Obey me.
Her sword flies directly backward, ripping from her hand and swinging in such a violent arc that it nearly slices across her own side. Not that her armor wouldn’t protect her, but the shock on her face is gratifying.
I don’t slow my attack, punching the hammer’s head at her chest.
My power connects with the metal plates.
Get away from me.
Energy splashes across her torso, rippling out through her arms and up her neck, accentuating her wide eyes and open mouth a split second before she crashes back through the snow, tumbling gracelessly through the powder.
I swing back to Glass.
Oh, but she’s observant.
She must have figured out exactly what I’m doing because, with a heave, she drives her sword down into the snow and leaves it there.
Then she begins rapidly peeling off her armor.
The groans of the other two women reach me across the distance, and I’m aware that they’re trying to get up, but evenGlaive—whose armor I didn’t directly command—is struggling. The metal in their armor is now weighing them down.
They both begin trying to crawl through the snow toward me, inch by painful inch, but they aren’t making it anywhere fast enough to concern me.
“We can’t go back to our Queen empty-handed and defeated,” Glass says, and I’m surprised by the tension around her eyes now, the hint of fear on her face.
If I were willing to leave my current position at Erik’s side, I could easily launch myself across the space between us and attack her before she could get her armor off.
But my right hand remains resolutely pressed to his heart.
I haven’t broken the connection between us once so far, using only my left arm to defend myself and twisting at the waist to angle my hammer as I need.
The other two Valkyries must have taken note of Glass’s actions because they’ve stopped trying to crawl toward me and are now attempting to push off their armor. It’s clinging to their bodies as if by invisible strings, making them grunt and heave with effort.
Despite the freezing cold, Glass doesn’t seem bothered by the snow as she pulls off her boots. Her bare feet sink into the powder, but she doesn’t wince.
She’s now dressed in nothing more than strips of black material wrapped around her breasts and stomach and a pair of short, tight pants in a style I’ve never seen before: cut high at the hips and with a waist that extends upward to meet the bottom of the wrapping around her breasts and upper stomach.
Her sharp gaze rakes across me. She clenches and unclenches her fists as she stretches her neck and rolls her shoulders.
“Will you spread your silver wings, General Glass?” I ask her softly.
Her focus flickers to my hammer, and she gives me a little smile. “Not a chance.”
She takes a deep breath and focuses back on my face, her concentration intense. Only her right hand moves, her fingers unfurling from the fist she made with them.
My heart begins to race as I wait for her to make her move, painfully aware that the other two have now succeeded in pushing off half of their armor.
Farther behind them, Graviter has shrunk up against the trees on the other side of the clearing. There’s only so far he can go, but with my enhanced senses, I can feel his growing fear, the way it seems to increase with every new twitch of Glass’s fingers.
I adjust my hold on my hammer, allowing the handle to slide through my fingers so I’m gripping the handle right beneath the head.
As my fingers brush the underside of the golden block, my power sparks again, flickering around me in bright streams.
My hammer will be my fist, and if I have to shatter her, so be it.
My other hand remains resolutely on Erik’s chest.
I raise my chin at her. “Come on, Glass,” I whisper. “Let’s find out which of us will shatter.”
