I gasped, looking down at the blade with newfound respect.
It was a beautiful story, but was it true?
‘Every word,’she whispered into my head.
I gasped, and Kaelric nodded. “My people call her theAlpha Killer,Creator Blessed,Guardian of Good,Protector of the Innocent. Now you see why she chose you. A magicless warrior.”
I swallowed hard, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. It was fascinating.
I was a magicless warrior?
I guess… I was now.
“You said she used to be your father’s blade?” I was curious about his story now, why he wanted her so badly.
“I never said she was my father’sblade,” he told me. “That’s enough story time. Let’s get some dinner. You’re still too small.”
I was grateful he called me small and not skinny. But… I racked my brain. He hadn’t said she was once his father’s blade? I thought he had. Yes, hedid. Why was he lying now?
‘Leave it be,’Valkaryn told me, and I peered down at her.
‘Did you choose me because I am magicless?’I asked her.
‘No. I chose you because of your heart. The power I carry breaks the greedy, and it drives the cruel mad.You’re the first in generations whose heart was strong enough to hold me.’
What?That stunned me into silence. Her power drove the greedy mad? The very thought terrified me.
“You look like you’ve seen a veil walker. What did she just say to you?” Kaelric asked.
“Nothing,” I said too quickly.
After Kaelric forced me to eat two huge servings of honey ham with sweet potatoes and buttered bread, I felt physically sick.
“I can’t keep eating like this. I’m ready to sleep,” I told him, as heaviness weighed down my limbs and sleepiness washed over me.
“You eat like this and continue training with me, and you’ll become stronger, build muscle, have more powerful hits during fighting,” he said.
“Am I going to be fighting hand-to-hand?” I asked, unsure how this whole thing would play out.
“If you want to stay alive,” was all he answered, throwing his plate in the sink.
We had an agreement between us. I didn’t know how to cook much, and he’d fired the maids because he didn’t trust them. So I had to clean upafter dinner.
“I cook, you clean. Deal?” was pretty much how he’d proposed it to me, but I didn’t mind. He made good food, almost as good as Mama's, and cleaning was my chore at home anyway.
As I scrubbed away at the dishes, I found my mind spinning with the story of Valkaryn. She was a soul trapped in steel. The Creator’s most treasured warrior. It was heartwarming and unbelievable at the same time.
I also thought of Kaelric telling me Valkaryn used to be his father’s, but then I wondered if I’d heard that right. It was all the way back in the Hall of Binding, which felt like ages ago. When I was done with the dishes, I went in search of Kaelric. I found him in his bedroom, sharpening his dagger while his legs dangled out the open window, and he perched on its ledge.
“Aren’t you afraid of falling?”
He must have heard me coming, because he didn’t startle.
“I’m more afraid of being stuck inside all day,” he responded dryly.
I frowned. I heard the wolfkin slept outside under the stars even in their human form, but I didn’t know how true it was.
“Why don’t you go outside?” I asked.
