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)
“It could,” I whisper, my throat raw. “I’ve seen it.”
“And I’ve seen your Light. I’ve seen our Light,” she says, her voice firm. “I’ll bet on it any day of the week. But I won’t agree to kill you. I don’t care what’s a stake.”
“If I fall, you might not have a choice. If there's a chance of that happening, you have to promise me that you'll stop me before then.”
“If we lose you, we’ve already lost, Abigail,” Tori says.
We fall silent for a moment before Rissa speaks again. "Have you seen anything in your visions that will help us open a portal?"
I glance at her.
"We were going to try to open one to bring you back," she says with a shrug. "But then you sent your vision, and we set the plan aside, but we've been talking about it. We think…" She glances at Tori, who grimaces. "Well, we need to figure it out sooner rather than later. When the Forsaken come, a portal may be our only way out."
She isn't wrong. If they come in the numbers I've seen, Eitr won't hold. We'll be overrun again. "I know the portal is open," I say carefully. "But whether we open it or they do, I don't know."
"I don't mean the Portal to Valhalla," she says with a shake of her head. "I mean one like theirs." She licks her lips. "I have my father's soul."
"Rissa, no."
"We might not have a choice, Abigail. If they get their hands on you again, you may fall. A portal may be the only way to save you."
"And opening it may damn you," I argue.
She narrows her eyes on me. "You've seen it."
"No, but we can't afford to stray from the Light, not even a little bit," I whisper. "We're supposed to guard souls, not condemn them, even if they deserve it. We can't go down that path. If we do, who stops us from continuing?"
"We do," Tori says, her voice firm. "We aren't the Forsaken, Abigail. We were sent to do this together for a reason. We're meant to help each other, to guide each other. We won't let you fall. We won't let any of us fall."
I hope she's right because I fear Rissa is too. We need a portal. Desperately. It may be the only thing that saves us.
Footsteps on the stairs draw our attention. We glance in that direction. My brows furrow when I catch sight of the curvy redhead tiptoeing down the stairs, dressed in one of Rissa’s T-shirts and a pair of sweats. Her hair falls in wild, untamed curls around her face, and freckles dot her porcelain skin. Her eyes are the deepest green I’ve ever seen.
She pauses when she sees us staring at her. “Hi,” she whispers, licking her lips. “Um, I can’t find Malachi.”
“Marion,” Rissa says, quickly rising to her feet and crossing toward the girl.
“Who is she?” I whisper to Tori, my stomach churning with unease.
“You don’t recognize her?” Tori’s brow creases. “She’s the Valkyrie the warriors rescued when they rescued me.”
My stomach twists into knots. This isn't right. She isn’t the Valkyrie I saw in my vision. The Valkyrie I saw had dark hair and eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Tori asks.
But I just shake my head, too horrified to speak as realization rips through me. Dear Gods, how could I have missed it? They had Marion, too. All along, they had both of them, and I missed it.
They've manipulated my visions so badly that they managed to hide an entire Valkyrie from me. If they can do that, what else can they do? Can they see what I see if I have a vision in front of them?
The thought chills me to the bone. How close did I really come to destroying everything in that cavern? To breaking without ever saying a word?
I collapse back into my chair, shivering uncontrollably.
"Abigail." Tori grabs my hand, her soft voice cutting through the roar in my mind. “What’s wrong?”
I glance up to find Rissa and Marion hurrying toward us, their eyes locked on my face.
"Marion isn't the Valkyrie I saw in my vision," I whisper, my voice shaking. "They still have our sister."
Tori gasps, her hand flying to her mouth. "But that means..."
"They have the blood of all five of us," I finish for her. “They’re coming for the pieces of the Bifrost.”
“I’m guessing this is bad?” Marion asks, glancing between the three of us.
“So bad,” Tori whispers. “Fates of worlds bad. Billions of souls at risk bad.”
Marion pales.
"We have to let Damrion know," Rissa says, grabbing my hand to pull me up from my chair. “If the shards are anywhere near here, he has to get them out of here now.”
I nod, fighting back the swell of panic threatening to consume me as we rush toward the door to warn our mates.