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I nodded. “Thank you.” If Soren had sold the pieces, Lux might have never found them. Soren winked and turned away, sauntering off toward the temple.

Lux’s chest expanded, and her deep breath hummed against my torso as she exhaled slowly. “He’s right. You were never like the other vampires.”

I chuckled. “I guess I failed at my goal then.”

She straightened and rubbed her temples. “I want to try connecting with Silver’s life through foresight again. I’m ready. I’ll focus on her perspective of our mother and see what happens.”

“Don’t overdo it,” I warned.

God or not, Lux still fatigued easily. Using this foresight required a lot of practice and focus, and it still wasn’t a perfect look into the future. The frustration that came with this imperfection tired her even more.

I shuffled beside her and then remained as still as possible while she closed her eyes and tapped into the power. She swayed slightly, and I resisted the urge to catch her in case she tipped to the side. My touch could pull her from the projection; I’d learned that the hard way.

Only my ticking heart filled my ears. I barely breathed, and the fire was silent ash now. There weren’t birds in the wasteland yet, but once trees grew, our home would be a true village again. This place would become coveted land and a place to thrive, thanks to Lux’s ability to breathe life into the world the way Odin gave a pulse and mind to a simple, stagnant cut of tree, creating Ask and Embla, the first humans.

While she focused, I counted my heartbeats. Gratitude flooded me for this proof of life within me. After over two thousand beats, I lost count, and Lux’s eyes finally peeled open.

As her eyes rolled back, I instantly caught her in my arms, recalling haunting memories of when her dark eyes stared into agonizing visions sent by the gods.

“Skald, talk to me.” I pulled her towards me. My instinct was to warm her and try to align her offbeat heart to the rhythm thudding in my chest.

“I see her,” she breathed. Her eyes remained white with her head thrown back as if Silver floated in the starry sky.

“You see Silver?”

She licked her lips. “Mother. She found my mother. She destroyed Ragna and took my mother from her.” Horror and grief quivered in her voice. “Ragna’s family fled, but Ragna died, Drak…trying to save my mom.” Her breath stuttered.

“Lux, your heart is beating too fast. Come back to me. It isn’t safe at this rate.” I’d witnessed a man once stand before the Blood Council and die from fright when his heart sped to ultimate failure. My fingers dug too deep into her shoulders as I gave her a light shake. “Lux, end this.”

Tears beaded at the edge of her pure white eyes. One slipped over her eyelid and down the side of her face. “She’s telling my mother that sacrifice is the only way. Silver’s describing cutting her open on an altar to Thor.” Her hand pawed at my arm before clutching my bicep with a vise grip. “Drak, she’s saying it’s a kindness, because of how Mother worships the gods. Silver’s justifying giving her to the gods in a brutal sacrifice…” As her voice died out, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed against me. Wracking sobs shook her shoulders, and I buried her face in my chest. I petted her free-flowing hair from her head down to her back as her spine bent and she curved into my lap.

I let her soak my tunic with tears as long as she needed to, but when the night grew too cold, I carried her to our tent. “I’ve got you,” I whispered. “Don’t let Silver’s horrors derail you. She’s always been…imaginative. Not everything she dreams up will become reality.”

“Soren told me she used to make up stories, and you’d listen to them,” she muttered.

I nodded, sucking air through my teeth. “Yes, that was a long time ago. I hardly remember the details, but she made up strange creatures and then would talk about using them or killing them or some other awful thing. It was either fucked-up stories or babbling on about her—your—mother.” I sighed. “Otherwise, she only thinks of murder.”

“Just like now.”

I swallowed. “Exactly.” But now she was tormenting real, flesh and blood humans from both Vylheim and West Anglor.

We retired to the tent, but sleep came in fits and with cruel nightmares. Dreams haunted me with the shape of Silver’s old stories about imaginary half-fae people that she wanted to steal powers from. A particularly bloody nightmare left me helpless as I watched a nine-year-old Silver cut off the wings of a tip-eared person and sew them into her own skin. I woke in a sweat only to find Lux’s eyes blown wide and staring at the ceiling.

As I lay sleepless beside her, she said, “I projected the foresight into her again. I saw that the sacrifices will be her attempt to call upon Thor to grow her kingdom. They’re a blessing of fertility for more humans to turn into vampires, with enough to feed her army in exchange for access to this realm again.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “And that’s not all. She knows about Mjolnir and the throne, which means she definitely knows that if she sits on the throne, I cannot reach her. I can’t reach her now.”

“Fuck,” I breathed.

“It’s worse. She wants Loki to fashion a weapon from the throne for her to fight me, and then she plans to march on West Anglor with it. The captives weren’t enough to satisfy her. I don’t know why she didn’t hide these plans from me.”

I swallowed another curse and steadied my voice. “Because she’s not threatened by us. At least not with those plans. She doesn’t know we also have an army. We’ll be okay, we’ll fight her.”

“I’m scared,” she whispered.

“I know, but I’ll stop her.” I swore. “For you, Lux.” I buried my face in her hair and pressed my palm against her stomach as she curled to the shape of my body. Exhaustion dragged us both under before I could make my wife any more promises.

Morning came too quickly, though we’d slept well past sunrise. Finan’s grating voice broke through the sleep that had eventually found me.

“Wake up,” he growled from the entrance of our tent. I squinted at the sun, not yet accustomed to its light no longer draining me.