Jules ignored me and folded a napkin in her lap. “Oh look!” she exclaimed. “They have maple appetizers.” She grabbed one of the glazed balls and popped it into her mouth, her eyelids fluttering with bliss.
Tyler smirked as he held out a thick-walled glass. A waiter appeared out of thin air and filled it with golden, bubbling ale. I balked at the blatant display of Immortal powers, only to watch him vanish again, leaving only a flicker of shadows behind. Something about the magic made me shiver with dread.
“Figured they’d have maple treats. They saw you at the entrance,” Tyler explained and tugged a flower that had bloomed in Jules’ hair. “You do a poor job of hiding that you’re a Huldra.”
Will eyed his empty glass and held it up like Tyler had done. The waiter appeared again, filled the glass, and disappeared. Will barked a laugh. “Check that out!” he said, lifting his glass overflowing with froth. He took a swig and smiled at me, his lip rimmed with a foamy mustache. “I’ve only had beer once in my life,” he said proudly, then his gaze went somber and he lowered his glass. “When my dad had let me take a sip of his.” The moment passed and Will grinned again. “What do you Immortals say? Skol!”
Tyler barked a laugh. “Fitting in already.” He lifted his glass. “Skol.”
Everyone seemed to be having a good time, but underneath Tyler’s swagger was a taut arrow ready to fly.
He caught my eye and gave the slightest nod of acknowledgment. Good, his eyes seemed to say, there’s still a Valkyrie in there somewhere.
Food arrived and Will and Jules dove into their roasted duck and steamed veggies. I didn’t touch my plate and stiffened as the mysterious waiter set a fluted glass of bubbling liquid by my plate. I almost spotted it too late. Inside the glass flashed a beacon with a yellow light. Blink. Blink.
I grabbed it and hurled the drink across the room. Jules shrieked in horror but Tyler watched me with an unwavering stare. When the glass hit the velvet curtain, the beacon turned red.
An explosion rocked the foundation of the balcony and flames burst to life, sending the curtains into a wall of inferno in a matter of seconds. Flames… I wanted to laugh. I was a Valkyrie and my homeworld was a pit of volcanic activity. My spear thrust into existence at my fingertips and flames burned at the edge of the blade. Wings itched at my back, but wouldn’t come through. The hint of them drifted ash down the back of my shirt and I knew it would take a mental break to slam through Grimhildr’s programming and regain all of who I was. For now, I faced new enemies that burst through the flames. Dark-pitted eyes glimmered like orbs of oil and fangs flashed, claws extended. A wave of fear churned in my stomach because even if I was a Valkyrie, I was still just a sixteen-year-old girl trying to stay alive.
Tyler shouted something at Will and then the two moved so fast their bodies blurred with lines of silver and gold. Armored leathers wrapped over muscle and gleaming swords appeared. Will followed suit behind Tyler, sword at the ready. Instead of fighting each other like they’d been doing for the past few days, they crashed into the creatures of shadow and slashed through dark blood and grime. Screeches filled the air and I studied the battle for my chance to strike. My heart pounded against my chest and everything seemed to blur together.
“Valerie!” Jules shouted as vines stretched through the cracks of the floorboards and wrapped around the nearest creatures’ ankles, tipping them over as they roared with rage. As soon as she’d downed them her vines caught the embers and burned. Jules cried out in pain. “Val!” she called me again. “Help!”
I felt frozen to my spot. Instinct told me to move, but fear unlike any I’d ever felt wrapped around me with unseen shadows and squeezed.
I spotted an oily dagger going for Will’s back and that was enough to unhinge me from my prison. Launching at the creature I screamed and drove my spear into his chest. Wide, shadowed eyes whispered with the last lick of life before disintegrating into ash.
Will whirled and stared at the blade that clattered to the floor. “Thanks,” he whispered.
Tyler finished off the last of the creatures and reinforcements came just in the nick of time to be useless. “Nice try,” Tyler said and twirled his blade through the air before it dissipated in a flash of brilliance. His Immortal body withered into his mortal one, leaving only my mortal friend with a handsome smile. “Tell Dalia we’ll see her now.”
