Page 97 of The Last Valkyrie

Axel let her go and gave her a light shove.

Their group mean-mugged Axel and my group the entire time, but they eventually dispersed back around the hill.

Gods,I thought, relieved Axel had stepped in but hating that it took him to defuse the situation.The students here are going crazy from all the secrecy. I need to tell them something heartening for a change. But what? When things are so bleak,what sort of good news can I manufacture in such a tense situation?

If I wasn’t careful, a civil war would break out among the students and end our defense of the academy before it even began.You’d better be quick about deciding on the new Gothi, Hersirs, because this situation is fucked.

As we resumed walking to the cafeteria, a horn blew and reverberated through the academy. A lookout wailed loudly, which daisy-chained along the watchtowers.

I was awed at this new change, because it seemed the Norns gifted me exactly what I’d hoped for—good news, and a distraction from the awfulness of everything going on around us.

“Look there on the western horizon!”

“The golden armor! Glinting like the sun!”

“At the base of the mountain! The Ljosalfar are here!”

Chapter 31

Ravinica

LIKE THE REST OF THEacademy, we hurried over to the western gate where the light elves were gathering. Ascending a set of stairs that led up to the battlements wrapping around the academy, we stared down at the throng of sharp-eared, gold-armored warriors.

The Ljosalfar were a sight for sore eyes. Their armor shone in the morning glow, even with the sun pushed back behind cloud cover. There had to be at least two hundred of the deadly fighters, looking completely uniform and homogenous.

The fact I think they all look the same . . . does that make me racist?I cringed at the thought. Granted, theywerequite far away from where I stood, and their skin tone was nearly identical for each person—male, female, orin’kylin.

Glancing out the corner of my eyes at my mates, I saw Corym was smiling proudly.

I took my elf lover’s hand next to me, squeezing tight. “You did it, Cor.” My voice was soft, caring. “You united people who have hated each other for centuries. Brought the elves here to fight for humans. No, fightwithhumans.”

“Wedid it,lunis’ai,” Corym answered with a soft smile.

When he grinned like that, so radiant and glimmering, so handsome, he certainly didn’t look like the other Ljosalfar outside the gates. His shoulders seemed broader, his heighttaller than the others. I was aware it could have been my bias making me think those things.

To Corym’s right, Sven grumbled. “They haven’t agreed to anything yet. Until they draw swords against the draug, dark elves, and jotnar, they haven’t fought for shit orjoinedanything.”

“Gods,” Arne mumbled, “can’t you just take the win, wolfie? This is the first good news we’ve had in ages.”

I agreed with both of them, sadly.

Magnus rested his arms over the stone parapet. “They will, Sven. I can see it in their eyes.”

Sven scoffed. He was particularly surly today. “I’m the one with the good senses and vision, bloodrender, and all I see are a lot of frowns and stern faces.”

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