Chapter Twenty

" M Y SECOND-IN-COMMAND was put to death for killing your mate, Zane," Knud revealed. "And while I regretted the decision after your second-in-command so ruthlessly killed my mate in return, I thought you should know." He clenched his jaw and glanced at the endless fallen below them from where they stood on one of the Keep's higher balconies. "In light of the situation we find ourselves in now."

"I do not believe you." Zane kept narrowed eyes trained on his enemy and sat across the table from Knud when Ulrik ordered him to. "We would have heard something. Dragons would have been talking about it."

"Would they if ordered not to by their king?" Knud perked his eyebrows. "Or perhaps they do in your Realm, as you are not truly its king, are you?"

Where Zane might have bristled at that in his younger years, those sorts of comments no longer bothered him. "No." He gestured at Ulrik, who had sat down along with the others. "King Ulrik is."

"Only when I'm here," Ulrik returned, making things clear to both Zane and Knud. "Otherwise, in my absence, Zane is very much King of the Realm."

"No matter which personality?" Knud commented, trying to get under Zane's skin.

"No matter which personality," Ulrik confirmed, having clearly noted Zane's fluctuating personalities were more controlled now he was with Savannah. "Just like his Valkyrie fated mate, he rules with his Midgardian and Múspellsheimr personalities, each well suited to such an array of dragons."

"Now all that's been clarified—" Zoey looked at Knud— "I think the best place to start is why your second-in-command killed Zane's mate to begin with." She looked back and forth between the men. "Unless, of course, you two already know the answer to that."

Although Zane felt uncomfortable talking about another mate with Savannah next to him, he felt her peace with it. Her understanding that it made perfect sense for him to take one of his childhood friends as a mate once Savannah shunned him. Rather, he felt her inner beast brush against his, trying to ease the pain he'd felt at his former mate's death. They were never a love match but always good friends.

"My second-in-command had a run-in with Zane's second-in-command," Knud said, replying to Zoey's question. "Things escalated from there. It seems they wanted the same female." He leveled a look at Zane. "Someone they had loved since childhood. When she chose your commander over mine, it seems in his grief, my commander took her life so no one else could have her."

Shocked by the revelation, Zane frowned and shook his head. His former second-in-command had loved his mate? Been with her? It wasn't uncommon to share mates, and she'd certainly been allowed her freedoms every bit as much as he did at the time, but that surprised him. That particular commander had died years ago in battle, so he could not confirm it.

"Yes, you can," Savannah said softly, resting her hands palm up on the table. "Each of you take a hand, and we'll look together. See if Knud tells you the truth."

Though he wasn't pleased with the idea of Knud touching her, one look at his daughter and Aeda lying together, vulnerable and struggling for their lives under a blanket on the floor, was enough to make him listen.

Almost the moment they took Savannah's hand, golden Valkyrie light filled his vision, and he looked through Knud's eyes into the moment his commander returned to his kingdom, and Knud caught wind of what he'd done. Zane felt how enraged he had been when his second-in-command was summoned and ultimately confessed his crime.

When he did, Zane was able to look deeper, shocked yet again to see how many times he'd visited with Zane's mate over the years. Shocked to discover love had grown between them. After that, he felt the escalating tension between the two commanders.

Then he saw the murder itself.

Savannah's soothing presence remained with him as Knud's man pled with Zane's mate to be with him instead. She loved Zane as a friend and mate, but as he knew, they weren't a love match. Zane's second-in-command was. So was Knud's man, it seemed, but in the end, she wanted to lay with just the one, so as said, in his grief and rage, he'd slain her and let everyone think it had been on his King's orders until Knud discovered the truth.

"But by then, it was too late," Zane murmured, saddened by what he'd just witnessed as Savannah pulled her hands away and everything returned to normal. "In my rage, I'd already dispatched my commander to end your mate in return. A task he gladly saw through, out of vengeance and no doubt a means to get close enough to kill your commander too, but by then, he likely learned you'd already executed your man." He clenched his jaw and shook his head. "Something he kept from me because he didn't want peace after what had happened to my mate. He wanted war and destruction to match his pain."

"And you wanted the same," Savannah said softly. "Shunned by me and caught up in a curse, it was the perfect catalyst for everything to go wrong."

"And I did not help matters any," Knud confessed with a sigh. "I was full of battle lust in those days, so I thought nothing of embracing warfare and all that went with it." He looked at Magnus and J?rn. "And I brought you with me, only lending more division and unrest to the kingdoms, so for that, I am sorry."

"As am I," Zane said gruffly, wishing he could go back time and do things differently. "To all of you but mostly to you, Knud. I acted rashly, leading to so much discord between our kingdoms over the years—deaths that never should have happened to my people and yours." He stood and held out his hand. "To that end, might we start anew and fight this curse together so peace can reign once more and dragonkind can flourish?"

