Chapter Fourteen

Kenton takes me through the portal to Eitr. We"re only inside for moments, but it feels like eternity as shards of ice grow in my veins. Lights flicker around us, confusing and distorted. Shadows slither, grasping toward us like veins. This isn"t the portal Reaper told me so much about. This one has been twisted by evil. I feel it all around me.

So has Eitr. The mountain village is overrun by Forsaken and the varulv. They"re everywhere, turning the home of the Fae into a stronghold of evil.

I hear Kenton and the Forsaken discussing what to do with me, but I don"t care. I just float, lost in a sea of agony. It"s not fair. How could fate bind my soul to Reaper"s only to allow these monsters to use it against us now? If I die, he dies. And if I survive, it"s only because the Fae turned Abigail over.

That is no choice. It"s torment. For every single one of the Fae. They can no more make that choice than they can deny the goodness in their souls. They were born to defend the Valkyrie, not barter and exchange them. Damrion can"t be asked to choose between the Seer he loves and one of his oldest friends and his mate. It"s wrong.

But evil doesn"t care. That"s why it"s evil. It"s thoughtless, emotionless, soulless destruction. It thrives on pain and misery. Watching the struggles of its victims makes it stronger.

I don"t struggle. I keep my head held high, refusing to shed a tear or say a word. I squirmed and begged enough when they pushed my head beneath the water over and over again in my bathroom prison, just to see how far they push me before I broke. I will never beg for my life again. Not from these monsters.

They decide to tie me up in one of the cabins close to the Hall of Warriors. Kenton is the one who takes me. The Forsaken can"t seem to be bothered. Or perhaps, they fear getting too close now that they know that I know who and what I am.

Kenton doesn"t say anything until we step inside the cabin and the door closes behind us. The cabin is a single room with a kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom all sharing the same cozy space.

The kitchen is small but tidy, with a few dishes and utensils scattered on the counter. The table has only two chairs. A worn couch and a coffee table create a simple and comfortable seating area. A large bed takes up most of the space.

My eyes immediately land on the woman handcuffed to it. She"s a few years older than I am, her face framed by a halo of wild, fiery red hair. Her freckled skin is pale and bruised. Even unconscious, pain etches grooves between her brows.

"Valkyrie," I breathe, stunned. She"s been here all this time? God, of course she has. My gaze flickers to Kenton. "The Forsaken sent Abigail the visions, didn"t they?"

He says nothing.

"Who am I going to tell, Kenton? By this time tomorrow, I"ll be dead," I say, laughing without mirth.

"We aren"t going to hurt you," he says. "As soon as they make the trade, you"ll be free to leave."

I laugh again. "They aren"t making the trade. They will never make that trade. If you know anything about the Fae, you know that."

"Sit down." He points to a chair in the small kitchen.

I scowl daggers at him as I slowly cross to it and sink down.

He makes quick work of tying me to it.

"Her visions are her own," he says as he works. "But they"ve found ways to exploit them. If they want her to see a Valkyrie in a church, they simply send the Forsaken to the churches. She sees a Valkyrie tied up and Forsaken all over the churches, and her mind confuses the two."

I grunt as he jerks the ropes tight enough to cut off circulation before loosening them slightly. I don"t want to believe his answer, but I think he"s telling the truth. Which means the vision she had of a Valkyrie dying wasn"t sent by the Forsaken. It"s possible she saw my death and just didn"t understand that the Valkyrie she was me.

A fresh wave of hopelessness crashes through me. I bow my head to hide the tears welling in my eyes.

Kenton finishes tying me to the chair in silence. "I"ll check on you later. Don"t do anything foolish. There are dozens of Forsaken right outside the door, and hundreds of varulv."

"You aren"t going to drug me?" I ask when he strides toward the door.

His derisive laugh makes my blood boil. "Why? It"s not like you even know how to reach your Light, let alone use it. You aren"t a threat."

He"s right. I"m not a threat, but I should be.

