A Soul Like Glass (Kingdom of Betrayal #4)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

W e stay lying in each other’s arms on the forge floor for a long moment.

Too soon, I’m aware of the trickles of cold air defying the heat of the crimson coal smoldering in the forge.

Against my will, I shiver, and that’s all it takes for Erik to reach for my warm clothes. He uses his shirt to help me clean up, telling me he can get another tunic from the cabin soon—one of his father’s old tunics should fit him—and then we quickly dress.

I don’t want to leave this moment, but I force myself to take a step toward the front of the forge, stopping when Erik’s arms snake around me from behind.

It seems he doesn’t want to leave this moment, either.

He plants a kiss on my neck. “Can you halt time?” he asks at a low growl. “Preserve this heartbeat and the next?”

I wish I could.

I turn into his kiss, my whole body in a state of bliss that makes me want to return to the forge floor. Or maybe to the fur beside the fire inside the cabin…

But then his arms tense, and I’m aware that his focus is suddenly beyond me.

“My father’s statue,” he says.

I must have been his sole focus before, and he’s only now seeing how broken the statue is. I don’t know how he’ll feel about what happened to it, but I want to speak only the truth.

“I broke it,” I say, uncertain if I should feel regret or relief that it happened the way it did. “The rock released your father’s soul, and the Valkyries claimed it?—”

His focus flashes to me. “The Valkyries?”

“They came for you.”

“They?” He considers me warily. “More than one?”

“All three generals. Apparently, it’s an honor.”

His eyes are wide. He looks baffled, as if he can’t imagine why all three would come. “It is.”

The corners of my mouth twitch upward at his reaction. “Their Queen has reserved a place for you at the head of the table in the Hall of Warriors.”

His eyebrows arch. “Uh…?”

I press my lips together, trying not to smile at how utterly stunned he looks. Not an expression I thought I’d see on his face.

Then his forehead creases again, and his voice becomes wary. “But they didn’t take me.”

I grimace. It’s my turn to struggle with my words. “I… uh… didn’t make it easy for them.”

“Good.” His sudden smile fades, and his eyes fill with sadness. “But my father?—”

“They collected his soul.”

“What?” He’s suddenly gripping my shoulders. “How?”

“It was when I was trying to wake you up,” I say, attempting to explain it and failing dismally. “All the power from my hammer… Your father’s statue shattered… Somehow, his soul rose from it. General Glass collected it. She promised he would rest in the Hall of Warriors.”

Erik closes his eyes with a groan, his shoulders slumping forward, his hands suddenly heavy where he holds me.

I’m tense and uncertain about how to read his response. “Erik?”

He adjusts his position to slide his arms around me again before he lifts me off my feet, hugging me. “Thank you. It means more to me than I can ever?—”

His voice chokes, and he shakes his head, placing me back on the ground.

“For years, I’ve blamed myself for what happened to my father. He died a warrior’s death, but his soul was captive, and I thought he would never find rest—” Again, Erik stops to clear his throat. “My guilt showed me no mercy.”

Erik told me all about the circumstances of his father’s death—how his father had burned out his deep light trying to defeat Malak, only to be turned to stone. “You were not responsible for Malak’s actions.”

“I told myself that, but my heart refused to believe it,” he says. “Now my father will be at peace. I can finally lay the past to rest.”

Catching hold of my hand, he draws me from the forge and toward the statue.

When we reach it, he extends his free hand toward the sword.

The moment he touches it, the stone column keeping it suspended crumbles into dust, leaving him holding the weapon.

The steel blade catches the moonlight, glinting at us.

He starts to speak and then stops, staring at his hand. Slowly… very slowly… a sapphire glow builds where he touches the sword.

His eyes are wide as he turns to me. “Asha, you have to tell me what you did when you brought me back because this…” His hands are full—one gripping the sword, the other holding my hand. “This shouldn’t be possible.”

“What shouldn’t be?” I ask, thinking how calm the air feels around us and just how perfectly the light gleams in his eyes.

“I gave all of my deep light to your hammer. All of it. It’s why I died. And yet… I can feel it again.”

I honestly don’t know the answer, and my forehead creases as I try to make sense of it. “Graviter told me that my hammer—or at least its head—is made from dragon’s gold that he hoarded for centuries. He said it could form a bond with a being of pure light.”

I reach for Erik, brushing my fingertips to his strong jaw. “You gave all of your light into my hammer, but if you gave it to my hammer, then…”

“Your hammer could give it back.”

I nod. “Is that possible?”

He gives a low chuckle, shaking his head. “With you, anything is possible.”

I am limitless. That’s what Erik told me before he died.

The notion scares me, but I shake it off, promising myself I will discover my limits soon.

“Will you do something for me?” Erik asks. “Will you pick up your hammer right now?”

I eye him curiously. “Why?”

His eyes crinkle at the corners. “I’d like to see what happens.”

I’m not sure what he expects, but I’m not against it. “Okay.”

Despite his request, it seems he’s unwilling to let go of my hand, walking with me to where I left my hammer in the snow.

I have no objection to his constant touch. I need the contact to convince my heart that he won’t leave me again.

My hammer gleams in the moonlight where it lies on a bed of white snow, but it’s nothing like the glow of my body when I touch it.

I quickly scoop it up, accepting the power that streams through me and the way it lights up the space around me. Although, it’s calmer now that I’m becoming more familiar with it, and it dims when my thoughts settle. The light seems to become more peaceful as it reflects my quieter emotions.

A moment later I gasp in surprise, suddenly focused not on my hammer but on the sword Erik’s holding.

Sapphire light like a blue flame rushes from Erik’s hand where he grips the sword, all the way across his chest, down his other arm to our entwined hands.

I can feel the deep light flowing from him as if its energy is infinite. Flowing from him to me, back to him, back to me, over and over again in a constant, gentle stream.

His chest rises with a deeply inhaled breath, and the smile he gives me is stunning.

“My light was always drawn to you, Asha,” he says. “Right from the moment I first saw you. I poured all of my deep light into your hammer, and now, I believe it’s flowing through our bond, making us both stronger.”

I let my heart fill with warmth. “We’re unbreakable.”

Our bond is unbreakable now.

I vow I won’t let anything tear us apart.