I’d missed this.
I’dneededthis.
The world stilled for a second. Darcke’s face flickered before me, sharp and handsome and infuriating.You can claim more than one rune—more than one throne.
The glittering runes stared at me, but unlike when I’d arrived at the Hird, I didn’t avoid them. I looked right back at them, my lips lifting.
I made another decision.
Without a single tremor, I carved a second rune into my skin. Then a third. A fourth. It wasn’t until I finished the sixth rune, blood pooling where my knees met the floor and my chest deliciously aching, that it went quiet.
Maybe I should have been afraid. Maybe I should havecowered before the gods, who could end me with one single thought. But I wasn’t—I refused to.
I was done hiding.
“I might not have earned a rune yet,” I said as I stood on steady legs, blinded by the light but seeing clearly for the first time in my life. “But I will spend the rest of my days making sure that when Hel comes to claim my soul, each and every one of these marks will be proud to cover my skin.”
Can she do that?Tyr asked.
I felt Thor’s smile, hearing my father’s laughter within it.I think she already did.
Yes, I had. And I didn’t regret it for a single second.
Go, child.
Odin didn’t need to tell me twice. I bowed deep before spinning around and running for my fucking life.
While the five runes of my father’s people were dormant—sleeping—I felt them in my blood. I felt the power I’d hold when I left these halls behind—the strength and the skills that would keep me alive.
I didn’t need to look as I sprinted over the crimson floor. The water surrounding me guided me, moved my limbs so smoothly I became fluid, too, seeping over the blood of my ancestors as I changed my wyrd.
My pulse became one with the current, pounding with the waves, and I lengthened my strides to reach them—reach my friends—in time.
My breath caught in my throat when my next step sent me right into Darcke’s chest. His eyes flashed, but before he had time to grab me, I spun like a whirlpool, adrenaline and pure will making me faster.
I slid to a stop, my chest heaving. The air was thick with fear and blood, and everywhere I looked my friends were losing. Viljan was backed up against the water, his movements clumsy from pain. Ivren was still on the ground, Geord and Rakkel before him,but both living heirs moved slowly, sluggishly, as they parried strike after strike.
“Retreat!” Torden screamed as he hoisted a lifeless Vero over his shoulder. “We can’t hold them!”
Stefen forcefully dragged Rakkel and her mother out of the way when five men stalked toward them, their steps slow and their smiles predatory since the heirs, the warriors, and the seconds had nowhere to go.
Geord remained standing over Ivren, a roar leaving him as he took down yet another warrior. But as two more took his place, his eyes emptied, and I felt him fraying on the edge of surrender before he lifted his blade once more.
As a deep fury rose within me, the water on either side of the white pathway towered high. Two lethal waves hovered over us, casting shade on the losing battle that wanted to unwrite my friends’ names from the world.
Darcke let out an abrupt, dark laugh.
“You’re here,” he said without a single note of surprise.
A gilded chain clattered to the ground, snaking its way across the pale path. Darcke pulled at his jacket, revealing a tanned chest where an onyx rune of water was stark against the blood dripping down the cut muscles.
I wasn’t fast enough to evade him this time. He dragged me against his chest, his lips whispering over mine, not touching but so close every hot exhale made me tremble.
“I hope you claimed every fucking rune in there.” His eyes dipped to my chest, where the six runes lay in a curve around my heart. A slow smile lifted his lips. “Ruinous,” he whispered.
Darcke’s hand on my arm sent feverish currents over my skin, but they weren’t unpleasant. Waves of warmth and strength andhomerolled through me until my breathing steadied—until I returned his smile.
Familiar.Kin.Mine.
