Page 104 of The Last Valkyrie

“Thank Odin,” Dagny drawled as I arrived. “I’m starving, bestie. What did you need?”

“After you two eat, I have a favor to ask,” I said. “A mission.”

“Can we call this mission a quest?” Randi asked, lifting her dark brow. “I love quests. Missions sound more . . . corporate.”

I smiled at the rambunctious cadet. Her hair had purple ends—a mixture of the blue and red she’d been rocking the past few months.

“Yeah, me too,” Dag said, rubbing her belly. “I like quests to find food, especially.”

I put my hands on their shoulders. “Round up as many initiates and cadets as you can find, please. Tell them there’s going to be a surprise everyone will want to see tomorrow night at sunset, at the Cliffs of Dorymir.”

They looked at each other.

“I’ll go through my Rolodex,” Randi said, saluting like a military commander.

I chuckled, surprised she even knew what a Rolodex was. She obviously came from an old-school family.

“What kind ofsurpriseare we talking, Rav?” Dagny asked. “Is it a concert?”

I beamed, my eyes twinkling. “Oh, there will be music, Dag. I promise.”

I just hoped it was going to be a triumphant symphony and not a funeral requiem.

Chapter 33

Ravinica

I STOOD AT THE TOPof the cliffs overlooking a crowd of onlookers below. I was about fifty feet above their level, at the edge of the rock face, with Dorymir Hall sprawling next to me along the cliff’s side.

My palms were sweaty. Perspiration dotted my brow and underarms. It took everything not to fidget nervously at the sea of craned necks and questioning faces down below. Luckily, from this distance, they looked like mere blots and pale smudges against the setting sun.

The sky was a fiery orange as the sun settled behind the distant horizon, casting a blanket of shadow on the crowd.

Dagny and Randi had done good work, especially considering the little time they’d had to work with. In less than twenty-four hours they had managed to wrangle up at least a hundred students. I assumed they’d targeted the leaders of the initiate and cadet cliques, and word of mouth had spread the news from there.

The news was simple: Ravinica Linmyrr has a surprise for everyone, and you’ll want to see it.

Whether the students loved or hated me—whether they prayed for my success or rubbed their hands gleefully awaiting my downfall—the curiosity of the invitation was impossible to ignore.

I had told my mates the plan last night, in the confines of my longhouse. Sven and Arne thought the idea was daring and majestic, respectively. Magnus and Grim had safety concerns. Corym went immediately to the Ljosalfar to invite some of them, and now I saw a few gold glints of armor and tapered ears among the gathered crowd.

It was impossible not to worry my mates. They knew what I planned could either make or break me, but I had to try.

“So this is what you meant by needing to ‘do something,’eh, little menace?” Sven had asked with a cunning smile.

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