Page 141 of Valkyrie Unknown

Fucking like horny bears.

“Why can’t we leave now, if that’s the case?” I didn’t expect him to have an answer, but keeping the question to myself wouldn’t help me.

“Not a clue.” He opened the door again, walked through, and back into the living room.

There had to be a trick to it. “Can you teleport us out of here?”

Finn shook his head. “Doubt it.” He took my hand anyway, but we didn’t go anywhere.

“Are you even trying?” Where did that come from? Why would I doubt that he wanted to leave?

He gave me a withering look. “If I could go, I’d find Zeke and go.”

NotI’d take us all out of here. A minor discrepancy in his language, but I held no illusions that Finn would pick me over Zeke.

Now what?

Finn furrowed his brow and his lips moved, but no sound came out. He tilted his head, deepened his frown, and then sighed. “You can feel doors. Do you feel any here?”

“I can feelfaedoors when I have my daggers.” I patted my hips. “No daggers. And this is a siren, not a fae.”

Finn scrunched up his face and his nostrils flared. He almost looked like he was fighting a mental war with himself.Fuck. The muttered phrase was so soft I felt it in his frustration more than heard it. “Youcan feel doors.”

“No. I can’t.” There were so many times that would have come in handy.

"You insist you're going to fulfill all these prophecies." Frustration and derision dripped from Finn's voice.

Where did that come from? "If they're going to happen regardless, I'm going to embrace them and meet them head-on. Fulfill is not the right word."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you want to call it. You think you're going to become... what? A goddess? Yet, you can't admit what you are. You ignore the realities in front of you. You refuse to take control of situations."

That wasn't true. "Just because I'm not bossy--"

"This isn't about beingbossy.If a god runs from who and what they are, they don't survive. These new gods emerging as the prophecies said? They have something to offer. A new potency that pushes the old models out. What do you have to offer that will secure your spot?"

Currently I had an intense confusion around where this rant came from. I shouldn't be surprised Finn resented things about me, but this wasn't the place to air those frustrations.

Still, if he knew things about my power that I didn't, I needed to engage, and walking through that door again wasn't going to yield any different result than before. "I care. That's what I offer that they don't."

"That's done you a lot of good up to this point." Derision and sarcasm leaked from his retort. "Gods need to be worshipped in order to survive. Do you think there are enough people in this world whocareto make you powerful? There's a reason there are no gods ofcaring."

Each time he saidcaringhis sneer soured the word. "I'll protect people. There are always people who need protection. I'll save people. I'll make their lives better." These were the things I'd always told myself, but spoken aloud, the words sounded like unformed, childish dreams.

"How has that worked out for you so far? With the friend who gave you the knives? With your mothe?—”

"Choose your next words carefully." I pressed the ax to his throat again, my anger swelling and mingling with impotence. "I always did what I thought was best. I always tried." That was what I had to tell myself in order to hang onto my sanity, but the words didn't always comfort me, and saying them now felt like a lie.

Finn gripped the handle of the ax, just below the head, and held it hard enough the vibrations shook through my hand. He locked his gaze on mine. "You did what it would take to keepyoufrom being hurt, and you failed. At least you have that right about being a goddess."

His words cut deep. Why were we doing this now? "It's easy to say all of this when you have hindsight." Another lie I frequently used to soothe myself. "Is this how you deal with your own past? Beat yourself up about the decisions you made?"

Finn let go of my ax again and leaned into the tip, until it pressed into his skin enough for a drop of blood to well up around it. "Every fucking minute of every fucking day. My past is filled with mistakes and I own them. I admit I failed. That I wasn't enough."

I hated the way he spoke to my doubts.

But defiance surged in. "I won't sink into that trap. It means drowning." I sheathed the ax and kept my attention on him. I reached out with my senses like I would in any fight, and a tickle brushed my mind. The sensation tugged at my thoughts. "It means giving up, and I don't do that."

"Maybe you should learn."

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