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It was as if it had never been disturbed. As if there wasn’t a jötunn lying beneath layers of rock.
He is one with the earth now,they all heard Kai’s dragon voice communicate, a deeper, more resonant register of his human voice.
His body will slowly become the soil and minerals that enrich these lands. Plant orchards here. Raise crops. Sing to the earth, and he will live again in the fruit that grows from his body. The seeds that carry your wishes.
Eir lay herself flat upon Kai’s back in a full-bodied hug. At least, as flat as she could make herself around his various scales and thorns.
He turned his head and huffed his breath over her face in a gentle snuffle.
They’d done it. They won!
With all of their help—the Valkyries and humans, Kai lived.
But her joy and elation didn’t last.
Beneath her, something shivered and shimmered, as his form began to lose substance.
She reared back with a gasp, looking down at his already semi-transparent body.
Keep me with you, Valkyrie, Kai implored quickly, his voice growing weaker.
You know how.
My death will bind me to this realm. To you.
She started at his urging.
His death?
And then she understood. He meant for her to take him to Valhalla.
They hadn’t spoken of what would happen if she did. Did he know that she would never be able to see him in that warrior’s heaven? Only at Ragnarök would they reunite to fight alongside the gods against their foes.
She looked up at Sorin, then at Ere, meeting their eyes.
It was time to go, she saw the message within them, mingled with empathy and sadness. Their time here was up now that Kai had defeated the giant.
Take me with you, Eir, Kai communicated urgently.
I am yours. Not the Jade Emperor’s or any other gods’.Yours.
She looked back into the firestorm of Kai’s dragon eyes. Full of strength and passion, devotion and love.
This beautiful, courageous, selfless male was willing to die for her. Just for the chance to see her again at the final battle to end worlds.
She shook her head, tears of gratitude, loss and endless love shining in her eyes as she gazed into his.
“No, my dearest one,” she whispered.
“You belong to yourself. Though I will gladly guard your heart. It is time you finallylived.”
And then—
The three visitors to her world were gone.
