A Soul Like Glass (Kingdom of Betrayal #4)

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

M y hammer hits the snow.

Golden light streaks across the white powder toward Erik’s still form, where he lies fewer than ten paces away from me now.

The explosion of power rages across the snow, sending snowflakes into the air, glittering as brightly as shards of glass.

They rise up around Erik’s body like rain in reverse, as if I could turn back every crimson drop of blood-rain that fell on him and me.

Again, I lift my hammer, raising it above my head and striking it down. “Wake up!”

My power thuds into the earth and shrieks across the distance, a golden light that explodes upward around his body, lighting up the snowflakes.

This time, his body rises off the ground, elevated mere inches, his dark hair falls away from his face, and my power turns him toward me.

His eyes are closed.

His skin is pale in death, but I make him a vow: You will not sleep in this snow.

Living power pours through me as I raise the hammer again. I’m vaguely aware that Graviter Rex is roaring from somewhere behind me. The other two Valkyries are silhouettes of silver suspended in the air, caught in the tumult of my power.

I grit my teeth and ram my hammer down again.

My heart is pounding. My breath rasps from my throat, my voice already hoarse from the attack on my throat. Sapphire light burns my palm where I grip the hammer, a beating pulse gleaming with every beat of my heart.

Once more, I scream, “Wake up!”

You will open your eyes.

You will stand up.

You will live, Erik.

Power rages around me in an increasing storm, but it’s quiet where I stand. Too quiet.

My ears might be bleeding.

I’m certain they are.

My heart is raw, and my hands are burning.

Through the tumult, a bright glow dances toward me, flitting between the streams of power, somehow finding the gaps between them and darting closer.

It’s the Celestial Star.

She dances between the streams of my power; her form glides fearlessly and glows brighter the nearer she gets to me.

I’m not sure how I can tell with so much certainty that she isn’t afraid of me. Or how I somehow know that she’s…

Happy.

Maybe it’s the soft humming sound she makes that—impossibly—I can hear clearly despite the violence of the storm around me.

A gentle song that reminds me of the first sparkle of starlight in the sky before the night falls and the brief calm as sunlight gives way to the moon.

She glides right up to my face, filling my view with her light, and for a moment, it’s like looking far beyond the dark sky and at the purest star.

Then she glides to my left, settling into the air above my shoulder, where she hovers.

The hum of her energy gives me the peace I need.

I take a deep breath, ignoring the chaos I’ve created around me, focusing once more on Erik.

I will hit my hammer to the ground as many times as it takes to bring him back.

Again, I raise the hammer, striking it down into the ground.

And again. And again .

At the corner of my eye, the stone statue of Erik’s father suddenly cracks, my power traveling from his feet to his head.

The stone begins to crumble.

But I don’t stop.

I can’t.

“Loyalty,” I scream into the storm. “Strength! Perseverance! Hope!”

I raise my hammer one more time, blocking out every doubt in my mind, but this time, I don’t shout.

“Erik the Vandawolf,” I whisper. “You will wake up and live.”

I let my hammer drop to the snow, and I drop with it, falling to my knees.

My power strikes the snow, multiple golden threads shooting up and across the air. Each one curls around Erik’s body, one around his chest, another around his neck, another around his legs, winding around and around him before sinking into his body where my power vanishes.

I watch him with all the hope he gave me, aware that behind me, Graviter Rex is slowly lowering himself to the ground, the Valkyries are also returning to the snow, and General Glass has retracted her wings.

While the final streams of my power fade, it seems we are all focused on Erik.

His body slowly lowers to the snow, his face turned toward me, but his hair falls across it.

The silence around me is unbearable as I refuse to let go of my hope, as I will Erik to breathe. To open his eyes.

But his chest doesn’t rise and fall.

His eyes don’t open.

He remains quiet and still where he lies in the snow.

My grip on my hammer’s handle loosens as my shoulders slump. Even though my physical contact with my hammer keeps the clearing bright, the light feels dull to me now.

I have nothing but a fading hope that extends into a long moment of silence.

Then there’s a soft crack on my left, followed by a little thud .

A piece of stone falls away from his father’s statue.

I refuse to take my eyes off Erik even when there’s another soft crack . Another quiet thud .

More chunks fall away from the statute.

