Her gaze darkened and the rest of her beautiful plumage turned to ash.
I didn’t want to be right. Unfortunately… I was.
Freya refused o speak to me after I’d figured out the truth. Ragnarök was the culmination of darkness drifting in the universe until it had become an angry, sentient being.
I had to know more about it. When Mama says no, try Dad.
Freya had programmed my room to stay locked, but it didn’t prevent my summons of the god of war.
He appeared when I called him as a burst of golden light that sent shadows scurrying from the walls.
His rainbow eyes glittered as he appraised me. “It seems you’ve angered your mother,” he said. His gaze went the spear that hung loosely in my grip. “Luckily yours doesn’t have buttons.”
I frowned. Freya tormented me with her ancient software that could do anything to a mind. She could wipe my memories, make me see things that weren’t there, or just knock me out. No telling what she was doing to Will and Tyler right now.
“I need your help,” I said. It was a statement, not a request, and my father straightened.
“What kind of help?”
There were a lot of things that my father could do for me, even as his apparition, but primarily what I needed now was answers.
I rested my spear against the wall and pulled up a chair. “You never did tell me bedtime stories,” I jested with a smile.
He raised a brow. A long scar streaked through it as if he’d taken a blow to the head. I remembered that my father liked his scars. It gave him character—his words, not mine.
“What kind of stories would you like to hear?” he asked.
“Ragnarök,” I said immediately. “Tell me why my mother created it, and why she doesn’t have the power to stop it.”
He frowned, but didn’t chide me for accusing my mother of such a heinous act. To my surprise, he answered me. “Your mother isn’t the only one guilty of contributing to Ragnarök’s current state. It is the culmination of all darkness in this universe and all the worlds that came before this one.”
I bit my lip. “So you’ve survived Ragnarök before?”
He nodded and rubbed his mechanical arm. “Not without a price.”
“Can I survive it?” I asked. I hated how hopeful I sounded. If I could survive, then maybe others could too.
Odin’s gaze went distant and lines marred his face as he grimaced. “Daughter. I cannot give you hope when there is none to be had. Once Ragnarök is triggered, it will devour until it has destroyed the last of this world. Your mother and I, as well as a handful of gods, take shelter in the end days in a seed of Yggdrasil. From there, we bring forth new life. Your mother has a great burden to create life from darkness, but that was a choice we all had to make. The first time Ragnarök came for us, it was too late. When we found out its cycle, we prepared as best we could for when it would come, and put rules in place to stem off its return as long as we could.”
I ran my hands over my thighs. Already my skin tingled from fighting against my Valkyrie form that threatened to break through. I couldn’t lose this body. I couldn’t lose hope that there could still be a chance to put things back the way they were supposed to be. “So what is Ragnarök, exactly?”
Odin’s gaze remained fixated on a spot on the wall and I realized he was likely watching the glittering black fingers continue to wrap around Muspelheim. “Its the negative experiences souls have endured. Its weight cannot leave this plane. When souls leave this world behind, they shed darkness like a second skin and return to Yggdrasil. When your mother and I figured that out, we learned how to use that darkness to make ourselves Immortal. By giving the darkness form, we gave it new life.”
My eyes widened. “So the two of you created Ragnarök?”
He nodded. “That’s why it is our duty to keep it sated with fresh sacrifices. The Norn are a necessary evil in this world we’ve incidentally created. Reaped souls are valuable. They fuel our ships, create our sons and daughters, and keep Ragnarök itself at bay.” His mechanical hand fisted. “We’ve imprisoned Ragnarök in another realm. It takes the power of the Frigg and the Bifrost working in tandem to pull the creature outside of its realm. When you opened yourself up to love, you created a fissure in the space-time web, and allowed it back in.”
I snatched my spear and pointed it at him. “Don’t you dare try to blame me for the destruction of the universe.” That was a bit much for a father to put on his daughter’s shoulders.
Odin stared down at me over the bridge of his crooked nose. “I don’t,” he assured me. “You weren’t supposed to exist at all.”
