Page 58 of Valkyrie Renewed

I gasped, my vision returning to normal. “I know her. I dreamed of her…”

I cocked my head. “She was in one of the photos on your phone from your brother’s party.” Which now I wasn’t so sure was actually a grand re-opening party like she’d claimed. “You intentionally stopped on that photo on your phone in hopes it would trigger a memory, didn’t you?”

“Yes, that was my hope.” Aya smiled. “Kirby will be happy to know you’re alive and remember her now.”

I squinted, memories solidifying in my mind. “She died… Odin… killed her?”

Aya nodded. “Yes, he cursed her to live and die until she remembered what it meant to be a Valkyrie. At some point during this current life, she finally broke it.”

I pursed my lips. “To know what it meant to be a Valkyrie… wouldn’t a Valkyrie know that best?”

She chuckled. “We all said that back then, too. Odin’s ego knew no bounds.”

I scowled. “I hate him.”

Her brow arched. “You, or your memories?”

A moment passed while I thought about it. These memories, while I didn’t presently experience them, were mine. These feelings, they were mine at one time. “Both.”

Aya smirked. “Well, then you’ll be happy to know we did kill him.”

My chest pulsed. The feelings that came with it were warm and relieving, like my soul had been waiting for that news. “I died… before I knew that.”

“Yes.” Aya nodded. “I heard you pray to me shortly after, and rushed back to find out what was wrong.”

I ran my fingers through my hair. “How did I die? Tyr… didn’t exactly say, but… I had a dream that started all this.”

She worked her jaw. “That’s… a complicated situation. What I’m telling you is Tyr’s account, because there were no other witnesses. At the end of your battle, where you and Tyr stayed behind to keep Odin’s armies off us, the two of you came face-to-face with a wolf shifter. You both thought it was Fenrir. He’d acted strange before the battle, and when he showed up, something seemed wrong, so you tried to reason with him. Instead of listening, he attacked and killed you.”

I swallowed. Fenrir, the wolf-god of war. My surfacing memories told me this. But my chest twisted. Something didn’t feel right about the story. Brief flashes to my visions said he was a friend—family.

“At least, Tyr claims it was Fen.” Aya shook her head. “Like we tried to hint during that coded conversation we had last week, I know it wasn’t him. No matter how wild his wolf got, he never harmed you—ever. Hell, you figured out ways to calm him when no one else could, like you could with Tyr on the occasions his anger got the better of him. I know it was another wolf shifter who looked similar enough to Fen that, in the heat of the moment, both of you misidentified the shifter.”

Her hands clutched her skirt. “The problem is, Fen doesn’t even remember that day. He knows he killed Odin, but that’s it. And we lost contact with him for so long after then. It wasn’t until my brother found him and brought him back, did I even get the chance to try and talk to him about that day.”

She shook her head. “That’s why Tyr and I are at odds. I understand his feelings, but I don’t agree with what he saw, and he won’t listen to anyone when they suggest he might be wrong. This has gone on for so long that even Fen was starting to wonder if he might have.”

This was all too strange. Deep in me, the past part of me, felt like it was screaming that Aya was right, just like before when I tried my intervention. It told me Fen would never do that, even at his most uncontrollable moment. But there was something else that stuck in my mind.

“You’re convinced Fen is innocent, beyond him being like family to that past me. Does it have to do with how I died again after that first time?”

Aya gazed at me, as if surprised I was actually thinking about this. “Yes, that’s exactly it. Each time you died, it was an animal attack. And not just any animal—it was always canine in nature.”

I swallowed, my stomach knotting.

“Even if by some chance it was Fen who killed you the first time in a moment of lack of control over his wolf, he would have no reason to kill you a second time, or any more times after that. Plus, I know for a fact, after confirming with my brother, and from a conversation I had with Fen almost a year ago now, not only did Fen not know anything about the resurrection ritual, he was with my brother when we found you some of those times. So, it couldn’t have been him. Which leads me to question: why did you keep dying?”

My brow furrowed. That was a great question. I was still too confused about how this world really worked, now that someone had ripped the blindfold off to really offer any plausible explanations.

“It’s possible the magic I used cursed you,” Aya said. “And made it so you were bound to die in a similar manner as before. Hell, even in this life, the dog your mother tried to kill you with looked more wolf than domestic dog. But you were a child all of those times. If the curse was to take effect, you should have been an adult.”

I chewed my lip. “You think someone is targeting me?”

She nodded slowly. “Your dad doesn’t believe in coincidences, and neither do I. It’s the main reason I wanted you to remember your past. I thought, maybe if you remembered, we could figure this out. Because I know they’re out there. No matter where I erect my magic barriers to keep you safe, I’m feeling this presence just outside my reach of understanding, lurking.”

My hand tremored.Someone wants me dead? But why?What could I have possibly done to make them try so hard to track me down, just to kill me that many times? “Is that why you wanted to do the theme for the cultural festival?”

Aya nodded. “I thought this might be my last big chance to try. If I immersed you in that world you used to be part of, you might remember. But if you didn’t, it would tell me you weren’t meant to, and I would have stopped trying… and accepted I’d be protecting you from some unknown enemy for the rest of your mortal life.”

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