Page 176 of Valkyrie Unknown

It had been a couple of weeks since that call, and I hadn’t uncovered any new information on my own. I was tired of being stuck in a limbo of no answers, and just as tired of fighting the pull to Azzie. Seeing her would offer solutions to both.

Instead, like so many days before, I was at the anvil in my forge, Korn blaring from the speakers around the room, and heat blasting from the furnace a few feet away. The rhythm of the hammer, its weight as I struck steel again and again, kept my thoughts from drifting too far.

I shaped and folded the metal, heated it, then shaped it some more. As with so many of my pieces, I had no idea what I was making, but I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting back to the test. To Azzie. Finn. Even Davyn.

My material was small and curved, but too round dense to be a blade. even one of the throwing daggers Azzie loved. It was becoming anSshape, rounded at one end, and a flat surface on the inside curve of the other.

A wave of comfort washed over me, like aloe on a sunburn. She had just walked into the room.

I had limited time to work with my piece while it was hot, so I kept my attention focused on the steel. I hooked it over the horn of the anvil, and used a smaller hammer to shape it.

She took a seat on the other side of my worktable in her usual spot. The music and hammering made it impossible to speak, but her lips didn’t move, so I didn’t stop either one.

Despite there being no conversation, there was a comfort in having her here. I finished shaping my design, and held it up to examine it.

Azzie cocked her head, brows raised in question.

I studied it for a moment, and my laugh broke free. I shut down my forge, clickedPauseon my phone, and the music vanished, leaving an odd silence in the room.

“What’s so funny?” she asked. “What is it?”

It was rough, and needed to be ground and refined. It also wasn’t a complete object by itself. “Half a nail clipper. For animal nails.”

Understanding spread across her face, becoming a smirk. “As in, for bear claws?”

“In theory it’s big enough, but I wouldn’t use it for that.”

“But that won’t stop you from showing it to Davyn and telling him what it is.” Her amusement was tangible. Beautiful.

Kiss her. Claim her. Soothe the empty ache.

I shook my head, more to clear out the mental voice than in disagreement. “It won’t, no.”

Our laughs died quickly, and the silence returned. It was tempting to turn the music on again. “We need to talk,” I said instead.

She nodded and folded her hands as she rested them on the table in front of her. “Yeah.”

Azzie chewed her bottom lip. “So… how’re you?”

“Fine.” I wasn’t fine. Apparently neither was she. But the real answer was too complicated to give as a response to such a simple question. “You?”

“Good. I’m good.”

Uh-huh.

“I’m sorry about Finn,” she said.

Bitterness surged up my throat. She got to keep her guardian.

Guardian. Weird fucking word to pick.

I couldn’t find a reply that would keep this conversation from ending before it started.

“Yeah,” Azzie repeated, despite me not saying anything, and punctuated the word with a sigh.

“What happened? In the house? With Tania?”

Finn’s actions were responsible for what happened to him. As much as it would be easier, I couldn’t blame that on her.

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