1. Maddy

Chapter 1

Maddy

" M adivia!"

The use of my full name makes me blink, and suddenly the enormous white bear before me disappears.

"No!" I croak desperately. I try to scramble to my feet, to move toward where the fallen Giant lies unmoving, but my knees aren't cooperating. They buckle under me, and I stumble forward, landing hard on my palms, pain shooting up my wrists at the impact.

I hear Kain growl behind me, but I can't decipher the noise. I blink rapidly, trying to clear the haze from my eyes, the ringing from my ears, the whirling confusion clouding my mind.

Where has she gone? The majestic bear, my val-tivar , had been right there in front of me only a moment ago.

But now… she's vanished into thin air.

Panic rises like bile in my throat. I have to find her .

Frantically, I crawl forward, my hands scrabbling in the coarse sand.

The Frost Giant's massive blue fingers twitch on the blood-soaked ground, and I freeze, fear pinning me in place.

For a beat, all I can hear is the rustling of the Giant's clothes on the sand as it tries to move. Then the rhythmic beating of wings sounds loud overhead, followed by a fierce feminine roar.

I watch, stunned, as arrow after arrow thunk s into the forehead of the prostrate Frost Giant, piercing through thick skin and bone, its limbs falling still again. Looking up, I see Valdis' gleaming silver armor catching the light as she hovers high above the destroyed Battleyard, black wings beating. Her arm is a blur as she loads more arrows into her bow and continues the barrage into the Giant's skull.

Trembling, hardly daring to breathe, I crane my neck to look at the fallen Giant's thick neck.

A huge chunk of flesh is missing, ripped right out.

I did not imagine her. The white bear, radiating power and ferocity, had truly been there. She had torn into the Giant's neck, and she had saved Kain's life.

Turning slowly, I see the fire-fae staring at me.

My skin feels cold, and I'm vaguely aware that I'm in some sort of shock. My thoughts are incoherent, and I can't feel my body properly. My vision is blurred and everything is swimming, swaying in front of me. I feel sick .

Is this what happens when you get a val-tivar ? But… where is she?

"What in the name of Odin's fucking raven just happened?" Kain growls, his deep voice rough, laced with pain. Before I can even begin to form a response, Valdis lands gracefully beside us, folding her wings behind her.

"How did you take it out?" she asks Kain sharply.

He doesn't take his smoldering eyes from my face. "She did it," he rumbles. Valdis whirls to face me, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"You?" she asks incredulously. "How?"

A wave of dizziness crashes over me and I slump back, my backside landing hard on the sand. I dig my fingers into the cold sand, trying to anchor myself.

Please, fates, don't let me pass out now.

It's shock causing my disorientation, not the blackouts, I'm fairly sure. I will my hearing and my vision to stabilize, trying to focus my spinning mind. Emotion is roiling in my chest, but there's no room for it—I am well beyond the fragile semblance of control I normally maintain over the chaos within my head.

Desperate, I try to replay what happened, try to order my thoughts.

I saw my val-tivar , of that I am certain.

But… but something about what just happened was… wrong.

My breath catches as realization emerges through the fog.

The bear acted independently of me. She didn't possess my body and make me strong enough to slam back a twenty-five-foot Giant myself.

She did it on her own.

Everything swims again, and I squeeze my eyes shut, fingernails biting into my palms, desperate to calm the hurricane in my mind.

"Rook, how did you take down the Giant?" Valdis demands impatiently.

"I—" The word escapes my numb lips, but I have no idea how to continue, how to explain any of this.

What just happened isn't possible, is it?

I rack my brain for any story or example of a val-tivar acting independently from its Valkyrie.

Erik's snake can leave him and heal others, can't it? That's what happened when it healed my foot—it wasn't Erik's hands healing. I felt the scales on my skin.

His words come back to me without any help from the gallery.

"Not all snake val-tivars can heal other people, but almost all can heal their bonded when they take possession. But mine… She is gifted."

Did that mean… my val-tivar was gifted too?

Did this mean I really could be a Valkyrie? Had Featherblade truly given me a power animal?

But if so… where had she gone?

I shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut tighter, utterly overwhelmed.

Valdis sighs in annoyance, giving up on getting answers from me. "There were three of them," she says grimly, addressing Kain instead. "One outside the main hall and one over in the Bird Wing."

My eyelids flutter open, her words forcing the tumbling thoughts to a stop. "Is everyone all right?" I ask hoarsely.

"No," Valdis replies, and my heart seizes. "Two rooks were killed. Erik is tending to those who were injured now."

I swallow, more dizziness assaulting me. Please let Sarra be safe .

Kain is still sitting on the blood-soaked sand, and with a sickening jolt, I notice for the first time the state of his right shoulder. It's a gory, pulped mess of torn muscle, sinew, and shattered bone, oozing dark red blood. Swallowing back bile, I quickly move my eyes to his face, which betrays no hint of the agony he must be in.

His burning gaze holds mine, and I realize my vision is clearing and my breathing slowing as I stare at him.

Focus on what is front of you, Maddy. Kain is injured, Featherblade has been attacked, and Sarra may be hurt. That's what is important. You can work the rest out later.

Mercifully, my mind slows. My hands are shaking less, and I keep sucking down large, level breaths.

"How the fuck did they even get into Featherblade?" Kain doesn't keep the pain out of his voice the way he is keeping it from his face.

"I was hoping you'd have an idea," Valdis says.

Kain's eyes snap to her. "You can't possibly suspect I had anything to do with it? "

Flashes of our earlier conversation come rushing back to me. He would gladly see every last one of these Valkyrie dead.

Valdis looks awkwardly between me and him. "Well?—"

He cuts her off, his tone harsh and low. "You left me chained to a fucking post. Why the fates would I set a monster loose in Featherblade and then let you chain me up?"

Valdis swallows. "It's not like you had much choice—" she starts, but again, he cuts her off.

"You know perfectly fucking well that I could stop them putting those infernal gloves on me if I wanted to," he hisses.

His use of the word them instead of you triggers a realization. The way they are talking holds an edge of familiarity, and the cold tone he uses with the others is absent. She defended his punching Orgid, I remember. She found it funny, in fact.

Are they friends? Or… more?

A surge of uncomfortable and ridiculous emotion forces me to my wobbly feet. I am teetering on the edge of control, and I'm not going to lose it over an absurd, unjustifiable jealousy.

"If she hadn't been here, all of me would look like this." Kain juts his chin at me and snaps an angry gesture toward his ruined shoulder, and I pause.

Valdis eyes me. "You saved his life?"

I didn't. A giant, beautiful, vicious bear did. And then she vanished. How could I expect anyone to believe that ?

"I need to get back," I say.

"You need to help me get him to the healing chambers," she answers, tipping her head at Kain.

"I don't need any help," he growls, but makes a distinct lack of effort to stand. His dark skin is paler than usual, and blood is still seeping from his awful wound. Valdis is right. He needs attention.

" Heimskr ," Valdis mutters. "You're too heavy for me to fly you. Rook, get over here." She crouches beside him, and her wing extends with her arm, lifting him by his waist.

I take a tentative step forward, relieved to find that I am steady on my feet. I move to Kain's other side, trying not to look at the amount of blood on the ground.

"Don't touch my skin," he barks, making me startle as I reach for him.

"I wasn't going to," I say through gritted teeth, though I am now reassessing how I can take his weight and avoid his bare arms and torn shirt.

I peer around at Valdis and copy her, gripping the belt around his thankfully intact trousers. He's swaying a little, but he is taking a lot of his own weight.

Slowly, we move across the sand, Kain leaving a trail of dark blood in our wake.