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Logan answered him before I could. “Over two days ago.”
I peered down at my plate. He was right, but how could I eat when everything was changing? I was about to leave the last thing I loved–my home, my father.
Ales rose from where he sat across from me and bent down on a knee to meet me at eye level. The gesture made today’s dream flash to the forefront of my mind. I blinked and jerked back before he could touch my knee.
Ales seemed confused. He withdrew his outstretched hand. “What?”
I wasn’t going to address the issue involving ongoing nightmares about him that turned into very vivid, very sexy fantasies. And the Valkyrie part of me was so very strong—she wanted to jump him. Literally, my light was going to surge from underneath my skin for him right here and now.
I avoided his stare.
The best course of action would be to avoid touching him. I sure as hell wasn’t going to say a word about it in front of the entire group.
“I’m not hungry.” I handed the plate toward him to finish.
Ales’ face hardened. “You are starving—I know you are. I could see the bones of your ribs yesterday. I know your body is hungry.” He forced the plate back into my hands. “Eat all of it—or do I have to feedyou?”
Ales turned his lips up in a predatory smile.
Over the past few years, the stress of the frenzied dreams and fighting the light had made it hard to keep down food. The last forty-eight hours of starvation had made it apparent I needed more muscle everywhere, but I didn’t need someone forcing food down my throat.
The words should have made me feel like an insolent child, but the way he said them did not feel like a reprimand. It was only an hour ago when he had bent down in front of me on the grass in my dreams.
Stop blushing.
I grabbed the plate from him. Digging into the fish with my fingers, like I had seen the other men do, I shoved a full bite into my mouth without breaking Ales’ stare. I started chewing and the taste hit my tongue. I would have been drooling if I didn’t shut my mouth.
It seemed too sensual to continue looking at Ales while I chewed my food, so I looked out at the ocean. Each bite of fish lifted my spirits a little more, breathing life back into my body. I picked my way through the entire plate.
“Will there be other Valkyries where we are going?” I would’ve liked to meet someone who understood what the hell was happening to me. Had they lost all of their human selves? It wasn’t comforting to learn about this from Ales and Cri. It was like learning how to flirt from your grandmother. They meant well, but they were lacking some perspective.
Cri answered my question. “No, there aren’t any there. There aren’t many Valkyries existing at all. It has been many centuries since one has awoken. We have been searching for you for hundreds of years. The Fates haven’t been kind. Only the first sister, the Urðr, can decree a Valkyrie to be made, and it has been a very long time since she has twined the aether to create one.”
Leo interjected, “Many Valkyries have been destroyed in the war over the millennia, but few have been created.” Leo looked at the others. “We are losing this war.” Then he turned his eyes to me. “You are very important, baby bird.”
A part of me wanted to follow these men, and be who they thought I was. But I couldn’t give myself over the Valkyrie entirely, forever. Was it selfish to want to save Charlie too?
“How did you search for me?” I looked at Leo, but the question was meant for Ales. He was the one who haunted my dreams.
Leo smiled. “We are drawn to you. We are a special type of Einherjar called the unbound. We search different worlds for Valkyries, like you, who have awoken. Once awoken, your aether is sensed by the Raiders, and Einherjar alike. For the unbound, it is easier to sense your aether than other Einherjar, but it is equally as appealing to the Raider commanders. Most Valkyries do not know what they truly are before the Raiders destroy them. It takes time for the Valkyries to remember the old ways. They say it is like remembering a past life. We are fortunate we found you, when Ales found you.”
Did they think it was odd I’d been a Valkyrie for three years, and still didn’t know the old ways? It wasn’t going to take much for them to realize Charlie was calling the shots, and you know… alive.
I looked across at Ales.
He looked furious, a second of rage. Then it disappeared under his mask of indifference before I could blink. He stood up before everyone finished their meal.
“We sleep tonight, dead in the water. Tomorrow, we will go the rest of the way.” Ales turned to head under the deck.
Logan stood. “The soldiers who took Charlie won’t stop looking for her. We need to get as far away from them as soon as possible.”
“This boat was stripped of all navigational devices. They won’t find us. Besides, I don’t think they will be looking in the ocean for her,” Cri responded.
“Who are your people?” I asked Logan and Danny, venom lacing the words. I edged closer to them, debating pushing them overboard, just to teach them a lesson about being cold.
Logan and Danny ducked their heads. Cri and Leo turned to look at me.
“Their people?” Cri asked for him and Leo.
