Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 47068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 235(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 235(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Sure, I may be able to burn out their shadows, but the part of that lesson Dax forgot was the part about there always being another shadow waiting in the wings. As soon as the Light goes out, another shadow sweeps in. They wait just out of reach, looking for any opening.
The Forsaken have had two thousand years to grow their ranks mostly unchecked. For the last three hundred years, they've been entirely unchecked. I'm one Valkyrie, standing against an army. If others are supposed to join the fight, we need to find them.
Until then, for all my power, I might as well be a fly buzzing around a giant.
"Your thoughts are dark," Dax murmurs, setting his plate aside. "What are they?"
Crap. I may never get used to the fact that he can read me like a book now. As soon as I start thinking things I shouldn't, he's there, worrying about me, fretting over me. It's sweet to know this Fae warrior cares so much about what's in my mind. No one has cared for me like that since my mom.
"I was thinking about the Forsaken," I admit. "And about the other Valkyrie. And about everything really. Abigail's vision says I needed to come here, so we're here. But now, I don't know what to do. What happens next? Do I just walk out into the street and ring the dinner bell?"
"Nei," Dax growls, his expression dark. "We will not dangle you like bait, Rissa."
"Then what do we do, Dax?"
"We wait."
"For what?" I cry, frustrated. "For them to start killing people? For them to kill more of your people? How is that an answer?"
He sighs, seeming weary in a way he never has before. Has he slept more than an hour or two at a time since he found me at the bar? I don't think so. He snatches sleep from the jaws of a shark, scooping it out by the thimble full.
"Damrion suspects the point of getting you here was to divide us," he says. "He believes their true target may be Abigail."
My heart sinks. "Eitr is at risk?"
"Eitr has been at risk since the moment the portal dropped us there, bittesmå ljós. The life of a Fae is a life of risk. If the Forsaken want Abigail now, the warriors we brought here won't be enough to stop them."
"No, but I might," I whisper.
"I considered that," he admits.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Abigail is surrounded by the might of the Fae. The people you love are not. They're in just as much danger as she is," he says. "More, perhaps. You made the only choice you could make. Even had you known, this was still the right choice."
"I still should have been told," I growl, glaring at him. "It's not fair for you to keep things from me, Dax. Especially something like this."
"Your duty is to the realms, Rissa," he says. "Mine is now to you and you alone. I won't beg an apology for protecting you from the things that hurt you."
"Don't you get it, Dax? You can't protect me from this!" I cry, scrambling to my feet. "There is an endless well of pain and grief and hard decisions coming our way. You can't protect me from those. I have to know what's happening. It's the only way I can do what I have to do."
"The only thing you have to do is survive, Rissa." He rises to his feet like a lion, lethal and elegant. "That's the only task before you right now. Your survival."
"We both know that's not true."
"For this moment, it is. What comes will come. But for this moment, for today, all you have to do is survive. That's how you serve the realms. You survive. You find a way to keep surviving. And you let me do what I'm sworn to do and protect you from the things that threaten you and your heart. There will be time for you to fight later. The realms will need that warrior's spirit and your power later. But right now, we need you alive." He stops in front of me, crooking a finger beneath my chin. "You can't save everyone. You can't fight every battle. I didn't tell you what would have only hurt you."
"I'm afraid for her," I whisper. I don't care about the implications of the Forsaken getting their hands on her. I'm sure Dax and his brothers have already considered those. I'm afraid for her. She's only eighteen, her life barely even started. She's been so brave and fought so hard already. If the Forsaken take her… I don't even want to consider what they'll do to her. Her Light is so bright.
"Ja, I know," Dax says, pulling me into his arms. "But the warriors won't let her fall. If it's Abigail they're after, the Fae won't let them take her."