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)
"I know." I brush a curl away from her face, resting my forehead against hers. "I said do this thing safely." That isn't what I said. I told her that I can't live without her. And that I love her.
"Malachi," she whispers, trembling in my arms.
A tear rolls down her cheek. I thumb it away.
"Go, ljúfr. Your sisters are waiting."
She nods, her eyes wide as she pulls away, rising to her feet. She turns, taking a step toward her sisters, only to spin back around, flinging herself against my chest. My arms close around her as she presses her lips against the side of my throat.
"I love you, Malachi."
Gods.
"I love you, Valkyrie."
She rips herself out of my arms, taking my entire fucking soul with her.
The Valkyrie form a circle in the middle of the living room, Rissa holding her father's soul, Abigail holding a knife for them to draw their blood.
"I don't like this," Reaper growls as we watch from a few feet away, trying to give them space without giving them too much space.
"Ja, we know." Adriel turns his eye on him. "But we all agreed it has to be done."
Reaper grunts a curse beneath his breath, his amber eyes locked on his Valkyrie as if he intends to snatch her away at the slightest hint of trouble. I can't say that I blame him. He's fierce in battle, the most lethal Fae I've ever met. No one stands against him for long. But this is a war he can't fight. He has to allow the woman who owns his soul to do it…the same woman he nearly lost just days ago. For a warrior used to doling out death, being helpless to do anything is a gods-damned awful feeling.
"Has Rhistel been warned?" I ask Damrion, concerned how he and his warriors will react if a portal suddenly materializes in front of them.
"Ja," Damrion says. "I let him know to expect a portal if this works."
"How did he take it?"
Damrion arches a brow. "Do you want the whole ranting lecture or just the highlights?"
I chuckle, stroking my jaw. "So he thinks we're fools then."
"Oh, ja." Damrion rolls his golden eyes. "That's one way of putting it. A very mild way of putting it."
My chuckle dies as Light flares around each of the Valkyrie, lighting them up. My brothers fall silent around me, tension rippling through us. My hands physically itch to snatch Marion away, to tell them to forget this whole Gods-forsaken plan. But I clench them at my sides, lock my knees in place, and watch.
The Light around the Valkyrie grows blinding as Marion links with her sisters, acting as a conduit for the second time today.
"Faen," Damrion snarls, his gaze flickering toward the windows. "If the Forsaken see this from out there, they're going to know something is up."
"Too late for that," Reaper mutters, nodding his head at our mates as Abigail quickly scores the knife across her palm before passing it to Tori.
The blonde Valkyrie doesn't even flinch as she slices her palm and passes the knife to Marion, and then to Rissa. Their blood drips onto the floor at the feet, and every single one of my brothers groans at the sight.
"Faen," Adriel growls, looking sick.
I feel my heart pounding in my throat as Rissa uncaps the bottle containing her father's soul. It hovers there, too drained to stretch toward freedom.
I don't have it in me to feel empathy for the man he was. Perhaps I should. A soul is still a soul, no matter how vile the person who misused it. But that bastard murdered the woman he was supposed to love and tried to do the same to Rissa. If his soul is burned up to ensure she and her sisters survive now, so be it. It's a more dignified ending than he deserves.
Rissa closes her bleeding hand over the vial, dripping blood onto her father's soul. It flickers, flaring brighter.
"Do you see that?" Dax asks sharply.
"Ja," I murmur. "I see it."
One by one, Tori and then Abigail step forward, allowing their blood to drip into the vial onto his soul. With every drop, his soul lights up, flaring like a meteor streaking across the sky. It grows too, so big it fills the vial.
Marion is the last to step forward. I hold my breath, blood rushing in a torrent in my ears as she lifts her hand over the vial.
A drop of her blood splashes onto his soul, followed by another.
The vial shatters in Rissa's hand.
"Valkyrie!" Dax leaps forward, crying out in alarm, but Damrion and Adriel grab him, hauling him back.
Rissa's father's soul…hovers in midair, flickering. Quivering. It almost seems to dance.
Breath rushes from my lungs in a curse as it expands rapidly, not in a black, rippling hole in reality like those the Forsaken opened all over the forest, but in a blazing white burst.