Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 41683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
I gently push open her bedroom door, my heart heavy with the weight of the night. Instead of Abigail huddled up in a corner of her room as expected, I find Kenton.
He materializes from behind the door like a phantom, catching me off guard.
My heart rattles against my ribcage, a jarring thud that sends fear pulsing through me.
I stumble backward a step, but he's a lot quicker than I am. He shoves the door closed, stepping between me and it to block my path, effectively trapping me in the room. Smug satisfaction burns deep in his cold gray eyes.
"H-how did you get back inside?" I demand, my voice barely above a whisper.
"It wasn't hard, Valkyrie. There's no one here."
"You can't have her. I won't let them have her."
I'm not entirely sure he's working with the Forsaken until he answers me. His response confirms what I think I feared all along: Kenton betrayed us.
"You think you can stop us? You can't." He nods toward the corner of the room.
Horror surges through me in a flood when I see the portal hanging there, attached to nothing but space. Reaper described it to me one day—the bright, reflective surface. The rainbow of colors. This is a macabre simile of that, as if their dark magic polluted the surface beyond repair. It's a sickly gray, not at all bright and shining.
"They can come and go whenever and wherever they want, Tori," Kenton says. "Right into your bedrooms if they desire. How do you think they got into Eitr undetected?" He smiles. "All they need is someone on the inside."
Someone? He means himself.
"You're evil," I cry.
He shrugs, undisturbed by the insult. "I do what I have to do. Into the portal."
"No. You didn't come for me, and you aren't leaving with me. You aren't leaving with any of us."
His smile freezes the blood in my veins. "You really think it matters which of you I leave with?"
"I…" Doesn't it? They want Abigail. Isn't that why he's in her room now? Because they want to get their hands on her? There's no way in hell we're letting him leave with her, but leaving with me won't help them either. It'll just ensure he dies slowly and painfully when Reaper gets his hands on him.
"We want her, but you'll do," he says. "They'll give us her to get you back."
"No, they won't," I whisper, confident of that. The Fae won't ever trade her life for mine. Even if it means I die, they can't let the Forsaken get their hands on her.
"They will. It's the only way to save your mate's life, and he's the strongest warrior they have. They won't allow both of you to die." Kenton pulls a knife from his pocket, pointing it at me. "Into the portal, Valkyrie."
I stand frozen, gaping at him. "W-what do you mean? Both of us will die?"
Kenton tips his head to the side, staring at me. And then he laughs. "No one told you."
"Told me what?"
"Why do you think there are no widowed Fae, Tori? None who survived the destruction of Álfheimr? They don't survive the death of their mates." He smirks, no humanity in his smile. No compassion or empathy. Just pure amusement, as if he finds it funny that warriors as fierce as the Fae would fall with their mates.
It isn't funny though. It's the most horrifying thing I've ever heard. Because if he's telling me the truth…my nightmare is going to come true. Reaper is going to die.
And I'm supposed to let him. That's what fate would ask of me. That's the price it wants me to pay. To sacrifice the Fae I love to save Abigail—the Valkyrie the Forsaken are so desperate to get their hands on.
The one who might be able to save us all.
Kenton pushes me toward the portal as my heart shatters, what little hope I had fading to nothing.
Chapter Thirteen
Reaper
Apain shoots through me, intense and infinite. I double over, gasping for breath.
Tori. Ah, Gods. Tori.
"Reaper!" Malachi grabs my arm, yanking me backward as a tendril of dark magic explodes in front of my face. "Helvete! You nearly lost your nose, brother."
"Tori," I gasp, clawing at his arm. "Something is wrong with my Valkyrie."
"Ja, well, unless you help me kill these soul-damned Forsaken, there's going to be something wrong with us too," Malachi says. "We'll be headless. Move your ass, brother."
He taps me on the cheek, grins, and then rushes forward, his lyststål spinning. A mad roar tears from his lips as he crashes headlong into a group of Forsaken, sending them toppling to the ground.
I press my free hand to my heart, where it still aches and throbs as if it's been ripped in half. What happened? She's in so much pain. Gods, it's as if her heart shattered in her chest.