I spend hours trying to figure out how to reach my Light, simply to prove Kenton wrong. But nothing I try works. I"m as useless here as I was in Seattle.

It"s maddening to be constantly at odds with my own abilities. Reaper"s life depends on me figuring out how to save myself, but I can"t even do that.

The thought of losing Reaper only fuels my determination as I hurl myself into the well again and again, refusing to give up. I can"t give up. This isn"t just about me—it"s life or death for him. I won"t let him die.

Kenton comes back to check on me once, offering to take me to the bathroom. I glare at him so viciously that he chuckles, holding up his hands.

"Suit yourself, Valkyrie," he says, making his way to the Valkyrie on the bed. She"s barely even moved since I got here. But he blows that damn powder in her face anyway, keeping her drugged into submission.

Even from across the room, I smell the sickly-sweet scent and my stomach turns. "What is that?" I ask.

"Henbane. It"s harmless."

I snort. Even I know that henbane isn"t harmless. Too much of it can be fatal.

"Does…does Reaper know where I am?" I ask, halting Kenton on his way to the door once again.

He looks at me over his shoulder. "He knows. He"s known for a few hours now."

I bow my head, a tremor quaking through me. Reaper. Poor Reaper. He"s probably beside himself, going mad with worry. Why didn"t he tell me that he"d die if anything happened to me?

He did, a little voice whispers.

Maybe it"s right.

He didn"t say the words, but he told me. Every time he touched me, every time he kissed me, every time he held me…he told me. The truth was right there, singing in his soul. He needed me to survive. He needs me to survive.

I throw myself into the well again.

An hour later, I"ve exhausted myself, bashing myself against the impenetrable walls of the well holding my power. I can"t fight them open. Even if I had one thousand years, I couldn"t.

I quit trying. I stop fighting. And I surrender.

To the Light. To love. To my fate.

And for the first time since I healed Reaper, I see it. The flickering Light of my power. I feel it, beating like a second heartbeat inside of me.

A tear slips down my cheek. Finally. After weeks of trying, I finally found it, not by fighting it, not by trying to command it, but by surrendering to it.

I have no idea how to use it. Rissa never got that far in her lessons because we never got this far. I don"t even know how to reach for it, at least not on purpose. But I try anyway. It slips away like water in a sieve.

I bite my tongue, trying not to sob.

I reach for the Light again, refusing to give up. It hums inside me like a lullaby, but yet again, when I try to grasp it, it slips away.

I take a breath and do it again.

A loud roar reverberates through the cabin, a scream of deadly fury. My eyes fly open on a gasp, hot streaks of terror igniting in my veins.

I know that roar.

Reaper.

Oh God. Reaper"s here.

"No!" I cry into the room. No, he can"t be here.

There are too many of them for him to fight alone. There are too many of them to fight, period. Hundreds. Doesn"t he know he"ll die? Yes. He knows. Of course, he knows. But he came anyway. He"s out there, fighting insurmountable odds because of me. For me.

A surge of desperate determination swells within me. I can"t let him face this alone. If we die, we die together. That"s the way it"s supposed to be, isn"t it? One half of the soul can"t survive without the other. That"s why the Fae don"t survive without their mate. I can"t either.

I reach towards the Light within me again. This time, instead of trying to seize it or control it, I surrender myself to it one more time. I let it come to me. It doesn"t slip away like water through a sieve now. It rushes toward me in a wall.

My breath hitches as a wave of raw energy courses through me—intense, pure…so excruciatingly beautiful that all I can do is gasp in stunned silence.

This is what Rissa meant about being the weapon. The Light isn"t separate from me, something I can call forward and control—it is me, the vast brightness of my soul, shining like a beacon into the world. I can"t command it. All I can do is accept it.

I accept it now. I"m Valkyrie, and this is my fate.

Another roar rips through Eitr.

"Reaper!" I scream, reaching out with every shred of my being.