Everything grew quiet save the slight crackle of the fiery ring as King Knud eyed Zane for a long, tense moment. Would he let the past go and take this peace offering? Would they stand a chance against this blasted curse?

Fortunately, Knud finally stood, clasped Zane's arm, hand to elbow in a show of camaraderie, and nodded once. "Might this moment mark the beginning of a new alliance between us all so peace can reign at last?"

Backing what Savannah and her fellow Valkyries had surmised, Zane and Knud making peace, at last, was the weapon they needed because darkness shot out of everyone lying prone, and they stirred awake.

"Now is the true test," Rune said as everyone shifted to their dragons and eyed the gathering darkness over the whole of the Realm. "Will all stand by the truce they witnessed via your tether, or will there be mayhem?"

When Zane, Savannah, Magnus, and Zoey tried to take up positions in front of Aeda and Freya, the girls would have none of it, determined to stand by them rather than be protected by them. Zane might have disallowed it had he not seen how they acted in the cave when they'd returned home. That aside, he'd sensed through Savannah's dragon that the girls had already, in their own way, saved the day when Freya had talked through Aeda, telling Savannah to do what he would have done. As it turned out, that led to this moment, so they deserved to stand strong as fellow warriors, no matter their age.

Even so, it was hard not to worry about them, given what they faced, as darkness kept gathering like a massive, black-bellied storm overhead. Yet as it did, he swore the fiery circle at their backs grew larger and brighter like a ravenous beast. He realized why when Savannah and her fellow Valkyrie dragons ignited in golden light and leapt onto the rail, an impressive show of protection for their people.

"Not just your people," Knud said, speaking telepathically in the way of dragons, clearly catching his thoughts now they were reconnecting. He eyed the sky. "All of our people."

It turned out he was right. Dragons from all kingdoms filled the sky in every direction. Thankfully, they weren't coming to destroy Savannah and her friends but to stand together in an alliance against anything meant to destroy them.

"Go, girls," Rune whispered, nodding at Savannah and her friends when they glanced back at her, undoubtedly waiting for her final act of guidance. "Do what you were born to do."

While Zane certainly felt awe and incredible pride as Savannah and her friends leapt off the balcony and rose into the sky, he also felt tremendous fear. When Freya's young dragon tried to rush after her, he pulled her back against him, understanding what needed to happen. "No, daughter. Our fight is here, and hers is there."

"And are they not impressive?" Knud marveled softly, eyeing Zoey with pride as the Valkyrie dragons climbed higher and higher, flying in a circular pattern to match the fiery circle.

"Very much so," Magnus praised, watching Zoey as well.

"Like nothing I have ever seen," Tyr said, awed, his gaze trained on Athena.

"Beyond beautiful," Rafe added, his eyes never leaving Quinn.

"Beyond strong," Ulrik said, his crown flaming brighter as he watched Keira with unmistakable pride.

"And all ours," Zane rumbled, just as impressed by Savannah as Freya. How could she not be when her mother shined extra bright, and the Valkyries circled faster and faster, creating the same circular symbol that had been on the door when they'd fled Múspellsheimr in another life, seeking peace. The very same symbol the dark seer had lured Savannah with because he knew she would be drawn to it.

"It won't be long now," J?rn warned. His dragon stood on one side of the flaming circle, and Rune on the other. "Be ready, all."

No one needed to ask what he meant when the dark thundercloud of cursed evil shied away from the encroaching Valkyries. Not just shied away but moments later, in an attempt to flee them, shot off in all directions, but it was too late. Thousands of dragons had come and created a massive wall around the Keep.

Dragons with only peace in their hearts, ready for change.

It turned out that was the best barrier anyone could ask for because the curse couldn't get past them. Not when they fought back putting themselves between it and escape. That's all the Valkyries needed to gather the darkness in their golden circle and steer it back toward the flaming circle at the heart of everything. Steer it until it made one last attempt to escape but ran into the Valkyries' mates and children. Even Tréan's great white wolf pushed back against all that meant to harm the dragons he'd long called friends.

Zane kept Freya close as they fought the darkness together, the sensation slippery and uncomfortable, but they bared their teeth and roared, not letting the curse by them as the Valkyries twirled faster and faster, catching the darkness and spearheading it toward the circle.

"What's happening, Father?" Freya asked, sensing just like him that great uncertainty lay ahead. "Why am I suddenly so afraid?"

