Pain comes for us all—even for a powerful Valkyrie who can deliver death with a touch of her hand.
I spin to General Glass, where she has collapsed in the snow. She alone has remained on the ground, her wings now wrapped around herself, her eyes raised to mine.
I speak directly to her when I say, “Erik wanted me to live.” I give her a soft smile. “So I’m going to live.”
I’m going to live with everything he gave me.
I will live with loyalty, strength, perseverance, and hope.
But so willhe.
With that thought fixed firmly in my mind, I raise my hammer above my head.
While power builds around me, swirling and intensifying, growing brighter and brighter around my left hand, I fix a single command within my mind.
Then I ram my hammer down onto the snow with all my might and scream, “Wake up!”
Chapter 15
My hammer hits the snow.
Golden light streaks across the white powder toward Erik’s still form, where he lies fewer than ten paces away from me now.
The explosion of power rages across the snow, sending snowflakes into the air, glittering as brightly as shards of glass.
They rise up around Erik’s body like rain in reverse, as if I could turn back every crimson drop of blood-rain that fell on him and me.
Again, I lift my hammer, raising it above my head and striking it down. “Wake up!”
My power thuds into the earth and shrieks across the distance, a golden light that explodes upward around his body, lighting up the snowflakes.
This time, his body rises off the ground, elevated mere inches, his dark hair falls away from his face, and my power turns him toward me.
His eyes are closed.
His skin is pale in death, but I make him a vow:You will not sleep in this snow.
Living power pours through me as I raise the hammer again. I’m vaguely aware that Graviter Rex is roaring from somewhere behind me. The other two Valkyries are silhouettes of silver suspended in the air, caught in the tumult of my power.
I grit my teeth and ram my hammer down again.
My heart is pounding. My breath rasps from my throat, my voice already hoarse from the attack on my throat. Sapphire light burns my palm where I grip the hammer, a beating pulse gleaming with every beat of my heart.
Once more, I scream, “Wake up!”
You will open your eyes.
You will stand up.
You will live, Erik.
Power rages around me in an increasing storm, but it’s quiet where I stand. Too quiet.
My ears might be bleeding.
I’m certain they are.
My heart is raw, and my hands are burning.
