself up onto the platform behind me.

"He's right," I say quietly, drawing their attention. I shift nervously, prompting Malachi to slide his arm around my waist. "What we did earlier, we did to rescue the Fae. But the Forsaken are dangerous. Especially the one who doesn't burn."

"You've seen him," the one-eyed warrior says.

"Marion, this is Adriel," Malachi murmurs, nodding at the warrior. He then points to a regal Fae with gold eyes standing beside him. "Damrion." And then at the giant warrior who was arguing with Tori. "And Reaper. Rissa's mate, Dax, is down below, overseeing our defenses."

"Hi," I whisper to the warriors before glancing at Adriel to answer his question. "I have seen him. He killed my mother."

"You tried to burn him when he killed her?" Rissa asks.

"No, I—"

A shiver dances up my spine a split second before a black hole appears on the platform to my right. Rissa, Abigail, and Tori feel it too, but they don't see it forming. I do. I see a flash of yellow eyes and a pale face on the other side, a tendril of dark magic already whispering through the rippling hole from his hands. A Forsaken spinning his perverse black magic.

I don't think. I just react, reaching for my Light.

A blade appears in my hand, formed before I even call it. I throw it into the portal, striking the Forsaken in the throat.

He stumbles back, the portal collapsing.

"Valkyrie!" Malachi growls, grabbing me by the shoulders and yanking me back behind. But the threat is gone.

" Helvete !" Reaper growls. "Look!"

I glance at him, only to find him pointing at me.

The blade in my hand winks out. I cower back against Malachi as everyone gapes at me, completely silent.

"W-what's wrong?" I whisper.

"She wields Light like a Fae," Adriel says.

"Valkyrie, ljúfr ," Malachi says gently, curving a hand around my jaw and turning me gently to face him. "Where did you learn to wield a blade like that?"

"I…"

"It's okay," Malachi murmurs. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I think my father taught me," I whisper.

Damrion looks at Malachi before stepping forward, his gold eyes locked on me. "Are you saying that your father wielded a lystst?l , Valkyrie?"

I hesitate and then nod reluctantly.

" Faen , Damrion," Reaper breathes. "Is she saying…?"

"Are you saying that your father was Fae, ljúfr ?" Malachi asks, his voice soft as he holds me.

"I…" I glance around nervously, reluctant to spill secrets I barely understand myself. "I…don't know," I finally whisper. "But I think so."

Stunned silence ripples across the dais, Fae and Valkyrie alike staring at me in shock.