She holds her head high, and I remember how happy she’d looked when she thought Karasi had given her an elegant gown.
“Beautiful,” Cailey says brightly. “Let me get a closer look.”
She pops Galeia onto the rug to rise to her feet and reach Dusana, pursing her lips. “Actually, I think this one needs to be… not there.”
With a cheeky smile, Cailey plucks the central flower from the front of the wreath and darts backward, reaching the other side of the room before Dusana can stop her.
The wreath immediately separates where Cailey broke the circle, and the two sides fall to either side of Dusana’s head.
She scowls.
Cailey pokes out her tongue. “It looks better that way.Wilder. More like you.”
“It does,” I say to Dusana. “Really.”
She huffs before she reaches up to pat the flowers, following their path down her hair.
Across the way, Cailey holds up her prize—a single wild rose—her fingers glowing for a moment before she turns the flower a pure white color. She pushes it into her own hair.
On the rug, Galeia gives a yawn. Her dark hair is matted from the wind and—I grimace—what is probably some blood splatter from hunting.
She needs a bath, but more than that…
I rise from my seat, circle the table, and kneel on the rug.
She immediately crawls into my lap, her green eyes raised to mine.
For a long moment, I can’t look away.
Despite Thaden’s parentage, there is nothing of a human or a Blacksmith in Galeia’s nature. From what Erik told me of the Valkyrie on our flight here, it doesn’t matter what race of man they mate with; they only have daughters, and their daughters are always pure Valkyrie.
But Galeia was given the heart and soul of a wolf, and it’s because of that heart that she’s still alive.
There is such a push and pull of energy within her. A cold indifference to death because of her Valkyrie nature, while her wolfish heart is desperate to connect, to be part of a family, and to be loved.
When I press my left hand to her back, she doesn’t flinch.
I used to fear touching other people when I was in contact with Malak’s tools, and I was right to be afraid. His dark power was cruel and malicious.
But my own power is fully within my control, and it only does what I want it to do.
It’s easy for me to sense the sections of Galeia’s heart and to distinguish the original biological part from the metal pieces. Within all of them is the capacity for hope and compassion andforgiveness and anger and strength, but they all pull against the darkness of the living metal that’s pumping blood around her body and keeping her alive.
Even though her Valkyrie parentage obliterated her Blacksmith nature, the strength of the metal device means she carries an enormous amount of Blacksmith magic within her body. Just as Erik used to carry Blacksmith magic, too.
She is unique. I’m certain there will never be another like her.
She remains calm in my arms as I assess her.
The others are hushed around me.
“Galeia,” I say quietly. “I can give you a voice and a mind that’s all your own. But you will need to make a choice.”
Her bright green eyes remain focused on me.
If I’m not certain she understands me, I will wait until Erik wakes up. I can ask him to communicate with her.
“What do you wish to be, Galeia?” I ask her. “A Valkyrie or wolf?”
