Page 91 of The Last Valkyrie

Chapter 29

Ravinica

THE ACADEMY WAS INa major upheaval when we returned.

It took us a while to get back, with Thane Canute having weaker control over theRed Wraiththan Gothi Sigmund. After a quick burial for Hallan, Damon, Klein, and the family who died from their collapsing roof, we left Selby Village without fanfare.

It could have been seen as disrespectful—leaving so soon, not giving proper eulogies for my half-brother and stepfather—but it was necessary if we were going to get ahead of whatever chaos awaited on the Isle.

The villagers understood that and weren’t crestfallen in the slightest about our prompt departure. In fact, I noticed relieved looks on their faces as we boarded theRedand pushed out into the sea. Without us there, they could get back to rebuilding their lives, and we could get back to doing whatever it was we did in the magical land we came from.

Our arms pumped the oars relentlessly, grinding and gritting our teeth as we sliced through the frothy water, the fjord, and into the greater ocean. We were replacing our sadness and apprehension about the future with sheer grit and force, none of us ready to unpack the tragic misadventure we’d embarked upon by coming to Selby Village.

It’s a ruin. Things will never be the same there after what happened—nightmares will run rampant in my homeland, and they’ll be looking to me and my kin for answers and solutions.

I couldn’t worry about the magicless folk in Selby much longer, because Academy Hill was no better off. Right when we arrived through the southern gate, tension was thick in the air.

We carried Sigmund’s corpse on a makeshift stretcher we’d hastily constructed out of sturdy branches from Delaveer Forest. Canute’s long cloak—big enough to hide any single man—was draped over him to give him some modesty and peace in death, and so cadets who saw us carrying the Gothi through campus wouldn’t know who he was at first.

We weren’t planning on hiding Sigmund’s death, of course, because that was foolish and would never work. Though the wider student body didn’t know where we’d gone, and we’d left rather secretively, it wouldn’t take long for questions to arise with Sigmund’s prolonged absence.

I couldn’t get my mother out of my mind. Lindi didn’t deserve such a fate after the life she’d lived. Always living in the shadows of weaker men, resentful of the success other people had, fueled by a need for revenge against people who had slighted her . . . now she was a captive of a lethal madman.

A captive of the same man who likely raped her to birth me.

I shuddered at the thought. My top priority would be doing whatever I could to set her free and make sure Ma was safe.Even if I have to sacrifice myself to do it.

Though it was late when we returned to the academy, plenty of students were moseying around, pacing through campus nervously, sharing gossip and secrets. A low din of conversation bounced between the two initiate quarters, Tyr Meadow, Gharvold Hall, and even Dorymir Hall where the gloomy debriefing had been held.

Thane Canute marched in front of our troop, which consisted of me and my mates. Damon, Eirik, and Sigmund were gone. I helped carry the gurney holding the Gothi, with Grim and Sven at the back sticks and Magnus next to me.

Dagny rushed us out of the shadows once we passed Nottdeen Quarter, heading north toward the central woods where Sven had once accosted me and Grim and I used to take our nightly strolls.

The cat shifter with the mismatched hair slunk next to me, letting out “pspsps” like she was calling a feline suitor.

I frowned at her, shoulders sinking. “Dag.”

“What’s going on, Rav? I could have sworn you left the academy with more people.” Her nervous eyes flicked to the makeshift stretcher. “Who isthat? Oh gods.”

“I’ll tell you everything later, bestie,” I said out the corner of my mouth.

Canute heard us whispering, glanced over his shoulder with a customary scowl that could have frozen the undead, and Dagny skittered away to unleash the new torrent of gossip.

“The Hel is going on there?” another student called out on the fringes of Tyr Meadow once we passed through the area.

“Is that a damnstretcher?” someone else said. “A corpse?”

Students streamed out of the longhouses to see what was going on. Mass hysteria was close to breaking out, and we hadn’t even talked to anyone yet.

Canute led us directly to the monolithic towers of Fort Woden, with its impenetrable gates and stark walls. The Huscarls there opened the gate and let Canute pass—their commander—without word, sharing worried looks with one another. My mates and I followed Canute into the courtyard of the fortress, earning a few skeptical glances from the guards but nothing more.

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