And then, suddenly, the statue crumbles, pieces falling all at once, except for a thin line of stone that extends from the front of Erik’s father’s foot all the way up to the sword so that, astoundingly, the sword remains extended in the air, even though the rest of the statute has become nothing more than a pile of broken stone.

The air where the center of the statue once stood shimmers.

A spark of light suddenly flares and then grows, other streams of light forming in the air and pulling together.

It’s a slow formation, piece by careful piece, until a perfect sapphire orb floats in the air near the sword.

On my right, General Glass takes such a sharp breath that it sounds like an inhaled shriek in the heavy silence.

In an instant, she fully retracts her wings and, keeping me in her sights, darts across the space between me and Erik to reach his father’s statue.

I’m aware of the scuffling sounds of the other two Valkyries also lurching forward, both of them coming into view at the corner of my eye.

Glass reaches the orb first.

Her movements slow down so that, despite her former urgency, both of her outstretched palms close gently around the orb.

For a moment, her eyes glow silver, and then the orb seems to anchor to her right palm, remaining attached to it even when she lowers her arm a little.

She gives an audible sigh of relief before she pulls the orb close to her chest, her palm facing upward so that the orb turns gently on the spot in front of her torso.

Despite her external calm, her focus snaps to her sisters far more fiercely than I was expecting. “To claim the soul of Bjarne Haakonsson of the Einherjar is a great honor.” Her voice hardens as she stares her sisters down. “It will be enough.”

The other two Valkyries are silent for a long moment.

Then Glaive rubs her jaw. “Bjarne’s soul was thought to be lost. His seat in the Hall of Warriors has been empty for a long time.”

Griffin makes a humming sound in the back of her throat before she purses her lips in apparent thought. “Indeed, our Queen will certainly be very pleased that we have collected his soul.”

“Then we’re done here, yes?” General Glass asks firmly.

She doesn’t take her eyes off her sisters, even though she angles her body toward me.

In response to Glass’s statement, Glaive’s forehead creases, but she looks more perplexed than angry. “What of Erik the Vandawolf’s soul? It should have risen from his body already, but it has not. How is this possible?”

“Perhaps he gave everything into the making of that weapon,” Glass suggests, still keeping her sisters firmly in her sights, even though she inclines her head at my hammer.

The other two Valkyries consider me with far more wariness than they did before, their posture becoming tense. I’m not sure why their attitude toward me has changed until Griffin speaks, now in a low murmur.

“If Erik the Vandawolf gave his entire soul into that weapon, then it is to be feared,” she says. “As is the woman who holds it.”

I have remained slumped in the snow, a quiet emptiness filling me with every passing moment.

I don’t feel fearsome right now.

What use is power when it can’t save the ones I love?

General Griffin finally gives a firm nod. “Yes, we are done here. Glaive, you will help me collect our armor.”

Just like that, the tension around me evaporates.

Without another glance at me, Griffin and Glaive set about retrieving the metallic suits they peeled off and left in the snow, along with their swords.

The Celestial Star darts to my side, where she sways so close to my downcast face that she nearly brushes my cheek. The glow around me has faded so significantly that she is brighter than me now. Her light is cold but somehow calming.

General Glass also approaches me, her footfalls seeming more cautious than before.

I narrow my eyes at Glass as she extends her free hand down to me.

“I wish to go in peace,” she says. “Will you allow that?”

I consider her offered hand. Does she really expect me to touch her now that I know how easily she could kill me?

“Or do you consider the Valkyries your enemies?” she asks, her voice tightening.

I’m conscious that the other two Valkyries are eyeing me again—and most certainly listening for my answer—while they busy themselves collecting the last pieces of armor.

“I have enough enemies already,” I say, turning away from them. “Go in peace.”

I have powerful enemies. The Fae Queen, for one. Even though I completed the deal I made with her, there is no trust between us. She will turn on me when it suits her.

The humans in the Cursed City are also my enemies. They schemed to kill Erik and nearly succeeded. I lived with their hatred my entire life.

And then there’s Thaden Kane, who could be my most powerful enemy of all. When he first came into my life, he claimed to be human. He said that the Blacksmith, Milena Ironmeld, had experimented on him and turned him into a beast. She’d supposedly killed Graviter Rex’s son, Lysander, and used Lysander’s soul to give Thaden the physical attributes of a dragon.

It was a lie.

Thaden is not human.

He’s a Blacksmith, the son of Malak Ironmeld himself. Malak subjected the humans in the south to a thirty-year reign of terror and subjugation.

