Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 37501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
"I know you're listening," I murmur to it. "I know you hear us."
The Bifröst flickers, the hum beneath my hand growing.
"What is she doing?" Abigail whispers behind me.
"Shh," Tori whispers back. "Let her."
"The Forsaken have overtaken Asgard. Soon, they'll pour into Valhalla, and it'll fall to the Dark forever," I murmur to the Bifröst. "We'll fall to the Dark, and so will every soul we're meant to free."
The Bifröst flickers rapidly, a distressed pattern.
"I know you don't want that," I whisper. "The Gods didn't create you to let you be corrupted and used for evil. Help us stop it."
The tingling beneath my palm intensifies. I'm too afraid to hope, but I ask anyway…
"How do we use your power to save the realms?"
For long moments, nothing happens. I receive the same answer we've received every time we've come here. Silence.
So I let more Light flood through me, let it fill every space inside of me.
"Kara…" Marion murmurs nervously.
I tune her out. Tune out everyone. And throw everything at the Portal. Not Light, but memory. Emotion. Images of my sisters and the Fae. Of my mother and little sister, Kaydence, and my grandmother. Of Rand and Simek. Of Ing and Rider. Of the rabbits cowering in their nests, too afraid to venture out.
Mostly, I share Stephan, the fierce, fearsome, beautiful human warrior willing to die for me and Valhalla, the one who tied his soul to mine, confident that my sisters and I would win this war. Dozens of memories of him pour out of me—him stalking me through the woods. His smile and laughter. The quite wisdom he always imparts and the way he teaches me what it means to be brave and lead. The way he loves me without reservation, giving every piece of himself to me. He holds nothing back.
That's what the Light loses if we fail—Stephan and his courage. Stephan and his heart. And he isn't the only one. Every ounce of Light shining in warriors just like him—those worthy of calling this place home—will be extinguished forever.
For the first time in weeks, the Bifröst responds. A mournful note brush against the edges of my mind as the surface flickers rapidly in a prism of dazzling color. I'm not entirely sure exactly what happens or how. But I feel it…reaching out to me, whispering without words. Probing my mind.
It delves deep, pillaging through my memories of Stephan, pulling every single one to the surface. And in a blink, it wrests them away, leaving me reeling in darkness. Pain stabs deep into my heart, as if my soul is being ripped apart.
I cry out, stumbling to my knees as the bond between Stephan and I stretches thin, to the point of breaking.
"No, please," I sob. "Please!"
The surface of the Portal blazes bright as the sun, a rainbow of color radiating out. But the pain…stops. The bond between me and Stephan flares back to life. I feel him surging into my mind in a hot rush.
I fall forward, catching myself on my hands and knees, gasping for breath. "Please," I whisper. "Help us."
The surface of the Bifröst dims, the hum fading to silence.
"Kara!" Rissa cries, rushing forward. She lands on her knees beside me with Marion, Abigail, and Tori right behind her.
I sob as they wrap their arms around me, clinging to me.
"What just happened?" Abigail whispers.
But I don't have an answer for her. At least, not one I'm willing to voice. Because if that's my answer—if losing Stephan is how we win…then perhaps I was never meant to be a Valkyrie at all because that's a price I can't pay.
I won't pay it.
By the time Stephan and the warriors get back to the village, it's well after dark, and I'm a bundle of raw nerves. My mind is restless. I feel unsteady and unmoored in a way I haven't in a long time, like I'm adrift in a world with no anchor.
Stephan finds me in my room, pacing. Waiting for him.
As soon as the door closes behind him, I'm in his arms, sobbing his name. He lifts me against his chest, his lips coming down on mine in a savage, sustaining kiss, as if he's trying to reassure himself that I'm still here, too.
"Princess," he breathes, his hand twisted up in my hair to hold me to him. "For a minute today, a piece of my soul died, and I wanted to die with it."
"Stephan." Tears roll down my cheeks. I press myself closer to him, trying to embed myself in his skin. "It was the Bifröst. I…I don't know what happened."
"Tell me," he murmurs, carrying me to the bed. He lays us down facing one another, his arms still around me, our faces inches apart. Like this, it's as if he's the only thing that exists in my world. The only thing I see. "What happened, Valkyrie?"