Waves of Light pulse through me, growing brighter and then brighter still. I burn like a sun, fiery and white hot. The ropes binding me to the chair burn away.

I leap to my feet, rushing toward the door. I don"t have to open it. It explodes outward as soon as I lift my hand.

I step outside, taking in the chaos. Reaper didn"t come alone. Damrion, Adriel, Malachi, Dax, and Rissa, and Stephan are all here too, fighting by his side.

Yet again, battle wages in Eitr. Only the Fae are wildly outnumbered this time. Everywhere I look, the Forsaken and the varulv outnumber them dozens to one.

They fall to Rissa"s Light in impressive numbers, but it"s not nearly enough. Already, the Fae and Stephan are being pushed back, dark flows of magic, creeping closer.

A group of Forsaken advance on Reaper, relentless in their assault. He"s death with his lystst?l, but there are too many of them. He stumbles, landing on his knees.

"No!" I scream in fury. A white-hot burst of Light erupts in a concussive wave, rolling through Eitr like a tsunami. It plows into the Forsaken and the varulv, turning them to ash as soon as it touches them.

They don"t die with a scream; they die in silence. They don"t even have time to run. They simply vanish, wiped away by the radiant burst of Light.

Within seconds, every shadow in Eitr is gone, leaving only silence where evil once stood. As soon as the last Forsaken falls, my Light fades.

There is no threat here now. I burned it from existence.

I stumble, sinking to my knees.

"Tori!" Reaper cries, racing toward me. He lands on his knees beside me, scooping me into his arms.

"I thought you were going to die," I whisper, placing my palm against his cheek.

He chokes on a cry, pressing his face to my throat. His massive body trembles with the weight of his emotions. "I told you, solsken. I"m never leaving you. Never."

"I thought I was going to die too."

"Never," he growls, his tone black. "You are not allowed."

I cling to Reaper for long moments, unwilling to let him go. He"s here with me, safe. Somehow, we"re both still alive. We"re not supposed to be. I know that. I think he knows it, too.

We were supposed to die today. Had I not accepted my fate, we would have.

"Thank you for coming for me," I whisper, pulling back to look at Damrion.

"You doubted us?"

"You need her."

"Ja, but we need you too, Valkyrie," Adriel says, the sweetest thing he"s ever said to me. He"s so stoic with everyone except Abigail. It"s…touching to know he cares. "The prophecy calls for five Valkyrie, not four. Not three. Five."

My head flies up on a gasp. "There"s one here. In the cabin." I point. "She was never at the church. She"s been here the whole time."

"Helvete," Malachi growls, running that way. Dax and Rissa race after him.

"The portal is open," I tell Damrion, Adriel, and Reaper. "It"s how they brought me here."

"Nei," Damrion says, shaking his head. "I don"t know what they"ve opened, but it"s not the portal. If it were open, we"d know it. We have the last remaining pieces of it."

I consider this for a moment, and then nod. "I think you"re right." My gaze flits from him to Adriel. "Whatever they"ve opened is twisted and dark, a shadow of what it"s supposed to be. They need all five Valkyrie to open it fully. It"s why they haven"t killed any of us yet."

Adriel nods as if he believes the same thing. "Until they have blood from all five of you, they can"t risk killing you. If something goes wrong and they lose your blood, they"ll never be able to reopen the portal fully."

That should comfort me, but it doesn"t. If anything, it only worries me more. They already have blood from three of us. They only have two to go. And Abigail Foresaw the death of Valkyrie. I thought it was mine, but perhaps not.

The Forsaken might succeed. They might actually kill one of us.

A shiver rips through me at the thought.

Reaper notices. He pulls me deeper into his arms, holding me tighter. "Enough," he growls. "Enough talk. My Valkyrie is afraid."

"I"m okay," I lie.

"Nei, you"re not." Reaper wraps his strong body around mine, shutting out the world as his lips find mine, offering comfort and a little something more. Hope. "But you will be, little Valkyrie. I won"t rest until you are."