Page 21 of The Last Valkyrie

Faces emerged in the distance and we slid to a halt.

Damon and Eirik Halldan stared at us through the trees, surrounded by their gangs. A few of their number were missing, but with the addition of their six and our thirteen, we were starting to number a real fighting force now.

It was only then I realized they weren’t staring at us—they were gawking at their sister behind me.

At her dragon wings.

“Move with us and keep your mouths shut, or get out of our way,” I growled, only now recovered from my berserk state. “There’s an army of draug behind us and we’ve no time to waste.”

It wasn’t me who noticed the glint in Damon’s eyes at that moment—the naked opportunism. It was another of Ravinica’s mates.

Ravinica had summoned her wings to help us in a desperate moment. I couldn’t chastise her for that. But she had opened herself up to the exact thing Kelvar and Corym had warned her about before this fight: discovery from the dragonslayer Sigmund Calladan.

As Damon stepped forward to say something about his newly discovered dragonkin half-sister, a blade of coagulated blood and dripping red pushed against his chest.

“You heard the bear,” Magnus said, stopping Damon cold. He lifted his bloodsword higher, the splashy, slimy weapon going to Damon’s neck. His customary emotionless voice filled the crackling woods. “Speak a word of this to anyone, Damon Halldan, and I’ll end you. And unlike Sven or Grim, I won’t do it honorably with a fight. I’ll kill you in your fucking sleep and drain every drop of blood from your body, just like I did with Astrid Dahlmyrr.”

Chapter 7

Magnus

MY THREAT WENT OVERwell with Damon Halldan. The nuisance blinked at me, then at his sister, nodding wordlessly with a pale face. Clearly, the lad had seen horrors beyond his imagining in the woods. I was simply the newest one.

Eirik walked up, covered head to toe in black blood and a gash across his handsome face that would leave a scar down his cheek. Of his three comrades—Ayla, Gryphon, Tyrus—only two remained. Tyrus was gone.

Sven too had suffered a loss. Once he reverted to his human form, he exchanged a quick hug with Ravinica and explained his brother Olaf was dead.

I turned around to face them, finding my silvermoon had managed to dissipate her dragon wings.

Eirik spoke in a gruff tone, his voice clipped. “Let’s get moving. We’ll discuss this later, Vini.”

“No,” I said, stopping everyone. “We won’t. There is nothing to discuss.”

Eirik, much more accomplished and battle-tested than his younger brother Damon, stepped up to me chest-to-chest. He was broader, I was taller. He seethed, clenching his jaw. “She’smysister, you lunatic bloodrender.”

I gave him nothing—no flinch, no frown—to betray my blank face. “You don’t get to decide what Ravinica discusses.You forfeited that right when you aligned yourself withhim.” I motioned toward Damon with my chin.

“I didn’t align myself with—”

“My promise to Damon applies to you as well, Eirik,” I murmured calmly. “Drengr to Drengr.”

“Enough, you two,” Ravinica said. She looked and sounded exhausted.

I wondered how much her shift into her dragon form had taxed her.That burst of energy—like lightning from the clouds. So powerful. It saved us, surely. If she could learn to control that so it didn’t hit her allies also . . .The possibilities were limitless.

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