Page 117 of Valkyrie Unknown

She didn’t make me promise anything I couldn’t take back.

I gave another nod, making sure this one shone through.

She brushed her fingers over my forehead. Such a light touch I shouldn’t feel it through all of this.

The torture evaporated, and my head dropped out of relief. I was exhausted, but could focus again. I shot out my hand and grabbed her wrist as she tried to pull away. I dug my fingers into the tendon.

“You pulled a knife on one of my men.” The way she saidmy menoozed possession.

Could I blame her for defending the people she was with? No. I’d have done the same. But, “He’s a god.” How did I know that about the strawberry blond man next to Finn? I just did. “Gods are trying to kill me.” I looked the blond woman in the eye.

“Davyn knows us.” She sounded like she believed that should change my mind.

Davyn grunted, but didn’t offer a response one way or the other.

I’d almost forgotten about him, it had been so long. “Davyn knows a lot of people, and at least one is hunting me.”

She twitched.

“They were allies once upon a time,” Davyn said.

“And we haven’t been otherwise since,” the woman said.

Davyn made a low growl. “You haven’t been anything since, except dead as far as I knew.”

Was she the Valkyrie Davyn had mentioned in the past? The one Odin cursed for her defiance? That alone deserved respect. From Davyn’s stories, Kirby was a Valkyrie like those I imagined as a girl—strong, defiant, and driven to protect.

Fortunately, I wasn’t a little girl anymore and I wouldn’t swoon like one. We were in too public a place. Too many people could see us. Interfere with us. Even with Mister God doing whatever he did to make himself unremarkable to passersby.

“You promised to hear me out,” she said.

I had. “I’m listening.” A glance around told me everyone else had disengaged, and Davyn was standing next to a thin, scary looking man.

Had he been in Salt Lake too? A homeless man?

This was fucked up, and I didn’t trust it at all.

This woman seemed to want to negotiate with me. Totalk. “Can you teach me that take-away-the-pain trick?” I’d love to have something like that in my arsenal. Perhaps I should ask about what she did before that as well—inflicting me with the pain of what felt like a dozen deaths—but I already struggled with the idea of killing someone. Torturing them with the same pain but letting them live didn’t seem much better.

“Probably not. I don’t know how I do either thing except that I can inflict people with the pain of every death I’ve ever died, then when I touch you and think about making the hurting stop, and it stops.” She offered me a hand as she stood, and I stared at it for a moment before accepting. Her grip was firm. Unwavering. There was no strain as she tugged me to my feet.

The pain of every death she’d died? Fucking terrifying. Who were these people? A look at the men’s faces, both the strangers and Davyn and Finn, made me think they were all uncomfortable with the back and forth. They were tensed for a fight; each and every one of them.

“I’m Kirby.” The blond woman gave me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “This is Gwydion.” Her pronunciation sounded likeGideonwith aw.

“If we’re playing nice, I’d love a stiff drink.” The pale god huffed a laugh that landed with more strain than humor.

Were we playing nice? I’d spent a lifetime hanging out with people who’d caused me pain, since I trained in many places with a variety of teachers, but I typically agreed to it first. The woman in front of me was mingling with and souring my childhood awe when it came to Valkyries.

Davyn and Finn knew these people though. Davyn stood down.

“It’s nine in the morning.” That was the wiry, terrifying man who had kept Davyn in check, despite being shorter and thinner. The thin man had a Berserker mark peeking above his shirt collar—a wolf. I wasn’t about to face another Ulf, was I?

“And this is Starkad.” Kirby nodded at him.

Gwydion stared at him blankly. “Your point is…?”

“Don’t tell anyone I agreed with Gwydion, but I like his idea.” Finn finally spoke.

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