Page 48 of The Last Valkyrie

I knew Damon’s pithy response was coming from a place of trauma and sadness. I fought down my anger, ignoring the low growl from Sven behind me. It was Sven, after all, who had mollywopped the entire Lanfen pack, systematically, including the broad-shouldered lass Gertrude.

“She was never the same after you gave her a concussion,” Damon told Sven over my shoulder. “You know that?”

Sven showed no emotion. “I did not. She should have never schemed to—”

“Enough,” I said before he could get going defending himself. “I’m not here to argue or fight.”

Eirik said, “Then why are you here, little sister?”

I waved a hand at the emptying field, the lamenting students as they exited in every direction. “Do you see what’s going on around us? Jotnar, Dokkalfar, draug. Enemies are everywhere. I don’t want to count my ownbrothersamong that group.”

Eirik had the decency to stay quiet, looking shamefaced as he glanced toward the ground.

Damon, however, scoffed. “You should have never been here, Rav. It was a farce.” He sneered, eyes glaring. “Perhaps if you can’t handle the heat . . . you should leave.”

There was pure vitriol in Damon’s eyes, which made me sadder than anything else. But his words fueled my rage, and I couldn’t hold back my spite. Something snapped inside me.

“The onlyfarce, Damon, was your name being called instead of mine at Selby. We both know it. I bested you in every category. Tell me how that’s fair? Ibelonghere!”

The truth needed to come out. Perhaps an explosion was what we needed to move past all this silly shit.

Damon opened his mouth to argue, stepping forward to go chest-to-chest with me even as our respective groups hemmed in closer in case we came to blows.

I held a hand up, stopping him short. “And so do you.” My words brought silence to the standoff. “I belong here . . . and so do you. Not one or the other, butbothof us.”

Confusion joined the fury in Damon’s eyes.

“We fought together on the battlefield,” I said. “We’ve never done that before. We survived. You showed me you’ve become a much stronger fighter than I gave you credit for in the past, and I’m sorry.”

Damon’s chin twitched, as if the validation was all he’d needed to shift his thinking.

Eirik took over. “And you showed us . . . we don’t know. What in Helwasthat, Vini?”

I pursed my lips. “I don’t have the answers for what I am, E, but I intend to get them. I am part dragonkin. I know, I know, it’s crazy to me also. It’s a long story.” I sighed, shaking my head. “I need to know one thing. Have you told anyone what you saw in Delaveer Forest? About . . . me.”

My words came fast, shocking everyone. I was leaving it all out on Tyr Meadow, desperate to keep my dragonkin secret from Gothi Sigmund the dragonslayer.

Finally, after a quick glance between Eirik and Damon, it was my older brother who shook his head.

“We haven’t,” he said. “There’s been no time to discuss it or mention it to anyone.”

I nodded slowly, gauging if I could believe him or not. Reading his eyes. I saw no deception there, yet I couldn’t be sure.

“Thank you,” I said, turning to walk away. “Please keep it that way.”

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