Page 29 of Lord of the Hollow Court
“I hear talk of the Valkyrie,” the fae butler said, his bird-like legs making their way back toward the center of the table. The chorus of voices began anew.
“The Valkyrie and the Crown!”
“Brunhilde Rescues Herself!”
“The first Valkyrie!”
Misman pointed at the blue-horned fae who’d said it. “The first Valkyrie,” he confirmed.
A few groans went up around the room, but Katty thought they were good-natured.
“The first Valkyrie,” Misman began, “was a human, not unlike our newest member of the staff.” He glanced down at Katty, offering her a wink. Katty found herself smiling.
“What’d she look like?” a male voice called out to a few raucous laughs.
“Very tall,” Misman said, gesturing to his own form, “and very strong, but also very slim. It was said when she turned sideways, even the best of archers could miss her. She fought in battle alongside men who sacked great cities, and took back her share of the bounty, which was appropriately never small.”
Katty felt her eyes drooping.
“But she was no hero—far from it. All her battle gifts were used in service to herself, and she never once cared for all the suffering she wrought. When she died, Wotan called her to account. ‘I blessed you with strength,’ he said. ‘I made it so no archer could pierce you. And what did you do with your battle wits and agility? You plunderedRome!’”
Bursting laughter filled the room, jolting Katty awake. Misman had such a soothing voice, and the day had been so, so long...
“Now, what was done was done, and Wotan was not about to put her back on the Earth to do the same as she always had. So he placed a geas on her—”
Katty’s eyes widened.
“—so that, if she returned, she must help humans until the end of days. Her name, in her first life, had been Valka. And so Wotan named her the first of the Valkyrie and charged her with protecting humans throughout the world.”
Misman’s voice took on a higher pitch, slouching slightly so that he was not so tall. He looked toward the plaster designs in the ceiling as he spoke. “‘From whom?’ she asked. ‘From whom shall I protect these humans, if not humans themselves? And how will I tell the ones who need protecting from the ones who need fighting, when they all look much the same?”
Someone guffawed. Misman puffed out his chest, voice deepening.
“‘Then I bid you, First of the Valkyrie, to check the shape of their ears!’”
There was a split second of silence, an expectation building in the room. The moment Misman said the wordears, wild laughter filled the room. Bibi herself giggled uncontrollably.
“I don’t get it,” Katty whispered.
“You should!” Bibi squeaked between laughs. “You really, really should.”
Misman’s next story was about a princess who slept with her lost tiara under her mattress for ten years, and did not know why she had such a bad back. After that, he told a love story of two fae from opposing courts. That one didn’t end quite so well, and a few tears were shed.
When it was all through, everyone sang a Dutch song that Katty did not know, but which she could passably sing along to when it reached its last refrain.
At least everyone was in a pleasant mood when they filed out.
“Ready for bed?” Rineke asked when Katty was finally able to reach her.
“More than ready,” Katty replied.
“You’ll get the hang of things,” Bibi whispered before they parted, then loudly wished them both good night.
It wasn’t until Katty had settled into bed, sheet pulled up to her chin and a clutch of lavender-scented hair arranged atop it to block out the scent memory from the gardens, that she realized how she felt after such a long day, with such strange company, and with a faerie with stained glass wings in the new bed across from her. For the first time since well before Halloween night, Katty van der Vos felt at peace—terrified, while on the parapets, but then at peace. She entered sleep easily, dreaming of lost tiaras stuffed in obvious places.
Behind the headboard of her bed, the frayed yellow ribbon from Katrina de Vries lay on the floor, long since forgotten.
Chapter Fourteen