I glared at him. “You’re not making me feel any better.”
He continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “Freya and I were not supposed to love one another. When she became pregnant, we knew we’d pay the ultimate price for our violation.” He closed his eyes. “The last time we had a child, we were thrown out of Asgard. Freya thought you could be different, but we should have known better. Where Baldr was all of our hate, you are all of our love and it crushes you with the pain that comes with that burden. Now, I fear, Ragnarök will be too strong, and the Bifrost is out of our reach while Baldr puts us on the defensive. For once, the darkness might just win.”
The blood drained from my face. I knew that Baldr was my brother, but it hadn’t occurred to me that my parents viewed him as their punishment. Freya had tried to suppress my tendency for love, but she’d failed. If I was all their love… then what was Baldr?
“Maybe if you’d shown my brother and I more love instead of the boundary of laws and rules, things wouldn’t be like they are now.”
Odin’s eyes glittered with raw power. “Freya and I are the result of Immortals who’ve lived without boundaries. That’s how Ragnarök was born in the first place.” His gaze darkened. “You are our weakness. We loved you and allowed you to test those boundaries. Now the universe will pay for our failure.”
I wasn’t going to let Odin frighten me. “Stop being so pathetic,” I snapped, and he blinked at me in surprise. “I wanted answers, and now you gave them to me. Now tell me where Will and Tyler are being held and help me bust them out. If I’m the one who set Ragnarök free, then I’m the one that’s going to shove it back in its prison.”
Odin faded, and I could have roared with rage as he left me alone. I stood there in silence as I wondered if my father had just abandoned me.
Then the door clicked.
Light and Dark
A faint golden trail hovered in the air and wound down Einherjar’s hallways. I followed it, hoping that my father would lead me to Will and Tyler and not into one of Freya’s traps. She’d shoved me in my room like a disobedient child. Even if she didn’t expect me to break free, I made sure to cover myself in a sheen of darkness like I’d felt Tyler do. Ragnarök was the result of suffering and pain, something that was the flipped side of the coin of love. I had plenty of that burning in my heart. Guilt. Betrayal. Need. It all gave me a dark strength that fueled my control over the space-time web, and gave me enough strength to create a ripple around me that hovered just above my skin.
Whispers accompanied the dark magic, but I ignored them now that I knew what they were. My suffering wasn’t alone. I attracted the unseen bits of broken souls that filtered through the cosmos. And on a place like the Einherjar, there were a lot of lost souls hidden in the walls. The tree in the center of its core spanned the entire ship and trapped those souls here until Freya was ready to use them. My list of things to burn was growing larger, and this ship was certainly one of them.
The golden trail stopped at a locked door, and then another click sounded as I approached. The heavy vault lifted and revealed Will and Tyler bound in iron chains and shoved against the wall. Burn streaks spattered across the metal, telling me that Will and Tyler had not gone down without a fight.
Tyler snapped his head up at my entrance and his lips lifted in a mischievous grin. The dark void of his eyes still remained and the
black runes glimmered underneath his torn leathers. “About time,” he said.
Will rattled his chains. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he said, his words on the exhale of pure relief. “I can’t take another second with this asshole. He’s a hundred times worse with the creepy runes making him nuts.”
Tyler glowered and his skin flashes with a dark glimmer that reminded me of the stretching fingers devouring Muspelheim. “Your girlfriend brings out the worst in me. What can I say.”
Will growled. I summoned my spear and stabbed it against the ground. “Enough!”
Both guys looked at me, their enraged expressions becoming sheepish. “Sorry,” they said in unison.
My lips twitched, wanting to smile at how cute they could be. I kept my composure, trying to keep my upper hand of authority in this situation—which was pretty easy to do when I wasn’t the one in chains.
I walked to Will first and he offered his wrists. “Don’t move,” I commanded and lashed down with my spear. Sparks flew as the chains broke under the power of my magic. Will raised a brow at me. I was getting stronger and I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.
