Page 26 of Valkyrie Unknown

“I can’t.”

My vision swam. I was getting real sick of passing out in front of these assholes. The pain was fading, and that was a bad sign too. If I pulled the blade out, I mightbleedout, but I’d rather not stay pinned to the ground. That would be a slower version of the same thing.

The growl that rolled from Davyn’s chest was both terrifying and comforting.

I was also woozy.

“You have more enchanted jewelry than a völva, and you love the fight,” Davyn said. “Don’t try to tell me you don’t have any trinkets that heal.”

“I work with immortals.” Ulf’s voice was hard.

“You sell your services unlocking power in potentials.” Davyn didn’t back down.

Ulf’s smile was wicked, and his teeth extended, becoming fangs, while Davyn’s bear was coming out, if the extra fur on his arms and neck was any indicator.

Fucking berserkers. The words wouldn’t push past my lips, but I could still move my free arm, and I needed a distraction. I grabbed one of my throwing knives and tossed it at the same wall dummy-me had bounced off. “Go fetch, boy.”

Ulf gave me a withering look. “What the fuck was that?”

“If you let me bleed out to spite Davyn, you break the blood oath.” There was my voice.

“Gods damn it.” Ulf knelt next to me. “This is going to hurt.”

“No shi—” My scream cut me off when Ulf pulled the blade from my shoulder.

He hovered a hand over the wound, and a soft glow emanated from one of his hands. Icy warmth spread through my shoulder, and the pain spiked again, before fading. My vision stopped wobbling, and my head no longer felt like it was going to slam its way through the earth.

The thing no one talked about when it came to being healed magically was that it didn’t feel quite right. The body expected to take days or weeks or months to mend, the flesh remembered being torn apart seconds ago, and then it was fine.

Davyn offered me a hand, and I let him pull me to my feet. The instant I was standing, he was between me and Ulf.

I wasn’t having that, and I moved next to Davyn. Both men needed a moment to cool down, and I waited silently for them to tuck their beasts away.

Ulf looked fully human first, and he shrugged. “It didn’t work.”

What? “Just like that?”

“The trick is to make you think you’re going to die, and sometimes it unlocks what a potential is looking for.”

If that wasn’t the stupidest, most cliché… “And if it doesn’t work, the person you’re working with dies?”

“You’re still alive,” Ulf said.

I twisted my mouth. “The prophecies don’t say I die here.”

“And you believe the prophecies.” Was that mocking in his voice?

The prophecies had been there all my life. I knew them as well as I did how to speak. “I believe them enough.”

“Then it doesn’t matter if they’re true or not; you’ll never truly think your life is in danger, and I can’t help you.” Ulf turned away.

Davyn blocked his path. “You could have told her that up front.”

“It doesn’t work if I do that.” Ulf glanced back at me. “But I was right—you’re a fighter, and you’re good. You can still go up against me if you want.”

Arrogant, asinine fucking?—

“No,” Davyn said.

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