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"The only thing you have to do is survive, Rissa." He rises to his feet like a lion, lethal and elegant. "That's the only task before you right now. Your survival."
"We both know that's not true."
"For this moment, it is. What comes will come. But for this moment, for today, all you have to do is survive. That's how you serve the realms. You survive. You find a way to keep surviving. And you let me do what I'm sworn to do and protect you from the things that threaten you and your heart. There will be time for you to fight later. The realms will need that warrior's spirit and your power later. But right now, we need you alive." He stops in front of me, crooking a finger beneath my chin. "You can't save everyone. You can't fight every battle. I didn't tell you what would have only hurt you."
"I'm afraid for her," I whisper. I don't care about the implications of the Forsaken getting their hands on her. I'm sure Dax and his brothers have already considered those. I'm afraidfor her. She's only eighteen, her life barely even started. She's been so brave and fought so hard already. If the Forsaken take her… I don't even want to consider what they'll do to her. Her Light is so bright.
"Ja, I know," Dax says, pulling me into his arms. "But the warriors won't let her fall. If it's Abigail they're after, the Fae won't let them take her."
I send up a silent prayer, asking whatever God is in charge to make it so.
"All will be well, Rissa," Dax vows.
"Then make me forget," I plead, throwing myself at him, desperate to think about anything other than the fact that my friends are in danger and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. "Please, Dax, make me forget."
"Ja," he whispers, sweeping me up in his arms. "Ja."
The next two days pass in a blur. The only way I know that time passes at all is the clock over Dax's bed, and the warriors who come and go. Every day, they leave to check on the people on my list. I pace endlessly while they're gone, waiting for them to return with news.
Dax tries to distract me. He tries to keep my mind occupied. We make love and talk endlessly. But during those hours, there is no distracting me. There is no occupying my mind. All I can do is pace and pray.
On the third day, Stephan and Garrison bring me anímun-laukr, a sword. It's not nearly as large or long as what they carry. In truth, it's more dagger than sword. But the two human warriors spend half the day teaching me to use it while Dax watches carefully. He won't allow them to touch me. As soon as they get too close, he turns into a snarling beast.
But between the three of them, they manage to work out a system for teaching me the basics. Stephan and Garrison show me what to do, and Dax helps ensure I'm holding the weapon correctly. I practice on him.
I expect to hate every minute of it, but I find that I don't hate it at all. With the weapon in my hand, I don't feel useless or helpless. It feels familiar, as if I've worked through the forms a thousand times before. But the knowledge is muted and far away, as if it comes from a dream.
Perhaps it does. I've certainly dreamed of wars and fighting for long enough.
"You did well," Stephan says, grinning at me at the end of the day. "A few more years like today, and you'll be as fierce on a battlefield as your mate."
"A few years?" Garrison snorts. "Give her a few months, and she'll be able to carve your fucking heart out with the thing with both eyes closed." He eyes me with a new respect. I think that's rare for him. He seems like it takes a lot to earn his respect. "You did well."
"Thanks," I whisper, holding the weapon out for him.
"Keep it," he says. "Consider it a gift."
I glance to Dax, who shrugs as if to say this is between me and the two Blooded warriors. "Thank you," I say. "I'll take good care of it."
The warrior nods and then he and Stephan let themselves out of the room. I turn to Dax, surprised. "Did you ask them to come?"
"Nei," he says. "I suspect they made the decision themselves. They're restless without anyone to train."
"They train the warriors?"
"They train with the warriors," he says. "And they train the Blooded who want to learn to fight."
I place theímun-laukron the small table. "How many Blooded live in Eitr, Dax?"
"At last count? Four hundred and nine."
I spin to face him, shocked. "There are over four hundred of the Blooded there?"
He nods. "There are many, many more than that on earth, Valkyrie. Thousands, now. But very few are able to touch the Light. Those who can have been showing up at the gates for the last few years, first in a trickle, and then in a flood."
"They just show up?"
"Ja. They feel what's coming like a shift in the air. I don't know if they even know what they're looking for when they set out, but they seem to find their way to us regardless."
