Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Gods. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve a Valkyrie like her or how I could ever possibly deserve one, but she’s perfect. I adore her in ways I can’t even begin to express. There’s a lightness in my heart that’s never been there—a sense of rightness, as if the purity of her soul anchors mine. I know Adriel feels it, too. With the bond singing between us, he’s in less pain than ever.
A blush creeps over her cheeks, her gaze darting from ours before she finds her courage and meets our gazes again. "Besides, I think it's beautiful when the two of you are together."
Adriel's single eye widens in shock, his scar pulling taut over the other. When she smiles at the two of us, I have a feeling my expression matches his.
"I'm a Seer,” she says. “Do you think I haven't seen the two of you together before today?"
"I..." For the first time in centuries, Adriel gapes open, as if this is something he’s never considered.
“Regardless, Valkyrie,” I murmur, cupping her cheek. “We belong to you, and you to us. Unless we’re all together, we won't be.”
“Agreed,” Adriel growls.
Abigail narrows her eyes on us, less pleased with this decision, but it isn’t hers to make. It’s ours, and we’ve already made it. Maybe once, before she came into this world, we could find pleasure in one another’s arms with no thought of anyone else. It’s not like that now.
She is the center of all things.
We are what we are because of her. Without her, there is no bond between us. There never would have been. She belongs in our arms. For us to find pleasure, she must. It’s what the bond demands of us. It’s what we demand of ourselves. She doesn’t have to understand it. Adriel and I do.
What happened between us when she was gone was grief and healing. It was forgiveness and apology. It was me on my knees, admitting to 2500 years of shame. It was him with his back against the wall, releasing 2500 years of pain. And it didn’t feel right to either of us because she wasn’t there.
Without her, nothing feels right.
"War and death aren't the only things I see,” she whispers after a moment. “I don't just see the future, either. I see the past, too." She meets my gaze, her blue eyes swimming with empathy. "I saw the day you thought you lost Adriel." Her gaze flickers to him. "And I saw you in that place, Jotunheim." Her brow creases, sorrow flowing down the bond. "I've seen so much of the grief and pain between the two of you. Even before I met you, I saw it."
Her words pierce my heart, pure fucking misery flowing through me. She’s felt our pain for so long. She’s hurt with us for longer than we even knew.
Faen.
"I’m a coward,” I rasp, shame and guilt boiling through me. “I've fucked up everything. I've hurt both of you over and over. I never meant to do it, but I did it anyway, didn’t I?” My body trembles with the force of the emotion ripping through me. “How am I supposed to forgive myself for what I’ve done to the two of you?”
"By loving us," Abigail whispers, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "You forgive yourself by letting yourself love us, Damrion."
“And by letting us love you,” Adriel says, pressing his lips to the back of my neck. “You’re worthy, formaðr.”
I nod, my throat tight with emotion, as their belief in me and their love for me pour down the bond, and I feel for myself just how worthy they both find me. There is no doubt, no shame, and no blame. Adriel has forgiven me. And so has Abigail.
"I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to both of you," I rasp. “I will never let you down again.”
“You never let me down, Damrion.” Abigail flings her arms around me, hugging me tight. “I love you.
I squeeze her to me, pressing a kiss to her brow before she stretches across me, flinging her arms around Adriel. “I love you too,” she says, the same fierceness ringing in her voice.
We clutch her between us, sharing a look over her head.
Gods. She’s extraordinary.
She settles between us, sighing with contentment. We lay there for long moments, simply holding her before I feel compelled to speak again.
“We need to talk about what happened, ást-meer,” I say gently. “You went with them willingly. We need to know why. No more secrets.”
She sighs, tensing in our arms. "I didn't have a choice, Damrion. If I didn't go, you were all going to die trying to save Tori. I saw it. The only way to save you and Adriel—to save everyone—was to let them take me."
A low growl rumbles in Adriel's throat as she confirms what we already guessed—she saw what was going to happen. And she willingly let it.