Page 19 of Valkyrie Song

"Why?"

Her gaze drifts from mine. "Because I think you meant it when you said this bond was going to happen anyway," she says softly.

"You don't want it?" My heart clenches in a vise at the thought. Gods. I've wanted nothing but her since I set eyes on her. If she doesn't feel the same way, it's going to rip my heart out of my chest.

She shrugs helplessly. "I don't want someone else to lose, Stephan. And that's how it ends, right? If we survive this, I get to live forever. And eventually, you die." A sad puff of soundescapes her lips. "Why put us through something that's only going to end with you leaving me in the end?"

Fuck. I never quite considered it that way. Perhaps I should have, though. Because she isn't wrong. There's a reason Valkyrie souls are tied to warriors who have already died. Valkyrie don't die unless they're cut down in battle. Disease and old age will never touch her. She'll walk the realms for millennia. And sooner or later, I'll wither and waste away.

Dead warriors don't. They're form and substance, able to move freely between realms with the Valkyrie who holds their bondbecausea Valkyrie holds their bond. Without that, they'd move beyond the Veil just assuredly as any other soul, unable to remain.

Is that the fate awaiting me and Kara? We bond, and then she loses me anyway?

Nei, I refuse to believe that. Fate can be a bitch of a mistress, but I refuse to accept that the Norns would be so cruel to this little Valkyrie. The bond doesn't form between unequal halves. And it wouldn't form if there were no hope. I was plucked from the tapestry and crafted specifically for Kara for a reason. And that reason wasn't to leave her with half a soul for the rest of eternity.

It damn sure wasn't to drag her into death with me.

We're as inevitable as the stars, as certain as the rising sun. She is mine, and I was born to be hers. I'll scream defiance in the faces of anyone who dares say differently. No one is taking me from this Valkyrie.

No one.

"The Norns don't give hope just to snatch it away, princess," I murmur. "And they don't forge bonds where one can't flourish."

One way or another, I'm claiming her. She'll see that I'm right. And she'll learn that I meant exactly what I said: I go where shegoes. Into life. Into death. Into the deepest pits of hell if that's what's required of me.

She sighs softly but doesn't answer.

I decide to let it go for now, but only because she has other worries, other fears. Shit, these days, fear and worry are all that's left. But I won't be one of those for her. I intend to be her harbor, her port. And it starts now.

I tried to stay away. She didn't like that. I tried to do what I thought was right. I was wrong. I don't belong in her shadow. I belong at her side, protecting her, loving her, holding her. She poured her Light into my soul beneath these trees, leaving behind a brand.

It's far too late to erase it or take it back now.

Ten minutes later, we creep toward the outline of the ruins where we met Ing the other day. They stand far more imposing in the dark of night than they did in the light of day. I don't want to let her go in there.

"Kara, wait," I murmur when she takes a step forward, eager to go see Ing and hear what he has to share with her.

"He needs me, Stephan," she protests, glancing back over her shoulder at me. The distress stamped across her face feels like a wrecking ball working on my guts. Whatever the wolf is sending her…isn't good.

What the fuck happened?

I don't know, but I don't like it. The entire forest feels off. Sinister. As if the restlessness and unease the animals feel has transferred to the trees and the dirt itself.

"You stay behind me," I say. "And if I give you an order, you obey it."

She hesitates for only a moment before nodding.

I step up in front of her, drawing myímun-laukrfrom the scabbard. Behind me, I feel her Light blaze hotter, searing into me as she calls on more of it. I grunt in satisfaction, pleased she's prepared to defend herself even if the thought that her wolf friend could harm her does seem preposterous to her.

We stride toward the ruins with her Light spilling around us, leading the way. I place my feet carefully to avoid crunching the leaves underfoot. Only to fight a smile when my effort is immediately rendered moot. She tramples through the underbrush without a care, as if she never learned to hunt or track.

Not that I suppose moving in silence matters at this juncture. Ing already knows we're coming. He probably heard us long before we got this close.

I step into the ruins, carefully checking every shadow.

A soft warning growl whispers from the back corner. I focus my attention that way, and see the wolf pacing in the dark, his head low to the ground.

"Ing!" Kara cries, shifting to scurry around me.

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