Chapter 8 Torric
Torric
The Valkyrie hall is quiet when I push through the archway.
Kieran and Kaia are tangled together in the furs near the fire. Her head tucked against his chest. His arms wrapped around her like he’s afraid she’ll dissolve if he lets go.
She’s breathing slow. Deep. Peaceful.
For the first time in days — maybe weeks — she’s actually resting.
I stop a few feet away. Let myself look.
Kieran’s eyes are open. He meets my gaze over her head, and something passes between us.
Relief.
He nods once. I nod back.
Movement behind me. The others filing in.
Aspen first, settling against the wall near the entrance.
Darian a moment later, keeping his distance, that faint glow leaking from him the way it does when his emotions are running high.
Malrik next, eyes red and worn, shoulders carrying too much.
And Finn trailing behind him, already opening his mouth to say something stupid.
They spread out around the fire pit — close enough to talk, far enough to give Kieran and Kaia space.
Mouse is curled at the foot of the furs, tail wrapped around his paws. Walter bobs lazily near the ceiling, pulsing that faint violet light.
Finn’s mouth opens.
“Don’t,” Kieran says quietly.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’ve known you for months. I absolutely know that.”
Finn’s grin spreads across his face. “Fine. I was going to say you look comfortable. Centuries of waiting and you finally got the girl. Literally. She’s on top of you.”
“She’s beside me.”
“Semantics.”
Kieran’s mouth twitches. Then he shifts carefully, one hand sliding beneath Kaia’s head to support it as he extracts himself from the furs. She makes a soft sound of protest, fingers curling into the blanket where his shirt used to be, but she doesn’t wake.
He freezes. We all freeze.
She settles. Sighs. Burrows deeper into the warmth he left behind.
Kieran exhales slowly and finishes extricating himself. He tucks the furs around her, brushes hair from her face, then stands and joins us by the fire.
He moves stiffly. Like his body hasn’t caught up with the fact that he’s allowed to relax now.
“She’s really out,” Finn says.
“She earned it.” Kieran lowers himself onto one of the stone benches, close enough to reach her if she stirs. “She’s been running on nothing for weeks.”
“We all have.” Malrik is sitting across the fire, and gods, he looks wrecked. Whatever happened while Kieran and Kaia were in here hit him hard.
“But her especially.” Kieran’s gaze stays on her face. “The Gate. The shadows leaving. The God. She carried all of it.”
The words land heavy.
Because he’s right.
Bob. Patricia. Finnick. Linda. Steve. Carl. Gone. Passed through the Gate. Finally home.
I watched them go. Watched Kaia break apart saying goodbye. Watched Bob give her that final salute and walk into the light without looking back.
My chest still hurts.
“She loved them,” Aspen says. “Like family.”
“They were family. They’d been with her since before she was born.” Kieran’s voice is rough. “Bob served her mother for three hundred years. Patricia documented every major event in Valkyrie history. Linda helped raise Kaia when she was small.”
“You knew them,” Malrik says. Not a question.
“I knew all of them. I met them the few times I was lucky enough to travel with my father. Before.. everything.” He pauses. “And now they’re home.”
Walter pulses softly. Mouse’s tail twitches once.
Not all of them left.
“She still has Mouse,” Finn says. “And Walter. And us.”
“She has us.” Kieran’s arm rests on his knee, his body angled toward her even now. “She’ll always have us.”
The fire crackles. Silence stretches.
Then Finn, because he can’t help himself: “So. We should probably acknowledge the elephant in the room.”
“What elephant?” Darian asks.
“The fact that we all heard everything.”
Kieran goes very still.
“These walls aren’t exactly thick,” Finn continues, gesturing at the stone around us. “And she was… enthusiastic.”
“Finn,” Malrik warns.
“What? I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m saying we all know what happened. We felt it through the bond. We heard it through the stone and wood. Pretending otherwise is stupid.”
Kieran’s jaw works. “And your point?”
“My point is—” Finn spreads his hands. “Good for you, man. Seriously. Centuries of pining and you finally—”
“I did not pine.”
“You absolutely pined. You brooded and lurked and watched from doorways like a sad golden-eyed gargoyle.”
“Dragon. And I was protecting her.”
“From behind pillars. While she was with other men. Very protective.”
Malrik snorts. I can’t help it — I do too.
Kieran’s eyes narrow. “I am capable of watching over her safety while she’s otherwise occupied.”
“Uh huh. And the watching had nothing to do with wanting to be the one she was occupied with?”
Silence.
Kieran doesn’t answer.
“That’s what I thought.” Finn leans back, satisfied. “You’re a voyeur, Kieran. Just admit it. It’s fine. We’ve all got our things.”
