Page 90 of The Last Valkyrie

Grim frowned. “When Sven and I waited for his father to arrive on the Isle, I noticed theYellow Wraithmissing from the dock. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, and forgot about it.”

Corym said, “Must be how Gresh’kellen and the others got here, ahead of us so they could lie in wait.”

I rubbed my palm over Grim’s tense shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Grim. None of us recognized it missing when we left the Isle. Our thoughts were elsewhere.”

Magnus grunted. “The entire time, Sigmund was a means to an end. No one could have suspected that, bear.”

He was right. The murderer of my half-brother was right, and this was no one’s fault. Who could have seen Gothi Sigmund running hook, line, and sinker into a trap such as this? Even the wise chieftain of Vikingrune Academy had been blinded by his own motives and desires, needing to speak with my mother about his murderous oath.

I couldn’t forget that had Korvan not abruptly slit his throat, the Gothi had been a few minutes away from possibly trying to slitmythroat.

In some twisted way, does the Swordbaron think he did me . . . a favor? Ridding the world of Sigmund, and the threat of the dragonslayer?

More thoughts swarmed through me at a rapid pace—everything I had learned from Kelvar the Whisperer’s abilities, his mindshaping—or “shadowing” Magnus’ mind so he wouldn’t recall his past until Kelvar took the cloak of amnesia away.

Korvan must have shadowed Ma’s mind in the same way. Because the look on her face when she saw his dark skin, his red eyes—that was a horrified expression of seeing a killer for the first time.

Ma had only known Korvan the human.

She was introduced to Korvan the dragonkin tonight.

“Now that Korvan’s secret is out, we have to warn everyone else,” I said. “We need to return to the academy.”

It felt it in my bones—the need to get back swiftly so no more terror could befall people I loved. Dagny, Randi, and so many others I cared about were still there, oblivious to what had happened here.

Thane Canute walked up to us. “I can work theRed Wraithand get it sailing. I’m not leaving without the Gothi’s body.”

I nodded firmly to him. “Then let’s be quick about it, sir.”

Despite our differences, and the glowers he had thrown my way from his single beady eye, we were in agreement now.

“Hel awaits us on the Isle,” Canute said ominously. He tossed his chin over his shoulder. “What of your father’s body?”

My nostrils instinctively flared. I was ready to tell him to let Hallan rot where he was . . . but other villagers from the outskirts of our group started to creep toward us, and one scared man said, “We will bury him properly, Ravinica.”

Oh, so it’s Ravinica now? Not half-blood or bog-bred cunt?

That particular man, Ivan, who had been the boisterous, shameful man I mistakenly had sex with years ago, now looked ready to collapse in sheer exhaustion and fear.

“Thank you, Ivan,” I said with a firm nod.

He wasn’t worth the bother. None of these scared villagers were. They had only been living a bigoted, hateful life because they had been taught to see things that way. Though Vikingrune Academy had opened my eyes, what one of my mates said previously rang true now more than ever:

I can’t save everyone.

I stared out at the sea, my face turning grim and severe against the pale moonlight.

But I can save the ones worth saving.

“Let’s get moving,” I ordered.

Everyone listened.

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