Valkyrie Song (Valkyrie Bound #5)

Chapter Ten

Kara

I know the moment Stephan stops breathing. It's as if part of my soul dies. I feel it shearing away, the bond between us fading rapidly. And nothing has ever hurt more—not the loss of my family. Not the terror of what's still to come. Nothing.

I scream, rage and defiance pouring from me in a fiery blaze of Light. It blasts outward like a bomb detonating, ripping through the varulv still alive, flinging warriors off their feet. The ravens winging overhead plummet toward the ground.

And still, more Light floods through me and out of me, wave after wave of grief exploding through Valhalla like a nuclear bomb.

It doesn't bring Stephan back.

His soul floats up from his body, caught in my Light.

"The Bifrost!" Tori breathes from beside me. "Kara, look at the Bifrost."

But I don't care about the Portal. I don't care if it's responding. All I care about is Stephan, my mate. He swore he wouldn't leave me, that I wouldn't be alone.

He can't die now. I need him. More than I need air or Light or hope, I need him . He's my destiny, my shelter, my home. Without him, there is no future worth saving for me.

Something—some instinct or desperate need, perhaps—flickers through me. I reach for him without conscious thought, sending every ounce of Light I have pouring into him.

"He's mine, do you hear me? This warrior is mine!" I cry, willing to defy the Gods themselves if that's what it takes to keep him right here. Where I go, he goes. Not a step more. That was his promise, and I intend to hold him to it.

His body lifts from the ground, blazing like a tiny sun.

My sisters cry out all around me, but I barely hear them. And when they reach for me, I barely feel them. I'm too focused on Stephan, on keeping him right here, tethered to me the way he promised.

I don't even know what I'm doing as I reach for his soul, pouring every ounce of Light I possess into it. I pour my love and devotion into it, binding myself to it along every path I can find and every new avenue I'm able to forge. I keep on and on, until I can't breathe or think or move.

I funnel everything into him—down to my soul, giving him every single piece of me.

"You have to stop!" Rissa cries, trying to pry my hands from his body. "Kara, please! Stop!"

My hands slip from his body as my sisters pull me backward. I lose my grip on the Light. Or perhaps it simply burns out. I'm not sure, but a final wave of it rips through me and into Stephan, taking the last of my breath with it.

I list to the side, the whole world losing focus.

"I love you, Stephan," I whimper, slipping into the inky blackness of unconsciousness.

Stephan waits for me there. At least, some version of him does.

"Come back to me, Valkyrie," he whispers, his callused hands running across my cheeks, as gentle and real as ever. "Come back to me."

Grief and pain well in my chest at the sound of his voice, at the trickery of my dreams. Not even here can I forget: Stephan is dead. He lied. He left me. And he didn't even take me with him.

And no matter how much Light I poured into him, I couldn't save him. I failed.

"Come back to me, princess. Please." His lips brush mine, his hands tangled in my hair. " ég fer tangae sem tú fere ."

Something in his voice—in his kiss—sends a jolt through me. It's grief and pain. As if I'm hurting him.

My eyes fly wide open.

For long moments, my mind refuses to comprehend what I'm seeing. I'm stretched across the ground, my head in Stephan's lap, his worried face bent toward mine. My sisters hover in the distance, their mates behind them. But…it isn't possible.

I watched him die. I felt him die. And exactly like I feared, I couldn't save him.

There is no comprehending how he's here now. It doesn't make sense. It isn't real.

I tell myself that over and over…right up until I feel him whispering to me through the bond, his thoughts flooding into me, filling me with warmth, with Light. With hope.

"S-Stephan?"

He smiles, his piercing gray eyes full of softness. The same devotion echoes in his mind, thrumming through me in powerful waves of gold. "I love you too, Valkyrie," he breathes. " Ek elska tik ."

I push against his chest and feel how solid it is. Tears spring to my eyes, hope growing. "You're alive." My bottom lip quivers.

"Nei."

"I don't understand," I whisper.

"You needed a sacrifice, princess," he murmurs. "That's what the Bifrost tried to show you. Valkyrie can travel beyond the Veil, but they need the soul of a warrior to Light the way. Without one, no matter how hard you try, the Portal won't take you where you need to go. It can't." He nods toward the Bifrost. "It was designed to protect the Veil at all costs."

"I…" I crane my head, glancing toward the Bifrost, not sure what to say.

The varulv no longer pour from it. And it's no longer flickering. The surface is calm and clear, serene even.

"He's right," Tori says softly. "We should have considered it. It takes a soul to open a Forsaken portal, as if they use it to rip a hole right through reality. It took Rissa's father's soul to open the one we made. That's what the Bifrost is. Soul magic. That's why we feel connected to it. Because, in a way, we are." Her gaze flickers to the Fae. "I think when it fell, it sent the Fae to the only place it still felt Valkyrie. It sent them to wait for us."

I stare at the Bifrost for a long moment before turning back to Stephan. "You're not a dream?"

He grins at me, humor in his eyes. "Only when you want me to be, Valkyrie."

I glance from him to the Fae, hoping for a little clarity since all he has are jokes.

"His is the first soul tied to life by his bond with a Valkyrie in over three hundred years," Dax says, stepping up beside Rissa. "He's your warrior now. So long as you live, he'll live, Kara. The Dark can't claim his soul. No matter what they do to him, his soul is yours now. It belongs to Valhalla."

"What happens if I d-die?" I whisper.

" ég fer tangae sem tú fere ," Stephan growls softly, spearing his hands into my hair. "Always, Valkyrie. Always."

I sob quietly, throwing myself into his arms. He catches me, pulling me up against his chest. His lips come down on mine in a hard kiss. And in this moment, I know that he's real, that he's here, and that he isn't going anywhere. He's a warrior of Light now, the first new warrior of Valhalla in over three hundred years.

And he's all mine.

After a moment, Dax clears his throat, breaking us apart. "You have a job to do, Valkyrie." He nods toward the Bifrost. "You might want to get to it. The Forsaken are opening their portals all over Asgard. We don't have long before they come through instead of sending the varulv. You and your sisters need to free the trapped souls before they get here."

"I don't know what to do," I whisper.

Rissa extends her hand toward mine. Behind her, my sisters smile.

"Then we'll figure it out. Together."