“I am not a—”
Rule #68 — if you’re going to call an ancient dragon a voyeur to his face, make sure he’s too exhausted to retaliate. Or that you can run faster than dragonfire.
“You watched me and Malrik in the hot spring. You tried to watch Torric and Kaia through the wall. You were at the cave entrance during Darian’s—”
“I was standing guard.”
“You were watching.”
“Those are not mutually exclusive.”
“So you admit it!”
Kieran pinches the bridge of his nose. “I admit nothing.”
“Your silence speaks volumes.”
“My silence is the only thing keeping me from throwing you into the fire.”
“See, that’s the thing though.” Finn grins. “You won’t. Because then Kaia would be sad. And you’d rather die than make her sad. So I get to mock you forever.”
Kieran stares at him for a long moment.
Then his mouth curves. Just barely. “You are insufferable.”
“I’m delightful.”
“Those are mutually exclusive.”
“They really aren’t.”
The tension breaks. Malrik shakes his head, but he’s almost smiling. Aspen makes a sound that might be a laugh. Even Darian’s shoulders have loosened.
This. Right here.
This is what we almost lost.
“She was happy,” Darian says quietly. Almost to himself.
We all look at him.
He flushes. “I mean — through the bond. What I felt from her. She was…” He trails off, searching for the word. “Safe. For the first time in weeks. Really safe.”
Kieran’s expression softens. “She was.”
“That’s what matters, right?” Finn’s voice has lost its teasing edge. “Not who she’s with or what she’s doing. Just that she’s okay.”
“She’s more than okay,” I say. “She’s sleeping. Actually sleeping. Not passing out from exhaustion or crashing after a crisis. Sleeping. Because she feels safe enough to let go.”
We all look at her.
Curled in the furs. Breathing steady. That small smile still on her lips.
Safe.
When was the last time she felt that? Before the academy, probably. Before her power awakened. Before everything started hunting her.
“So.” Finn stretches his legs out. “What now?”
Not a question about strategy. A life question.
“Wherever she wants,” Kieran says immediately. “I’ve waited centuries. I can wait a little longer for her to decide.”
“And if she decides to stay in Japti forever?” Darian asks.
“Then I stay in Japti forever.”
“The academy?”
“Then I go back.”
Finn leans forward, grinning. “A boat?”
Kieran blinks. “A boat?”
“I’m testing your commitment.”
“Finn, I would follow her into the void itself. A boat is not a challenge.”
“I’m just saying, you don’t seem like a boat person.”
“I have no strong feelings about boats.”
“That’s exactly what a non-boat person would say.”
Kieran opens his mouth, closes it, and visibly decides not to engage.
“The point,” Malrik cuts in, “is that we follow her lead. Wherever that takes us.”
“Agreed,” I say. “She’s been pushed and pulled and controlled since she was a child. By Thorne. By Alekir. By the academy. By—” I look at Kieran.
He meets my gaze steadily. Waiting for it.
“By people who were supposed to protect her.”
Kieran doesn’t flinch. But something tightens in his jaw.
“She makes the choices now,” I continue. “Where she goes. What she does. We’re not her handlers. We’re not her protectors deciding what’s best for her behind her back.”
“Even when she’s wrong?” Darian asks.
“She’s not ours to correct.” I hold his gaze. “She’s ours to stand beside.”
Malrik leans forward, elbows on his knees. “We’ve all done it though. Made choices for her. Kept things from her. Told ourselves it was protection when really it was just… control we didn’t want to name.”
“I forced the bonds,” Kieran interrupts quietly.
The fire pops.
“All of them. Without her consent. Without her knowledge. Because I was afraid of losing her again.” His hands curl on his knees, knuckles white.
“I told myself it was protection. Told myself she’d understand eventually.
Told myself the end justified—” He stops.
Swallows. “I was wrong. I don’t get to make choices for her. Not ever again.”
The admission sits between us. Heavy. Real.
Then Finn exhales loudly. “Well. That got dark.”
“It was already dark,” Aspen points out.
“Yeah, but we were doing the fun banter thing. I liked the fun banter thing.”
“We can do both,” Malrik says. “Acknowledge the heavy shit and still be idiots about it.”
“That’s… actually really healthy,” Darian says. He sounds surprised.
“Don’t get used to it.”
“I won’t.”
Finn grins. “See, this is what I mean. We should be at each other’s throats. Jealous and possessive and fighting over who gets to — I don’t know — hold her hand or whatever. But instead we’re just… this.”
“This,” Kieran repeats.
“Yeah. Whatever this is.” Finn gestures vaguely at all of us. “She’s sleeping over there after having sex with you, and instead of being weird about it, we’re sitting here having a family meeting about vacation plans.”
“We haven’t discussed vacation plans.”