The Bifrost
I would have expected the place to be evacuated after a full-out attack like that, but the fire was put out by some ice-breathing creatures and the burned balcony sectioned off for repairs. The rest of the tables refilled with guests and mouth-watering smells overrode the smell of burnt wood within a matter of minutes.
“What was that?” I hissed as I followed Tyler into the restaurant’s wine cellar.
“A test,” he said and paused when our guide motioned for us to wait outside a door.
The guard growled at Tyler. “A test you nearly failed,” he pointed out before glaring at me. “Some Valkyrie you bring us.” His sharp features were distinctly human, but shadows glittered in the backs of his eyes, reminiscent of our attackers.
Before I could take offense, he slipped through the doorway. Literally—through it. I blinked as shadows whispered around the edges of the wood, protesting the traveler that had morphed its space.
“Do you recognize him?” Tyler asked. “His name’s Shade. He won’t remember you with your new body, but let’s keep it that way. Don’t tell him you’re Aerie.”
I made a face. “Only you call me Aerie.”
Will wrapped an arm around my waist and gave me a peck on the cheek. “That’s right. This is my girl, Val. Don’t want any creepers getting ideas.” He grinned, having pointedly been talking about Tyler.
Jules peeled off burnt layers of leaves and pines with an exasperated sigh. “Someone could have warned me that we were going to be attacked—by fire, no less. I’m too far from my forest. I can’t just expend my energy like that.”
Tyler surprised me by giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze. Light flared from his fingertips and the blooms along Jules’ hair lifted. “My power stems from the sun,” he explained at my perplexed face. “Sorry, Jules. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”
She giggled and blushed, swiftly changing from exasperation to giddy delight. She curled onto his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. “My hero in shining armor.”
The door opened before I could gag. The black-eyed jock muscled us inside.
“Watch it,” I complained when Shade shoved me low on my waist.
Will pushed him away, but I glared at him. I didn’t need a guy to stand up for me.
Shade smirked at Will’s protectiveness. “A Valkyrie with her very own Valiant pet. Cute, but cliché.”
“Where’s Dalia?” Tyler snapped. He crossed his arms. “I saw those shadows tracking us the moment we left the lake. She said that the magic protecting the outpost would hold, but she was wrong.” His eyes narrowed with dangerous warning. “I have better things to worry about than dealing with a bunch of Skuld following me around.”
Shade waved him away. “Come on. She’s waiting for you. Don’t get your leathers all in a bunch.”
Tyler growled, but followed the black-haired man into a dimly lit room filled with telescopes and whirring gears. A woman, crouched over one of the devices, hummed as she twisted to get a better view. Her free hand scribbled something on a piece of paper. When she looked up, her pupils fluctuated as if adjusting to our proximity with the precision of a telescope. She smiled wide, revealing a set of golden teeth. “Tyr,” she screeched and launched over her desk. Her arms wound around him as she gave him a big squeeze. She laughed and gripped him at arm’s length, getting a good look at him. “It’s been too long.”
Tyler smiled and wriggled out of her grip. “Nice to see you too, Dalia.”
I narrowed my eyes. Something about this woman told me to be careful. Her carefree demeanor was a mask, just as much as her golden teeth w
eren’t real. Underneath there was something ancient and dangerous and her power hummed against my bones like a drill driving into my skull. I flinched when she set her gaze on me, her eyes wild and unique. Blue streaks spread out from her pin-pricked pupils and I had a feeling that she didn’t miss much.
This wasn’t just an Immortal. This was a goddess—Heimdall, the watchman of the Bifrost and capable of seeing all in her domain for a hundred concentric miles. Only thing was… I didn’t remember Heimdall being a woman.
She offered me a hand and smiled. “Pleased to meet you, young Valkyrie. Tyr has told me much about you.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, infinitely glad that my voice held steady even as my heart thrummed against my chest like a frightened bird. “All good things, I hope.”
She laughed. It was a hearty sound that could have put me at ease, if it hadn’t been for the taut thread of danger underneath the surface that told me to be wary. “Mostly,” she assured me, then she turned her attention to Will. “Ah, and our new Valiant. Handsome as they always are, of course.” She grabbed Will before he had a chance to squirm away from the wet kiss she gave him on his cheek. “Welcome to the Bifrost.” Her eyes glittered as we took in the magnitude of what that meant.