Ignoring him, I walked over to Tyler and dismantled his chains as well. He shook them off as they withered into a pile of ash at our feet. “Impressive,” he remarked and his grin widened.
I resisted the urge to take a step back when his canines extended into sharp points. “That’s new,” I said.
He reached up to graze his tooth and winced when he pricked the sharp point. “Well, that certainly isn’t good.”
Will took my arm and pulled me away from Tyler. “I don’t know what’s going on with him, but I’d keep my distance if I were you.” He leaned in closer to ear and lowered his voice. “Did Freya do something to him?”
I shook my head. “This is my fault. I—” I couldn’t say the rest out loud. What I wanted to say sounded too much like my father’s lament—and would only hurt Will.
My love did this.
I couldn’t think about what damage my love could do. I’d gotten so much stronger since I’d learned how to love. Steeping between the folds of space and time, as well as bringing Will and Tyler with me, showed how far I’d come with the power all attained through love. Perhaps the world wasn’t doomed. Perhaps I could even learn how to stop Ragnarök.
The first step was to escape this ship. My skin crackled with dark magic that kept me hidden, but its weight was already making my eyelids droop. I couldn’t keep this up forever, and I certainly couldn’t step through the space-time web again… not without a little boost of magic. “Tyler,” I said in my most commanding voice, “you need to get us back to that tree.”
Will voiced all his concerns with my plan—and loudly.
“Enough,” I hissed. “I’m cloaking us, but Freya isn’t deaf. You keep that racket up and she’s going to hear us, then it’s back in chains.”
“Yeah,” Tyler added. He gave me a wink. “Only one girl is allowed to tie me up.”
Will scoffed and wedged himself securely between Tyler and me. “You’re disgusting when you’ve gone all dark side.”
Tyler’s magic whispered over him in a wave and he grinned as if he was doing it on purpose. Was it actually getting stronger?
I glared at him. “If you’re going to indulge him, then why don’t you cloak us? I’m getting tired.” I only had the one rune along my knuckles, but it was growing larger. It stretched long fingers up to my elbow and wasn’t showing any signs of stopping.
He glanced at it and winced. “Aerie, that thing is reacting to me. Being around me is only making it worse.”
I took Will’s hand. He raised an eyebrow, but I had a theory. “I’m going to ask you a weird question. You need to answer, and honestly.”
Tyler moved as if to fall back and leave Will and I alone, but I shook my head.
“You can ask me anything,” Will said. The honesty in his voice bit like a viper. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I needed him to remember what we had together.
I kept a tight grip on Will’s hand. “Do you remember the first time we met?”
“Which time?” he asked. Now that he was a Valiant, he would remember his past lives.
I bit my lip. “The best one.”
His eyelids fluttered closed and his fingers clenched around mine. “It was on a beach.”
I knew that beach. Both pain and pleasure filled me through the memories bound between us. It’s where we’d fallen in love in another life… and where we’d been ripped apart in the most horrible of ways.
As if I’d turned off a switch, the darkness writhing over me solidified into tiny bits of ash and drifted grains over my skin. The space-time web fluctuated, sending the walls around me bowing. Normally I would have triggered a time freeze—but now I knew what I was doing.
Instead of letting myself be dragged in by the immense weight in the space-time net fueled by my shock and sorrow, I commanded it. I reeled it in and secured it into the center of my chest where I’d always thought my flame as a Valkyrie resided. The heat wasn’t because I was a Valkyrie. It was my capacity for love.
Tyler stretched out and sent a wave of darkness over us, effectively shrouding us before the ships scanners could detect our presence. “That was foolish,” he remarked, but he tilted his head, looking both pensive and intrigued.
I straightened. “It was necessary.” I needed Tyler to see that I was capable of controlling my darkness. With Will to bring me back and remind me about the mortal part of myself, I could undo even the weighty power of Ragnarök. There was hope.
“Now come on,” I insisted and tugged Will with me.
He stumbled, still stunned at what had happened. “Where are we going?” he asked.
