Page 133 of The Last Valkyrie

Chapter 42

Ravinica

“YOU’VE BEEN A REALpain in my ass, Miss Linmyrr.”

My eyes opened at the crooning voice, worming into my mind like a bad dream.

Tomekeeper Dahlia sat opposite me on a large rock. Tapping her knee with a pudgy hand.

I struggled, noticing my arms were wrapped in rope, pinned to my body. Standing and baring my teeth in a snarl, I tried to charge her—

Only to bump headfirst into an invisible wall of energy. A magical cage. I tried my left and right, knocking more bruises onto my skin as I bounced like a pinball off the walls.

The wall was vaguely box-shaped, completely surrounding me, with a tree at my back. “You devious bitch,” I growled in a low, dangerous tone.

My thoughts tumbled as wakefulness came back to me.Howcould the Tomekeeper be here? It didn’t seem possible.

What in Hel was going on?

Dahlia looked tired, her face sunken, her jowls drooping. Wobbing her many chins, she looked left and right. “Guess he’s not going to show up, eh?” Groaning, she stood from the rock and began to walk away. “Alas, the search continues.” Her tone was resigned, frustrated.

Dahlia began to walk away, leaving me with a million questions and no answers.

“Let me out of here you crazy crone!” I howled, slamming my forehead into the wall and immediately regretting it as a wave of dizziness passed through me.

“Afraid not, Miss Linmyrr.” She gathered a bag of things at her feet, almost lazily, and without looking at me over her shoulder, chuckled humorlessly, freezing where she stood. “You always hated that surname, didn’t you?” Her eyes flashed dark over her shoulder. “Well, I sayembraceit. Like Astrid did. My poor girl.”

Muttering to herself, she turned to walk away.

I gritted my teeth. Anger was so hot inside me I thought it would explode out of my mouth. Maybe Icouldbreathe fire if I concentrated hard enough.

Instead, desperation and panic took over, and I said anything I could to keep her there. “You never cared about Astrid.”

Dahlia spun around, face ripe with rage. “How dare you!” She thrust a stubby finger toward me, throwing the hems of her robes back as she suddenly advanced on me. My plan had worked. So far. “I cared what my silvermoor daughter represented, foolish girl.Change.”

I snorted with disgust. “You didn’t even know she was a half-blood elf, Dahlia. No one did! Not until . . . Korvan . . . I’m guessing.”

Her face went tight like I had struck her. Eyes widening slightly, she flared the nostrils of her large nose. “Yes. He unshadowed my mind, as I assume he did with your mother. He showed me thetruthI’ve been suffering through for decades, as long as Astrid was alive.”

With a calmness that worried me, Dahlia’s face took on a faraway gaze. Sorrow filled her eyes, crinkling the lines near them. “But I don’t speak of the half-elf part, you little nuisance. I speak of thebastardpart. Astrid represented what bastardscould do—more than even you, Ravinica. My daughter proved that status need not be dictated by your name.”

“Yes,” I said, “while I only proved that yourmeritis not dictated by your name, either.”

Dahlia scoffed, shaking her head drearily. “Your emotions run high. I understand. You’ve been knocked around since getting to Vikingrune, and the hits never seem to stop coming, do they? But you would ruin everything the academy has worked toward for the sake of your misguided mother.”

---