Page 137 of Storm of Fury
“I can’t,” he told her grimly. “The arrow’s lodged right next to his heart. The second we remove it, he’ll die. I won’t be able to heal him in time.”
“B-bryn.” Tormund’s hand closed around hers. His chest wheezed, but he tried to squeeze her hand.
Hot tears almost blinded her. “You fool. You stupid fool.Why?”
Because he was the shield that guarded the weak.
She dashed the tears from her eyes. She could feel his grip getting weaker, hear the rasp of his breath. All those years trying not to let herself feel anything, and he had slipped beneath her guard when she wasn’t looking.
“Don’t you leave me,” she whispered fiercely. “Not when I’ve only just started to love you. Don’t you dare leave me!”
She channeled all her fury and rage into that moment, stirring the air, feeling the storm brewing both within her and without.
The very air vibrated.
And Sirius gasped.
“Odin Allfather,” she prayed, “please spare this man. For he is a warrior like no other.”
But great warriors were taken for Valhalla.
They were not given renewed breath or life.
They were not spared.
She could feel the implacable mercy of the god sweep over her.
The world froze.
And out of the lightning stepped a figure, burnished armor gleaming and the light refracting back off her round shield. Her blonde hair was pulled back off her face in dozens of braids, and a ruff of fur shielded her shoulders. The Valkyrie strode forward with a relentless step, her blue eyes flashing lightning and her swan-like wings gleaming.
Of course.
Ragnhild.
Tormund had been the most valiant of the valiant. A man who swore his shield to the protection of others. A man who laughed into the face of death.
He had fallen whilst trying to protect adrekiprincess.
All the world would know of his name and sing it in songs until the end of time.
Of course a Valkyrie would come for him.
Bryn scrambled to her feet, drawing her sword as she stared at the sister she had once pledged to love. “You cannot take him.”
Ragnhild curled her lip with a sneer. “And who are you to stop me? You are the Honorless. The Betrayer. You besmirch this brave man’s ending with your presence.”
Bryn glared at her sister over the length of her sword.
Memories tumbled through her mind’s eye. She saw the pair of them grappling. Laughing. Wrestling in the grass, as they prepared for their final trials. She saw the snaking tattoo that wove down Ragnhild’s arm, the one she had put there herself.
“Forever sisters,” they both whispered as they clasped hands.
“Back to back, until the day we fall in Ragnarök.”
And for the first time, she felt no shame.
“You cannot have him,” Bryn said in a quieter, firmer voice. “This man is my own. And I will not let anyone take him from my side, whether they be god or Valkyrie.”