I turned and looked over my shoulder at the door. Shade opened it for me, revealing a hall that definitely wasn’t the same as the restaurant we’d just been in.
This room wasn’t part of the wine cellar. This was the Bifrost, the only entrance to Asgard and last line of defense against Baldr and his armies descending on Earth and destroying it from within.
“That woman is insane!” I shrieked.
Tyler rubbed his temples. Good, I hoped that he was getting a headache. I’d been berating him for the better part of an hour after Dalia had shown us to our rooms.
The Bifrost was under her control and could slip through the various strongholds she’d established, which weren’t just on Earth.
“She could have taken us anywhere!” I added. “Muspelheim, the Mojinir, even Asgard itself. And what then? We’d have been defenseless.”
“Please,” Tyler said. He beckoned to Jules. “Huldra, darling, could you do me a favor? Release some nightshade on this Valkyrie?”
Jules crossed her arms. “I’m none too pleased myself,” she admitted. “Val has a point. We don’t know anything about this Dalia. She might be your ally, but she’s not ours.”
Will hadn’t said a word the entire time and gazed out the window as if he’d find what he was looking for on the dark streets below that glittered with raindrops and shadows.
This wasn’t what I’d imagined New York to be like.
Of all places, the Bifrost had landed us in one of the most expensive hotels in the city. A massive wall kept out the worst of the blaring city lights. Gorgeous gardens sprinkled the grounds below. Jules spent her fair share of time at the window. At first I thought she was just admiring the view, but after she’d waved a few times I spotted other Huldra whispering through the leaves, laughing and dancing without a care in the world.
Easing up to Jules, I rubbed my arms and looked out the window with her. “Do you want to join them?” I asked.
She shrugged and glanced at Tyler who ignored us while he made himself a drink at the bar. “I do prefer my lake,” she admitted. “It’s quiet. Less… rambunctious.” In spite of her dismissal, her gaze drifted back to the gardens and her eyes glittered with something I hadn’t seen in her before. When she’d posed as Will’s protective cousin, she’d been all business. But now she was wistful and full of hope… what did a Huldra dream about?
“Maybe when my work here is done, I’ll visit the New York sprites.” She gave me a sheepish smile. “Just for a little while, of course.”
Will joined us at the window and pressed his nose to the glass. “I don’t see them,” he complained.
I laughed. “That’s because you’re not looking.” Even though the Huldra were doing a poor job of blending in, they teased at the edges of the shadows, no doubt wanting to be seen. Yet, Will seemed to look past them, his gaze going somewhere I couldn’t follow.
Will sighed and his breath fogged the glass. “My mother’s out there, Val. I can sense her.”
I found my fingers trailing over his arm, only to feel him shudder under my touch. “Can you describe it?”
His brows scrunched together, his face a dismantled reflection in the glass as he wiped away the streaks. “It was familiar,” he admitted. “When those things… the Skuld, Tyler called them. When they attacked us, I felt the same thing.” His chestnut eyes struggled to remain mortal as horror passed behind the crystal folds of his gaze where his Valiant side lived. “It’s the same icy stillness I’d felt in my mother, as if she were an evil, dead thing that only knows how to suck in light and destroy it.”
“Leanne is going to make her move,” Tyler added, clinking glasses together as he mixed ice cubes, “but not yet.” He popped open a can of soda and poured it into the glasses before slumping into the couch. He raised it and grinned. “Just soda,” he promised, then knocked his head back and took a long gulp. He exhaled, satisfied. He dangled the glass and sloshed the ice with the bubbling liquid while he contemplated his thoughts. “We’ll be ready for her when she strikes. We’ll be safe here, for now.”
Pinching my lips, I decided that I didn’t like how Tyler was so cool with everything going on. It was almost like he… planned it.
Marching over to him, I snatched the drink out of his hand. “Hey!” he complained.
Frowning down at him, I glowered. “I think it’s time you fess up. You’ve been working with Dalia all this time, haven’t you?”