“We’re going to free some souls.”
I should have known it’d been too easy to free Will and Tyler. The moment we stepped around the bend and arrived at the glittering doors that separated us from the Einherjar’s core, two scowling gods stood in our way.
I kept my grip on Will’s hand. He was my anchor to the rage that bubbled up inside of me. If Odin had betrayed me just to see what I’d do, then he knew where my alliances were now.
“I expected you to choose one,” Odin mused.
Freya’s spear glowed with embers and the edge of its blade licked with tiny flames. It only did that when she was very angry. “I expected her to reap them both after what they made her do.” She lifted her lip in a snarl. “It’s because of them that you triggered Ragnarök. Why would you bring them here? Why would you defy me?” She growled and streaks of red ran down her arms and spidered out at her feet. “You break the laws of the Valkyrie over and over again as if you’ve learned nothing at all. I’ve been too easy on you.”
It was the glimmer of tears in her eyes that betrayed the source of her anger.
She was afraid. Afraid of losing me—or having to put me down.
“I am not Baldr,” I said through clenched teeth. “I didn’t want to trigger Ragnarök.”
I’d never seen Odin summon his weapon, but a great axe appeared and flattened against Freya’s stomach to prevent her from lunging at me. “Calm yourself,” he commanded.
Apparently, my brother’s name was a trigger-word.
Freya seethed, and in that moment she was not my mother. She was the goddess of war who’d been challenged. In war, challenges needed to be removed.
Will released my hand and took a brave step, putting himself between two gods and their target. “Odin,” he said. My father raised his chin and acknowledged the latest addition to his army. Will splayed out his fingers and the golden magic of his Immortality danced over his skin. “I didn’t ask for this gift, but you gave it to me.” His fingers clenched. “If the power of suffering souls is what keeps the Einherjar running, if the power of a soul is what will give your wife what she needs to save Muspelheim and her daughters trapped down there, then I give my own freely.”
I clenched onto Will’s wrist. “What’re you doi
ng?” I hissed.
Will glanced at me and gave a slight nod as if to say Trust me.
Freya seemed to be jolted out of her rage by the offer. The blaze of red in her eyes calmed to sizzling embers. “I lost a daughter,” she said, almost numbly. “There is nothing that can be done to save her—not even your sacrifice.”
I stiffened, wondering if she’d seen what was left of Sam and the undead Valkyries still trapped on Muspelheim.
“You’re right,” Will said. “But you have daughters down there still alive. And the souls trapped in the Einherjar’s core have suffered long enough. You torment them and drain them dry.” He pointed at the wall that glittered with crystal and took another step. “You don’t need the souls that couldn’t survive their Valkyries. You need someone who did.” He opened his arms again and leaned his head back, exposing his neck. “Take what you need, and in exchange, you will set them free.”
Will was right. All of those broken souls were useless trinkets compared to the burning blaze of his soul. The Valkyries has never reaped an Immortal’s soul—not that I was aware of. Whereas a mortal’s soul had limits… a soul like Will’s had none.
Freya clenched her spear under her knuckles went white. I had a feeling that it was a motion made to restrain herself from pressing a deadly sequence of buttons. “Ragnarök is already upon us. You dare to offer me a deal?” She snarled and her eyes burned until I couldn’t even recognize her anymore. “I will never give up the power that is rightfully mine. Your soul was supposed to have been ours, but you fell into Odin’s service by my daughter’s sacrifice. Perhaps I should just take you for punishment of what you’ve done.”
“Mother!” I snapped and shoved Will aside. A wave of heat exploded at my shoulder blades and my wings threatened to burst through delicate mortal skin. I couldn’t allow myself to lose my human form. If I embraced all the rage and fire that came with being a Valkyrie, I’d turn into the very thing I was growing to despise. “As your daughter, I am begging you to give me this chance to fix the damage I’ve caused.” I lowered my voice. “I’m asking you to trust me.”
Valkyrie Uprising Page 3
