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I understood why Valkyries didn’t let Einherjar into their minds often… the vulnerability to the other connections was dangerous.
Taking deep breaths, choking on the disappearing taste, I opened my eyes.
Ales held me against him as he stared down at me. Danny and Leo held onto Lana, while Ales’ two gray-eyed friends stood by Cri and Logan, holding swords and axes. Talon was the last to arrive with a dagger in his hand.
“Did you bring them all?” I asked Ales, as every Einherjar on the island now stood beside us in the forest.
“No, you called to them through the connection. We all felt it.” Ales searched my face. The once-vibrant silver was so still, it was frozen. His eyes pierced mine like icy shards as his face became a mask. “They’re coming,” he whispered into the forest.
I nodded my head.
I didn’t need to be connected to him to know what he was thinking. There was only one thing that could’ve felt like that.
Ales turned smoothly to the men, still holding me against him. He looked to Leo and Cri first. “Obtain as many weapons as you can from the vault.” Then he turned to his two gray-eyed friends. “Lead the people into the tunnels.”
Everyone stared at Ales.
He was different than the man I had danced with last night. The warrior holding me was almost… detached from me. His absence made all of me tense. The man before me was the Einherjar, preparing for battle.
“NOW!” he yelled.
His gray-eyed friends turned to run for the village as Cri and Leo sprinted to the mountainside vault where we kept the Valkyrie weapons.
Ales twisted me away from his chest, pushing me toward Logan and Danny as they approached. “Go. Leave this world.”
He looked down at me and removed his hands on my shoulders. “Create another aether, focus on the call of the power. You can do it. Go to the ocean and get away from this place.” He glanced to his side. “Take Logan and Danny.”
He thinks no one will survive.
He started shaking me when I didn’t move.
I looked up into his icy silver eyes. “No,” I whispered. “I’m not leaving. I’m a Valkyrie. I’m going to defend these people, or be destroyed trying. The Raiders won’t just leave when they realize I’m not here. It’s too late now.” I motioned to Lana, standing by Talon. “I’m not leaving you all to be slaughtered!”
I looked at Logan and Danny. “There is not a place where they won’t find my aether now. If I opened a portal to get the people through, they’d follow it. It can’t be veiled by the mortal anymore like it used to be.”
Before I could finish my sentence, Logan grabbed my shoulder, studying Ales’ love bite. “So, you’re the Valkyrie now?”
I couldn’t meet Logan’s eyes.
It would hurt him more to explain that I was both, and yet I had to be with Ales.
“Yes.”
Logan slipped his hand off my shoulder. He silently stepped back, away from me and Ales. “Then we fight. I’m hoping you’re as strong as Charlie thought. God, you better be worth it.”
“I am,” I said, not entirely as confident as I should be. I didn’t dare look at Ales or Lana. They wouldn’t betray my secret, but I was sure they wouldn’t approve of bold-faced lying to Logan.
I turned and headed for the vault. I needed my weapons—my golden companions.
Danny careened into the cave entrance behind me. “How long do we have before they arrive?”
“Not long. The connection was very, very close.”
Ales and Talon were right on our heels.
We went straight to the vault holding the golden-winged weapons. Leo had already strapped an ax and sword to his back then plucked the spear from the black-stone wall.
Cri grabbed a bow and extra quivers, also wearing a broadsword on his hip. Logan and Danny followed Leo and Cri’s direction, both taking their favorites. Logan selected the sword he’d practiced with from the wall.