He had no answer because he felt the same as Savannah and her friends came at the fiery circle faster and faster, corralling the darkness before, having nowhere else to go, it shot into the ring before his mate and her sister Valkyries shot in after it. The moment they did, Rune and J?rn chanted in a language he didn't understand, and the ring snapped shut with a burst of flames, leaving nothing but a trail of smoke that drifted away into nothing.

"No!" Ulrik's mighty dragon keened in pain, and he crashed down where the ring had been, desperate to follow his mate and unborn offspring before he roared fire at the sky in anguish.

"Where is Mother?" Freya wailed, trying to scramble that way as well, but Zane held her back and folded her in his wings, grappling with the heartbreaking sensation of Savannah vanishing from his mind.

"I don't know," he managed, trying to soothe his daughter when she tried to wiggle free at first but eventually calmed against him.

"Where are they?" Tyr fumed, baring his teeth at Rune, only for J?rn to block her and bare his teeth, warning Tyr with the fire in his eyes to stay away.

"Tell us, Rune," Rafe growled, emitting a low, deep keen in his chest that told all he was seconds away from using wizardly magic. "Where are our mates? I cannot feel Quinn anymore." His dragon pupils flared in distress . "She is gone from my mind entirely."

"As is Zoey," Magnus echoed, his building anguish and fury just as palpable as his counterparts. He kept Aeda close as she cried, missing Zoey every bit as much.

"They are between times right now," Rune said softly as dragons far and wide didn't roar in triumph but rallied closer and closer, darkening the sunset and the light of Níeh?ggr's Ash. Not in anger but in curiosity and sadness, wondering where their saviors had gone. Because the Valkyries had saved them. A sentiment felt clearly as all grew silent, leaving the echoing reverberation of a thousand flapping wings.

Rune gave Zane a look that made his heart grow cold, but he understood what it meant. Somehow, he knew in that moment what it had always meant. He'd led the charge from Múspellsheimr in another life and was the first to know about the curse in this one. That meant now was the time to rise up once more and be the leader and lesser king Ulrik needed him to be as he mourned the absence of his mate and child. Two taken from him in one fell swoop. A misery Zane wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.

Understanding what he needed to do, he peered down at Freya only to find her peering up at him. She was terribly sad but understood at that moment they could, would , do it together.

So he hopped onto the railing where he could speak to endless dragons both below and above with his daughter beside him, her skin glowing golden with the Valkyrie she'd inherited from her mother, his fated mate and greatest love, and spoke to all. Rallied everyone so they understood today was not a day of mourning but a day of victory and the start of great peace over the land. Something felt by all when sick females far and wide started to rise from their sickbeds, finally free of illness.

"Today, we start over and leave the past behind," he said into everyone's mind far and wide. "Today, thanks to five goddesses who came to our aid, all that suppressed us is no more."

"Zane is right," Knud echoed. He landed beside him and Freya, welcoming his granddaughter Aeda as she crawled up and stood beside him, clearly unafraid of the dizzying height as she stood tall. His dragon looked down at her with unmistakable love, pride, and respect. "Today, we let go of all the hatred and forgive. Today, we start anew with humans, shifters, seers, and full-blooded dragons alike."

"We do," Ulrik agreed. Despite the agony still emitting from his dragon aura, he leapt up on Zane's other side and became the high king he was born to be. Tyr, Rafe, and Magnus leapt up as well, understanding this moment was important.

That this is what their mates had fought for.

"We will make sure what our Valkyries fought for because they weren't just ours but yours too, means something." Ulrik spoke in a way that made his magic touch each and every dragon. "They brought us back together as we were always meant to be." He looked from Zane to all the dragons hanging on his every word. "And they did it because, one way or another, Zane led abused dragons from one world into another, trying to find a better place for them. Peace for them."

That clearly appealed to several because many of Zane's own, those true to him always, roared in approval.

"His determination to save dragons never wavered in our last life or this one." Ulrik lowered his head to Zane in a way no high king should lower his head to a lesser ruler, showing respect before his gaze met Zane's, and his great dragon made things clear after a long, heartfelt pause.

"That said," Ulrik finally went on , certain he had everyone's undivided attention, "my cousin, Zane, will henceforth become a high king alongside me, in every sense of the word, King of the Realm. We will rule in peace beside each other and our lesser kings, dragons all, who are, as we know, no lesser than us but kin, allies, and friends in this new pact." When he swept his great wing over Zane's head, a flaming crown appeared, burning brightly with the fire of Múspellsheimr's world mixed with the flames of this one. A means to remind dragonkind of what it had left behind so they could better appreciate what they had found here and would never forget. "So says I, King Ulrik Sigdir, from this day henceforth."

It seemed that snapped away the curse once and for all because dragons roared in glory far and wide and with good reason.

One that brought a new future indeed.