He shrugged. “Sort of, I guess. She might have helped me hide the lake house.” When I gasped, he threw his hands up and added, “But it was my blood that powered the stealth spell, okay? She only helped me get it started.”
I grabbed his wrist. “And this mark, then? Is that some cult symbol, or something? What kind of payment does an Immortal expect in return for that kind of magic?”
He twisted himself free and slumped into the leather cushions as if he were too exhausted to explain it all. “Come on, Aerie. You know it’s worse than that.” His gaze found mine and that familiar connection thrummed between us. For the first time in months, I felt the air shift around my skin as if time wanted to jerk to a halt. I hadn’t tapped into my Frigg powers of bending time since I’d let myself get too close to Will. When I searched for the mortal that had stolen my heart, I found him completely enraptured with the mysteries outside our hotel room. He didn’t seem the least bit interested in the argument Tyler and I were having, and neither was Jules. They made an appropriate pair, both looking for hope somewhere in the darkness.
Tyler’s fingers grazed my arm and I jolted. “Hey,” he said, his voice lowering. “The guy’s been through a lot. His mother is a Norn-eating psychopath Hel-bent on sacrificing all of us. Give him some time.”
I squeezed my stolen glass until my fingers went numb against the cold of the melting ice. Why Tyler was giving me boy advice, I wasn’t sure, but he seemed genuine. I thrust the drink back into his face and he took it, setting it on the table. “I’m just tired of all of it, okay? My mother tries to control me. My father tries to use me. And everyone else? They just confuse me.” I rolled small circles over my temples. “I need a break.”
He patted the empty cushion at his side. “Then sit. Let’s talk about it.” He glanced at Will. “You don’t mind, right buddy?”
Will grunted. “Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure.” He glanced at me, guilt running frown-lines over his otherwise flawless face. “I could actually go for a walk, if that’s okay, Val.”
I swallowed and nodded mutely.
Will left, the door creaking behind him and Jules trotted gleefully behind him. “I’ll join you!” she squealed.
Will’s muffled voice complained, saying something about wanting to be alone, and I couldn’t help but smirk when his hand appeared, holding the door o
pen for her as he relented. He gave me a half-hearted smile and waved. “Be back in a bit,” he said, then pointed at Tyler. “Don’t do anything ungentlemanly-like, or I’ll have to test my new sun-blade on your face.”
Tyler gave him a salute. “Pretty sure she’ll jab her flaming spear in my eye-socket first, so have fun.”
Tension eased from Will’s shoulders as he chuckled, waved again, then shut the door.
Alone with Tyler, I jumped up from the couch and promptly began pacing across expensive tile.
I decided that I didn’t like this place. The low-hanging drapes and blood-colored walls reminded me of the rooms on the Einherjar. Freya was Odin’s counterpart when it came to deities of war, but she’d also once been a goddess of love and beauty. That part of her shined through the different rooms of her ship. This place forced those memories to the surface and instilled in me a time where I’d been just one of Freya’s daughters, happy and naive. Nighttime before bed consisted of a Roman-style steaming bath filled with rose petals and oils. My sisters would all bathe together and wash each other’s hair. Their laughter still echoed pleasantly against my ears. It was the only time when my sisters took off their battle gear and gave their wounds a chance to heal in the rejuvenating waters our mother spoiled us with.
Tyler fanned himself with a throw pillow. “Of all the memories you choose to salvage from Grimhildr’s programming…” He whistled. “What else you got in there?”
I glowered and slammed my thoughts closed. I pictured a door slamming in his face and Tyler flinched. I’d thought his skills a fluke, but now I knew that Tyler was getting inside my head. “Since when can you read my mind?”
Tyler shrugged as his cheeks went pink. “I’ve never been good at it, especially with you. But you are more of an open book lately.”
I slapped him on the shoulder. “Seriously, Tyler. Will can’t read my mind. This doesn’t sound like a Valiant skill.” I chewed my lip. “I feel like I should know this about you already. Can’t you just tell me what I haven’t remembered yet?”
Valkyrie Rebellion: Valkyrie Allegiance Book 2 Page 6
