Page 149 of The Last Valkyrie

The Lepers Who Leapt had made good on their promise to aid Vikingrune when we needed it most. The magicless sods of the Isle who had never been given a chance . . . now had the fate of the whole island in their hands.

My simple instruction—no, mypleahad inadvertently given them the dignity and acknowledgement they’d always craved. They were turning the tide of battle.

Andthatwas how we were going to win this.

Chapter 48

Ravinica

EIRIK’S EYES WERE BLACKENED, showing no whites. Worse than that, the two “comrades” at his side had the midnight-black faces of dark elves.

My brother drew his blade and ran at me without a single word or hesitation.

“Eirik, no!” I cried out futilely.

My brother was on me in seconds, and the acolytes behind us gasped and squealed with sounds of shock.

Eirik brought his sword down in a sweeping arc meant to separate my torso from my legs.

I spun my spear, batting away his blade at the last second, earning a new notch in the worn wood of my haft.

Then I was fighting my elder brother for the first time in my life. Damon had always been an issue and always wanted to challenge me growing up . . . but Eirik Halldan was the half-brother I had admired. He was the one I looked up to when he was first admitted to Vikingrune Academy—the initiate I saw as everything I wanted to be; my future, when he returned to bring me to the academy.

Now he was a Drengr with a heart blackened by tainted magic. A warrior and the best of his class.

And he wasgood.

I had no time to speak or try to help him resist the enchantment controlling him. He was too fast, too precise in his attacks, and put me on my back foot.

Meanwhile, Randi cut in close to one of the Dokkalfar, putting up a swift fight against the bastard. Two acolytes—trained fighters besides being Mimir Tomes librarians—went for the second dark elf. One of them was cut down in an instant, her blood spilling across the grass with a gurgle.

Fuck. We’re going to lose this.

I danced around Eirik, my thighs clenching and burning from all the activity of the day and last night with my mates.

He grew frustrated, letting out inhuman grunts and sounds as his blade swung and met air while I bobbed around him.

I finally found my words once I managed to bring him further away from Dagny and Corym so she could work in relative peace without fear of getting a sword in her back.

“Eirik, it’s me! It’s Ravinica, yoursister! Please, I know you’re in there!”

Whoosh—

I barely avoided a strike aimed at my neck.

---