Page 160 of The Last Valkyrie

He spun around to face me and my men. “I’m not leaving without mydaughter.”

His eyes sank into me with all the ancient years he had on his side, menacing and imposing and calming all at once. They were eyes that spoke of vast knowledge, unspeakable cruelty, and cunning plans.

Yet there was also a sense of . . . naivety there. Wonder. Like he was finally seeing plans come to fruition after centuries of plotting: Get the Runesphere, get the power, get the girl whowould birth you an empire. Stick it to the humans, the Ljosalfar, and anyone else who might have doubted Dokkalfar ingenuity and repressed rage.

The Runesphere began to glow. His smile widened, showing brilliant white teeth, and I took a step back toward my mates.

I had seen that glow before . . . and now the power of the Runesphere called to me heavier, harder, sifting into my mind and twisting everything around.

Heavier . . . “It’s heavy.”I understood Dahlia’s “warning” to Korvan now. It wasn’t that the Sphere was heavy in weight—obviously. It was a small thing.

No, it was heavy inpower. Which made it difficult to wield. How could Dahlia might have known that, never having lain eyes on the Runesphere before today?Her ancient tome.

There was a certainty in her face now, muddled just over Korvan’s shoulders, as the Sphere’s glow became a burst of light.

Gone was the blubbering shock on her face about Korvan going back on his word.Of course he would. Dahlia knows that.

I put my hand behind me, on my spear. I could hear the tightly gripped sounds of gloves on hilts as Kelvar did the same, and my mates matched our movements in preparation.

“Ah!” Korvan yelled triumphantly, keeping his hands on the stone and lifting it. “I see it! The wealth of—”

His voice cut off on a sharp hiss, the blinding-white shimmer of the Runesphere spreading white tendrils of energy down his dark hands and arms.

He dropped the Runesphere like it had burned him, and the stone sank into the ground at his feet, the light immediately going out like a snuffed candle.

Sagging to a knee, Korvan breathed heavily. His wings stretched out wide and his face whipped up toward me—those ruby-red eyes boring into me as a snarl ripped from his throat. Behind him, a shrill voice.

“Now, Vikingrune!” Dahlia yelled.

Chapter 51

Ravinica

GIVE THE OLD WOMANcredit, she moved faster than I thought her body would be able to, dashing the ten feet between her and Korvan and reaching out to place a glowing hand on his shoulder.

It still wasn’t fast enough.

Korvan’s wicked black blade was unsheathed in a blur, and he spun around with a grimace and ran Dahlia through, planting his sword in her stomach.

The Tomekeeper’s eyes bulged, mouth falling open on a weary sigh as she looked down at the sword she had run right into in her haste to wound the dragonkin rapist.

The sword-tip burst bloody out of her back, and Korvan quickly slipped it out of her with a flick of his wrist.

Fuck!

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