Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
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.