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Chapter Eight
Astrid
I’m not going to make it until morning. I have to know, right now, what Erik has to do with my ancestor Kára.
But I can’t bring myself to ask him. Things are already weird enough having this guy in my house that I met a mere few hours ago. And then the way he’d looked at me when the shield glowed... it’s just better if I figure this out on my own.
When I step out of my office, I fight the urge to tell Erik where I’m going. This is my house. I don’t have to explain myself to him. I shoot him a small smile and then I walk down the hallway toward the stairs. For all he knows I’m just heading to the bathroom.
I reach the door to the cellar and open it quietly before heading down the wooden stairs. With his enhanced shifter senses, he can probably hear everything I’m doing. But again, I don’t owe him an explanation. I can visit my wine cellar if I want to.
As soon as I reach the floor of the cellar, my eyes fall to the shield on the far side of the room. It looks perfectly ordinary hanging there on the wall. It could be any piece of decorative art. Really, it’s rather unremarkable looking if you don’t know what you’re looking at. Most people wouldn’t realize it’s more than a thousand years old. Then again, most people don’t know that the Valkyrie were real, and that their ancestors are still alive today.
Slowly, I cross the room, my feet feeling heavy as they move across the stone floor. I pause when I reach the far wall, staring up at the shield. It’s a dark gray, close to pewter in shade. It’s round, with five concentric rings of runes spiraling out from the center. I’ve studied the runes before, of course. They form a spell of protection for the wielder of the shield, and they also speak of the life beyond death. The journey of the Valkyrie.
I lift the shield carefully off the wall. The metal is cool beneath my fingers. I sink into a cross-legged position on the floor, cradling the artifact in my lap. As I stroke my fingers across its surface, I feel a stir of magic. A song that calls to me, a whisper from the past.
I cannot fathom that Erik has been alive long enough to have known my predecessor. A shiver of unease moves through me. I should just go ask him what he knows. But with the vibes running between us… I don’t know. It’ll be more awkward. I need to suck it up, take a quick peek on my own, and be done with it.
My magic swirls around me as if sensing my readiness. Usually when I perform spells as a seer, I burn certain herbs and focus on a specific question in my mind. But with the shield in my hands, I don’t need either of those things. The metal acts as a conduit, and I let my magic do as it will. I just want the truth. I want to know what this man who has shown up in my life has to do with my family tree.
The vision hits faster and stronger than any I’ve ever had before.
I feel like I’m falling, a sensation I always experience when I journey to the past or future. Fog swirls around me, silver and violet. Ahead, things begin to form in the mist. I see Erik, looking much the same as he does now, except his hair is longer and he’s wearing leather and furs. His face is streaked with blood.
And then I see Kára. My heart stops, and I nearly fall out of the vision. She looks remarkably like… me.
Pale skin, long brown hair with a slight curl to it. Hazel eyes. She’s dressed in leather and furs as well, and she’s holding the shield.
Other images begin to form. People, horses. There’s a clang of weapons. Smoke and fire, the smell of charred flesh. A battle.
Kára is there, magic buzzing around her. It glows a pale amethyst color, forming the shape of wings at her back. Like an angel of death. She transports fallen Viking warriors from the battlefield across to their next destination. I see only bright light, but I cannot see beyond the veil of death. I’m not meant to see the mysteries that lie there.
Then I see Erik again. He strides to Kára and he grabs her. They melt together and he kisses her like she is all there is in existence, like the battle doesn’t rage around them. I feel the rush of their passion like it’s my own. The heat of it in my blood, the flash of desire in my core, the pounding of my heart, Erik’s breath mixed with my own.
And then I see the monster.
That’s the best way I can describe it. A thing of bones and magic and black shadow. It rushes for Erik, a flaming sword arcing down at his head. But Kára steps between them. She throws the shield up, but she doesn’t place it between herself and the monster. She holds it between herself and Erik, shielding him. With her other hand she drives a silver spear into the thing, along with a blast of her magic. When her magic hits the creature, there’s a mighty explosion. Erik is thrown clear, but Kára and the monster are gone.
I gasp, thrown from my vision like a rider bucked from a horse.
Kára had died to save Erik.
She knew the monster couldn’t be killed by weapon alone, so she’d sacrificed herself, throwing every last ounce of her magic into the thing, creating a blast that destroyed them both.
My heart races in my chest. I can still feel it, like I’d been there myself. The heat from the monster’s breath, the dark curl of its magic against my skin, the evil in its core. She’d had to make a split-second decision, and Kára had chosen to save Erik instead of herself. She had loved him.
I can feel that, too, with an intensity that takes my breath away.
Erik hadn’t just known the owner of the shield. He’d been madly in love with her.
I blink as the rush of emotion leaves me, and in its wake, I feel an empty void. A chasm inside my heart. Since dueling outside in the snow, I’ve felt a dangerous undertow of feelings. I’m drawn to Erik in a way I haven’t been drawn to anyone since Lilli’s dad. And now this? Now it’s a hundred times worse. A thousand. It can’t just be a coincidence. It feels like fate has brought us together.
Slowly, I get up and hang the shield back on the wall. As I settle it into place, magic pulses from it and amethyst light shimmers off the metal, merging with my old golden-hued magic. It feels like Kára is speaking to me through the ages. I take one last look at the shield, sucking in an unsteady breath, and I turn around.
Erik is standing at the bottom of the stairs.
We stare at each other for a moment, neither speaking. Then, my feet move of their own accord, crossing the room. I stop when I reach Erik. I feel like I’m in a trance. Reaching up, I place my palm over his heart. It thrums swiftly beneath my fingers, and I feel his dragon surge to the surface with a rumble and a swirl of power that wraps around us.
