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“The men they worked for,” I said.
Danny spoke first. “We were part of the Army until three years ago, when we were commissioned by another agency to track and kill whatever was attacking soldiers. We became full-time hunters. The reports of the missing on the news were only a fraction of the cases. We thought—”
“We thought we were doing the right thing. I know they drugged you, and did things worse than that in some ways. I never thought they were capable of doing that to you,” Logan finished. He took a step toward me so only I could hear his next words. “I don’t know how to make it right between us. I needed to get you out, with or without Danny or Ales.”
How do I tell him I still needed his touch? Charlie can’t do this without him.
“Things are kinda screwed up. They just are. It’s not your fault, but things are different now,” I said, taking a step away from the brothers. Logan seemed so sincere. I didn’t want him to feel guilty. I could’ve reached out and kissed him, but it would be wrong. Once the Valkyrie controlled me, I wouldn’t want him anymore. Maybe it was better if I kept my distance from him. Being near him made it easier to lean into him, to nudge into his warmth, and taste him.
“I’m going to see if there is alcohol anywhere on this boat.” Logan walked down the steps off the deck.
Forgive me, Logan. I can’t need you like I do.
“Sounds like a good idea,” Danny said, moving to join his brother.
“And now there were three,” I said, looking at Cri and Leo.
Cri sprawled out on the cushioned bench all to himself, and Leo rested on the deck. Both stared at the night sky now blazing with stars.
“If I’m not mortal, how do Valkyries die before the Einherjar can find them?” I asked Cri and Leo.
“Some die when their world is attacked. You can die by a Raider’s blade or a Keres’ hand. We haven’t found a Valkyrie who has survived by herself for very long after first awakening,” Cri said.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“When the mortal dies, the Valkyrie assumes the body. It takes time for the Valkyrie to build her aether and remember the old ways.”
Leo seemed to notice my confusion, more like panic.
“Some Valkyries claim that they were awoken by the pain of something unbearable. The mortal self was too weak to live, so the Valkyrie was born.” He broke my gaze to look at the ocean. He appeared uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation. “You are still a baby Valkyrie, feeble, so it is hard to understand all the Valkyrie knowledge, but it will come to you.”
Not if I keep fighting it.
The light inside me was Her, the Valkyrie, and She was supposed to be awake, not Charlie. And She had the power, the knowledge. I wasn’t going crazy… it was Her… linking to Ales and the Raiders.
I am so fucked!
The connection. They sought my light through the connection. It’s why no one found me once I was awoken. I fought the connection. I buried the Valkyrie so deep, neither Ales nor the Raiders could truly find me… until I sought the Raider out. Then I summoned my light. Ales must’ve sensed my aether once I freed it destroying the Raider.
“I can sense the Raiders, like I did Ales. How is that possible?”
“It’s energy, or the absence of it. The Valkyrie can sense a warrior’s soul, an Einherjar, and a Raider. They are the same, yet opposite,” Leo said.
“Your aether must be weak if only a few Raiders could sense your power, and Ales barely,” Cri announced.
He didn’t elaborate on what “weak” meant, but that couldn’t be a quality that they had been looking for all these years.
If I told Cri they couldn’t find me because I held the Valkyrie down, smothering the light, they would be furious. Maybe I was weak, but it’d kept Charlie alive.
“How did you all meet?” I laid back on the bench opposite Cri.
“It is a very sad story, baby bird. Are you sure you want to hear it?” Leo’s question echoed up from the floor of the deck.
“Yes,” I whispered into the stars. I needed to hear how these men had become closer than brothers if I was going to survive their world.
