Page 138 of Storm of Fury
“That is not for you to decide.”
“Yes, it is,” she whispered, suddenly seeing a way. Slicing her palm along the edge of the sword, she clutched at the falcon pendant around her neck. “I ask Freyja for mercy. Blessed Freyja, please accept my sacrifice. My… my immortality for this man’s life.”
The ground began to shake beneath them, and lightning split the skies.
“Freyja accepts,” the older Valkyrie said. “Your powers for your mortal’s life.”
It wasn’t just the sacrifice of her power that Ragnhild was asking of Bryn.
This would mean the closing of the gates of Valhalla to her, once and for all. It would mean the end of all her hopes that she could ever go home. No more could she call the Valkyrie sisters.
She would never see her mother’s grave.
And she thought of all she’d suffered since she was cast down.
Not once had her sisters comforted her. You are unworthy, they had said, and turned their back upon her.
Every day for the last hundred years she’d striven to prove herself. She’d toiled through blood, sweat, and her own tears to be deemed worthy. And for what? She saw in her sister’s eyes the disgust, the sneer curling her lips. No matter what Bryn did, she would never regain her former place in Odin’s halls.
Indeed, she could barely remember what it even felt like to ride the lightning.
No. What filled her heart now wasn’t the desire to be a god’s servant, ruthless and fierce, but the sensation of falling asleep in her gentle giant’s arms. The way Tormund’s voice had softened when he’d told her that his mother would like her had made her heart soar. And the quiver of fury that rumbled in his chest as he promised to be her axe and her shield had been the quiet roar that stilled all her doubts.
All these years of longing to return to her home, and in the end, it wasn’t even a choice.
This time, she would behisshield.
“I choose him,” Bryn said fiercely, her eyes hot. “I choose Tormund.”
And Ragnhild’s face closed over. “So be it,” she said.
Time sped up, the heat of the lightning strike slamming into Tormund’s chest. Bryn screamed as the arc of the bolt went through her, searing every nerve in her body. She came to, splayed across his body, her head resting on his chest.
The Valkyrie was gone.
And so too was the whip of energy that filled Bryn’s veins. As she lifted her trembling hands, she saw the glow subside, leaving her skin pale and freckled and… mortal.
But his heart was beating again.
Twenty-Six
“Where did Ishtar go?”Marduk demanded.
Sirius swallowed the lump in his throat as the big man started breathing again.Thank the gods.Being mated to Malin had turned him as soft as porridge, and he’d been damned close to a tear there. No need to show it though. “Ishtar?”
Marduk’s gaze shifted unerringly toward the top of the mountain, and Sirius knew in his heart of hearts what had happened.
His breath caught as a raging green firestorm suddenly appeared on the top of the mountain.
Shit. Ishtar had reached the summit—and the circle.
“There’s something wrong,” Marduk said, wearing a frown on his brow. “Her song sounds different.”
“Stay here and protect Tormund,” Sirius told Bryn. He stretched his arms wide and flung himself into the air as he shifted. “Ishtar’s reached World’s End.There’s a circle there that leads directly to Álfheimr. Something drew her here.”
“Álfheimr?”
“Yes.” He sent the grim thought on a psychic thread. “I think this has been your sister’s destination all along, though I don’t know if it was of her own volition.”
