Page 170 of Valkyrie Unknown

“I’ll go first.” Davyn stepped toward the doorway.

A gust rushed through the room, followed by aslam, and the glimpse of freedom was gone.

“Oh, come on,” Azzie called. “We reached the main exit.”

“One of you is still lying.” Tania’s voice filled the air.

Thank Christ she was done passing me notes, but I could go through the rest of my life never hearing a cryptic answer again. “That wasn’t one of the rules,” I said.

“It isn’t. However, you’re here to face your fears, and that’s part of what opens the door, regardless of the other things you learn along the way.” Tania managed a beautiful sing-song reply while still sounding harsh and scolding.

“One of us fears telling the truth?” I frowned.

Azzie shook her head. “No. This is on me—I brought us down here, and I can’t even admit to myself what keeps me awake at night, so we can’t leave.”

“It’s Zeke. The two of you keep the fucking neighbors awake at night. Let’s go.” Finn’s flippant retort amplified my irritation again, and I shot him a lethal glare.

He shrugged. “What? We’re not here for warm fuzzies and soul baring. Every one of you is lying to yourself.”

Tania’s laugh was chilling—a crystal clear sound of amusement and derision coming from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

Azzie dragged in a deep breath through her nostrils. “I’m terrified that the prophecies about me aren’t really about me. That people around me are getting hurt and there’s not even a good reason for it. That Mom—” She let out a long sigh.

Finn opened his mouth and Davyn’s growl silenced him.

“That Mom really was nuts and maybe I am too.”

She needed so badly for this to be real and I wanted anything but. What happened in that fight, the things I’d done, I didn’t want that anymore than I wanted to lead a revolution for a father I never met.

If helping Azzie achieve her goals meant giving the middle finger to the gods—the one I was raised to worship and those who walked among us—I was all for it. I knew that before, but this experience reinforced my decision.

“You do what you can with the information you have,” Davyn said before I could reply. “Youalways do what you think is right. Your intentions are right, and in that fight, you did what you could, even though this place tried to make you believe you weren’t strong. You are. With or without whatever title the prophecies might bestow on you.”

“What he said.” I liked Davyn’s words more than mine, even if the sentiment was different.

“She owned up,” Finn shouted. “Let us out.”

Had he always been this kind of asshole?

Not to me. To most everyone else. I’d been blind. I gave Finn my full attention. “But Azzie’s not the real reason we’re in here, and we all know that. She’s not the reason we were all dragged in, and she’s not the reason we can’t leave.”

“If you want to get technical, it’s Tania.” Finn didn’t meet my gaze.

Because the things he’d kept from me, the things he swore he’d tell meone day, were bigger than he wanted me to know. “You’ve been lying to me since we met. To all of us. And this could’ve gotten us killed.”

“No.” The flippant tone in Finn’s voice was gone, replaced with a hard edge. “I have contingencies on top of contingencies, promises made and deals brokered, to keepyoualive. You weren’t supposed to be here.”

“Tsk.Come clean, Fionn,” Tania sang.

I stared him down, letting silence prompt him to speak rather than berating him.

He glowered back, and seconds ticked away.

“Leave him here.” Davyn shattered the awkward still. “He’s admitted his intent and his complicity. We—Azzie—passed her test. Keep Finn, Tania, and let us leave.”

I couldn’t do that. He’d lied to us. He’d gotten us trapped here.

He also saved me. Helped me climb out of a pit that would’ve swallowed me whole, and kept me from falling back in. Been a friend, been by my side, for the last few years. Never asked anything in return except my company.

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