He pales even further but doesn’t respond.
A feeling of dread swirls at the base of my stomach, but even my growing sense of foreboding isn’t enough to still my tongue or stifle the bitter taste in my mouth.
“How difficult it must be for you now, Dragon King,” I say. “To have seen it all. To carry the burden of what you should or shouldn’t speak aloud.”
“Bright Heart?—”
“If this is not how I’m meant to die,” I challenge him, raising my eyes to his, “then I have nothing to fear.”
Even as I speak, I sense a far-off energy in the air. A rush of wind across my cheeks icier than the breeze that whispers across the snow-filled landscape.
The faint beat of wings reaches my ears, and I’m drawn to the sky behind the dragon. To keep my eye on it, I’m forced to twist even farther away from my hammer, hunching over Erik’s body to keep him close.
At the movement, a sharp pain pricks my chest, making me gasp.
I risk taking my eyes off the sky for a heartbeat.
Before he died, Erik extended his claws and one of his hands is now wedged dangerously between us. The tip of one of his claws has pierced through the fur cloak I’m wearing and presses against my ribs.
His claws can pierce even a dragon’s hide.
He told me to cut off his claws and use them, but I could never do such a thing.
I adjust the position of his hand, ensuring it won’t hurt either him or me.
Within the space of those seconds, the air behind me has become fraught with an energy I’ve never felt before.
It is both alive and deadly.
A powerful, rushing wind billows my silver hair about my head, and the sound of wings intensifies to the point where I can’t hear anything else.
I fight to keep my head raised and to open my eyes, preparing for the arrival of the woman who will take Erik from me once and for all.
I focus on the sky behind the dragon, only for the breath to stop in my chest.
There is not one woman raging through the air toward us…
There are three.
Chapter 12
The trio of women spears through the air toward me, their silver wings catching the moonlight in painfully sharp flashes.
They follow an arc that allows them to avoid Graviter Rex’s position before they soar across my head and drop to the snow between me and the forge.
To keep them in my sights, I twist away from the dragon again, once more facing forward, my hold on Erik even tighter now.
The Valkyries land in a neat cascade, each one folding her wings to her sides to make room for the next woman, who drops to the ground with breathtaking precision.
They’re astonishingly beautiful, their skin flawless, their hair sleek and shiny, and their figures lithe, their muscles clearly honed.
Each one wears armor made of intricate plates of metal in a deep-purple color and carries a sword at her back.
Until they draw their weapons, I won’t know exactly what threats the blades pose, but the swords have similar-looking slender handles that appear to be wrapped with some kind of cord. Not a style of handle with which I’m familiar.
Interestingly, when they fold away their wings, the energy around them fades, and when their wings have fully retracted, it’s as if they’re completely human. There is not a single shred of the supernatural about them.
It’s similar to the way I am like a human when I don’t have physical contact with my tools. Although, unlike me, these women no doubt remain just as dangerous with or without their wings spread.
