Page 79 of The Last Valkyrie

I had always wondered the same thing as him, of course, yet I’d never been so brazen to speak about it in the open, in public. Being the Gothi of Vikingrune Academy afforded you certain luxuries I’d never had growing up here.

I darted my eyes to the foot of the table, where Ma held a placid expression on her face. She looked . . . unimpressed.

“You may have two questions, Sigmund, but I have three to counter yours with.” She leaned forward menacingly, gray-black hair falling over her soup bowl. “Why do you care? What business is Ravinica’s lineage to you, and why have you exerted such special focus on her? Have you still not gotten over the pain of our distancing?”

Sigmund snarled, leaning his neck out. His face twisted. “You know why it’s my business, Lindi.”

“Say it, Gothi.”

“Because I must fulfill my bloodline’s oath. Same then as it is now. I have . . . suspicions . . . and my queries must be answered.”

“No they mustn’t, Sigmund. You’re no inquisitor. You’re not King Dannon or any of your ancestors, as much as you think you are. You are simply a disgruntled ex-lover grasping at straws—”

“Enough!” Sigmund roared, slamming his fist on the table.

Everyone jumped from the rattling. I yelped, nearly falling back from my chair. I was glad Korvan was between us, because the deathly mask on Sigmund’s face was cracking.

“Do not play games with me, woman. If you are housing dragonkin then Imust know! My fate ordains it!”

Surprisingly, Swordbaron Korvan snorted, which I found odd because, far as I knew, he didn’t have a dog in this race. With a strange smirk tilting his lips, Korvan turned tomenext to him. He put a hand on my shoulder, and for some reason I shivered, my skin crawling.

Smiling at me, Korvan said, “Despite all the blustering this man is doing, Ravinica, I’d like to thank you for bringing Sigmund past the protection of his academy’s wards.”

I croaked, “W-What?”

Sigmund opened his mouth to speak on the other side of Korvan, likely to chastise the Swordbaron.

A blur of silver between the two seated men made me flinch and blink, and Sigmund’s words come out as a gurgle—

As a geyser of blood sprayed from Gothi Sigmund’s neck, clear across the table, spewing crimson onto Canute and Damon next to him.

Time froze as my focus edged past Korvan’s shoulder to see a sword in his hand, extended off to the side where he wasn’t looking, dragged clean across Sigmund’s throat. A razor-thin red line had gaped open, spilling Sigmund’s life all over the table and himself.

The Gothi of Vikingrune Academy choked in shock, blood filling his beard and mouth and falling down his chin. He twitched and didn’t even get a chance to grab at his throat futilely before falling forward, head slamming against his soup bowl and the table and sending cutlery flying.

Lindi shrieked.

Swordbaron Korvan, the man who had raised me, smiled in a rictus grin I’dneverseen from him or even known he was capable of.

Before chaos could erupt, in the liminal space between time, he winked and spoke in a low voice meant only for me.

“And thus the reign of the dragonslayer ends.”

Chapter 26

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