Page 75 of Valkyrie Confused

Is this what Astrid meant, when she said I could free Arnlaug?

Am I supposed to take his soul?

The ball of power knows better. It unfurls up to my chest and out through my arms and into my throat, to roar, “Stop.”

Arnlaug deflates. He doesn’t move, but his muscles relax. He’s not threatening to choke or gut me. He’s just holding me, his human palm pressed to mine.

It’s like he’s… buffering.

Time for a reboot.

I let my power enter him where we’re touching and find the silvery thread of his soul. Now I know what I’m looking for, I know I’ve found it. And it’s tainted with Odin’s magic. Black, sticky goo links Arnlaug to Odin like a tendril of filth. This link is unnatural. Forced. I see the tattered edges of Arnlaug’s soul where it should connect to… mine? The silvery cord branches out, and I sense without looking that it reaches for Pan. Only it doesn’t link with either of us. The ghost of a connection is there, but the thread has snapped.

Odin and his murky influence have snapped it.

And I can build it again.

“You can’t kill me,” I tell Arnlaug. Everywhere my power touches, the darkness on his soul fades. I follow it. Drive it away until the snapped cord is mostly clear of Odin’s influence.

Things are still not as they should be.

Arnlaug isn’t as he should be.

Voices behind him jar my focus. A fight is taking place. Part of me wants to be there, alongside my sister and Pan, but I shut out the sounds and pour everything I am into my touch. “You can’t kill me,” I tell Arnlaug.

He shakes his head, much like he did before, in his bear form. Is he trying to get rid of my influence or the remnants of Odin’s grip on him?

“You can’t kill me, because you know I’m yours.” Even as I say it, I realize it’s been true since he bit me, during sex. I thought it was some kind of role-play at the time, but I sense our souls reaching for each other.

“Mine,” he mouths, and the cords of our souls weave together, one strand at a time. As if our link was never severed. “Mine,” he roars and crushes his mouth to mine.

His kiss steals my breath more effectively than his hands did before, and I wish I could afford to get lost in the moment, but— “Pan,” I whisper into his mouth.

Arnlaug pulls back and frowns, confused.

He’s not fully himself. His soul is still split.

Mine is too, with Pan’s soul also tethered to me. I tug my bond with him close to the cord I restored, and the threads wrap around each other, like they were always one.

“Pan,” Arnlaug gasps.

“Odin will kill him,” I say. He’ll kill us all, if he gets the chance.

Only, when Arnlaug moves out of the way, to turn toward the fight unfurling behind him, I see Odin doesn’t have the upper hand.

A wolf as big as three men has him by the foot. It snarls and chomps, and Odin’s magic glances over him without making impact.

A man easily Arnlaug’s size, with what looks like a cyborg arm chuckles at us. “Nice of you to join us, kiddies. Now let’s get rid of him once and for all.”

Arnlaug nods, as he sizes him up. “Starkad. Didn’t expect to see you here.”

Starkad? Kirby’s Starkad?

“Yeah, well, Kirby couldn’t make it past the wards, and I’d never hear the end of it if I didn’t come help your girl when she realized I could.” He shrugs and lunges at Odin. “Guess Berserkers have an all-access pass.”

Odin makes a shoving gesture, and Starkad hits an invisible wall and flies backward.

Pan and a gorgeous blond, who must be the Freyr Odin referred to before, link their fingers and make a matching sweeping motion with their free hands, and Odin’s body contorts so his arms are trapped behind him.

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