Thaden pretended to assist me, sending me in Milena’s direction, only to actually send me into a trap.

My brother and sister are with him, and my fear for them is constant now that I know who Thaden really is.

General Glass quietly retracts her hand. She turns to leave and then pauses, lowering herself into a half-crouched, half-kneeling position at my side.

She speaks so quietly that I can barely hear her. “It’s a Valkyrie’s curse to live without affection. We can show it to our daughters, and they can show it to us. But to all others, we are monsters in the dark. I think you understand this.”

Her green eyes meet mine, but I consider her with wariness despite the open expression on her face.

“You are a Blacksmith, but not like the others,” she continues. “Even in the far north, we have heard stories of how you wield Malak Ironmeld’s tools. I think you must understand what it means to be the monster in the dark.”

My lips press together. Only a week ago, Malak’s metal adhered to my left hand. I couldn’t remove it. I faced a constant battle with the cruelty and malice in that metal. I used that power to turn humans into stone and ash and mist. Those humans had been trying to kill me—had tried to kill Erik—and I hit back without mercy.

I take a deep, shuddering breath and then speak quietly, hoping she knows I’m being genuine when I say, “I’m sorry about your daughter.”

Her lips press together as she swallows, her throat visibly constricting before she takes another glance at her sisters.

They’ve pulled on their armor and appear to be ready to leave. Just as they spread their wings and call her to join them, her focus shifts to Graviter Rex.

I’m surprised when a look of intense fear fills her face.

I’m baffled by the reason for her anxiety, since it’s clear she’s one of the few supernaturals who could kill the dragon king if she wished.

A heartbeat after her expression changes, she darts toward me, such a sudden movement that my hand closes reflexively around my hammer.

I prepare to defend myself, but all she does is speak.

Beneath the rush of wind from her sisters’ wings, she whispers, “Find the one they call Thaden Kane. Protect him. Please .”

She draws back as quickly as she lurched toward me, her gaze fixed on me, desperation flickering in her eyes before she wipes her expression clean.

Once more, she is cold and untouchable and completely in control.

She glides to her feet, steps back, spreads her wings, and lifts into the sky, joining her sisters too quickly for me to have any hope of questioning her.

I can only stare up at her disappearing figure in shock.

Protect Thaden Kane?

Protect the Blacksmith who lied to me from the very first moment and now holds my family at his mercy?

What the actual fuck?

All three Valkyries soar across the clearing in a rush of wind.

To my left, Erik’s father’s sword creaks in the breeze but remains suspended at the top of the column of stone—a column that should have crumbled by now. Somehow, the weapon is defying gravity, its blue blade gleaming in the power that radiates out from me.

I tear my focus from it, once more looking at Erik, but not for long before I lower my eyes to the snow.

It’s too painful.

I can’t look again.

I sink all the way to the ground, leaning forward over my knees, curling my arms forward, and lowering my hammer’s handle so that it, too, lies beside me.

I tell myself I will stand up soon and build a pyre. Graviter can help me. But for now, I’m frozen.

As I press my forehead to the snow, I wish I could numb my sadness and now my growing fear.

I will find Thaden Kane Ironmeld. I have to. But whether or not I protect him or kill him remains to be seen.

I thought Erik would be by my side when I had to make that choice. I thought he would come with me on my journey and face that battle with me.

For a very short time, I was certain I was no longer alone.

I close my eyes and tell myself I only need a few moments here, and then I will get up.

I will put away my grief, and I will start again.

“Bright Heart?” Graviter Rex’s quiet growl sounds behind me as his footfalls thump softly across the snow. “You must get up.”

“Leave me be, dragon,” I whisper against the icy ground. “Just a little longer. I promise I’ll stand up soon. Just… leave me be for now.”

“Asha?” the quiet growl sounds again.

My exhalation carries my defeat, but still I repeat, “Please. Leave me be.”

“I would rather not do that,” comes the reply. And then, “Precious Asha.”

My eyes fly open.

The breath stops in my chest.

Erik kneels in front of me. His dark hair is damp with melting snow, his gray eyes are filled with worry, and his left hand is extended toward me, his fingertips only an inch away from the side of my face.

As our eyes meet, his lips form a soft, fleeting smile that fills my world with light.

“I never want to leave you again, Asha Silverspun.”