by T. G. Ayer
“Greetings, einherjar Joshua. I am Gili, and I am your personal attendant.”
The young man gave another smile, though his expression appeared more sad than cheerful. He waved at the fire, his long straight hair gleaming like gold in the firelight.
“I have prepared your fire, and arranged your armor and weapons for you on the bed. I have also taken the liberty of providing you with something to eat before you head out onto the fields.”
Joshua wasn’t sure what to say. He hadn’t expected a personal butler, and he was trying to scrape through his memory banks to figure out what this young man really was. The fiddle strapped to Gili’s shoulder was niggling at Joshua’s brain but he just couldn’t put a finger on it.
The man was kind and attentive, pouring a mug of mead for Joshua and remaining within the room to polish his armor while Joshua polished off his plate of fruit, cheese and freshly baked mini bread loaves topped with sunflower seeds.
Only when Gili had departed, leaving Joshua detailed instructions on how to get from the room to the fields—along with a word of warning to not be late—did Joshua realize what he was.
He should have guessed from Gili’s long hair, his handsome face, and his sad, sad smile. But it was the fiddle that had given him away.
He was a wood sprite, a distant relative of the huldra and one of the mythical Hill people.
Gili was a nix.
The next few days went by in a blur as Joshua and Aimee, and gradually the rest of the warriors in the infirmary, recovered and received their debriefs. Joshua had to admit that he’d enjoyed the sword-fights, and the battles against even the stronger warriors.
He’d seen the blonde valkyrie around too, but she’d steered clear of him and Aimee. Sigrun had come by every so often to check up on them, and every time she’d admitted she knew nothing of Bryn’s progress.
He and Aimee had felt frustrated, but they understood that they had to just wait until Bryn returned.
Joshua just hoped that by then it wouldn’t be too late.
The next evening, while Joshua had been tossing and turning in the bed in his room, a knock on the door had gotten him to his feet. These days, every knock startled him, making him run to the door in case someone waited there with news of Bryn. He forced himself to take measured steps and opened the door, schooling his features.
Aimee stood there, eyes wide, cheeks pink. “Come on. I just got word. Bryn’s here, and we have to get to Odin’s hall like now.”
Aimee didn’t wait for him. She took off at breakneck speed down the hall, and Joshua barely had time to shut his door before he sped after her.
He’d learned to navigate the halls quickly enough, but he hadn’t yet been to Odin’s Great Hall alone from his room, so when they skidded around the corner and Aimee stopped in her tracks, he almost slammed right into her.
She stood, a few feet from the entrance to the Great Hall, frozen in place.
At the other end of the hall, two men walked off. One let out a laugh that sent shards of ice through Joshua’s blood. Just as the men took the far corner, the laughing man looked over his shoulder and stared directly at Joshua and Aimee.
His grin was harsh and knowing, as though he’d wanted them to see his amusement. Then he smiled, and Joshua suspected he was trying to tell them something.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the two men were gone, and Aimee surged into motion and tugged Joshua forward.
“Who was that?” Joshua asked, keeping his voice to a loud whisper.
“Not sure. But I do know I don’t like him one bit.”
“And I know he doesn’t like us one bit.”
“Yeah. I saw the way he looked at us. As if he was amused by something.”
He didn’t answer as they reached the hall and stopped in the enormous doorway. Joshua wasn’t sure where to look. But everything faded into the background as he spotted Bryn sitting on the floor. She was staring at a patch of blood on the floor as tears trickled down her cheeks. She lifted her hand to brush the tears away and then froze.
Her movements were stiff as she moved her hand from her face and stared at her bloody fingers.
Joshua took a step closer and felt someone hold onto his wrist. He turned to find Sigrun giving him a warning glare. “She is hurting right now. Emotionally. She brought the pieces of Brisingamen back and gave Freya what she wanted.” Sigrun shook her head. “The unusual thing is that Freya kept her word. She released Aidan, but it was too late.”
Joshua pointed a thumb behind him. “Who was that creepy guy walking off down the hall.”
“The culprit in this madness.” Sigrun sighed, and her shoulders sagged. “That was Loki. Bryn and Aidan brought him here to face Odin for his crimes. But Loki got the better of them and stabbed Aidan with a dagger dipped in the poison of the serpent Skadi.”
“That was Loki?” Aimee gasped, her face going a little paler. “No wonder he gave me the creeps.”
Joshua let out a sigh and shook his head, still trying to reconcile that he’d seen Loki the Trickster and that the god had stared at him as if he knew who Joshua was. “And now what happens?” he asked, his gut churning as he already guessed the answer.
Sigrun but her lip. “Bryn will want to go in search of the antidote to that poison. But first, before she even begins to think about it, she needs to recover.”
“You don’t easily recover from a broken heart,” Joshua said bitterly. He couldn’t believe how selfish he was being. All he could see was Bryn grieving for a guy who wasn’t Joshua himself.
Sigrun turned and stared at him, then shook her head, her eyes glistened. “Her heart is broken in so many ways, but I do not think it is by your definition. She is so young, and even before she came to Asgard, she was already so broken. Everything in her world had been turned upside down. She gave all she had to save him because she believed what happened to Aidan was her fault. And now she has failed again.”
Joshua blinked at the valkyrie’s words. He had been selfish, yes, and he now shoved aside those feelings to focus on Bryn herself.
Nodding, he said, “We’ll be there for her. Whatever she needs.” Sigrun smiled thinly and her features relaxed. He could tell she cared deeply for Bryn. She’d gone out of her way to break the rules and bring Bryn to Valhalla. Seemed the girl had that effect on a lot of people.
Joshua shifted his gaze to Bryn as she sat alone on the cold tiles, grieving, and felt his heart ache for her. He wanted to help her, to somehow take away her pain. But he couldn’t because that pain made her who she was.
He just hoped that Bryn’s attachment to Aidan wouldn’t endanger her even further. Joshua had planned on keeping a close eye on the guy when he and Bryn returned. What he hadn’t expected was for Aidan to be dying from a deadly poison.
Whatever happened, whatever she chose to do, Joshua knew he’d be there for Bryn.
No matter what.
*TO BE CONTINUED*
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Dead Embers
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Joshua II - Dead Embers
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Read the next book in the Valkyrie Series:
Dead Embers
Read the next book in the Joshua Series:
Joshua II - Dead Embers
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Also, if you want more to read along the lines of the Valkyrie series then the Hand of Kali novels may be right up your alley. A coming of age story about an average teen who discovers she’s been given the powers of the goddess Kali. If mythology and paranormal YA is your thing then Maya’s adventures will keep you reading.
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Fire & Shadow
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Skin Deep
Lost Soul
Last Chance
Blood Promise
Scorched Fury
Fate’s Edge
Grave Debt
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Blood Magic
Demon Kin
Blood Curse
Demon Soul
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The DarkWorld Origins
Pyros (Logan)
Ailuros (Kailin) - 2018
Chronicles of the Irin
Retribution
Requiem
Resonance
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Dark Sight
Cursed Sight
Vissarion
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Dark Prophecy
Cursed Prophecy
Shadow Prophecy
The Apsara Chronicles
Immortal Bound
Gods Ascendent
Dominion Falling
Vengeance Born
Last Legion
A Season of Ash and Bone
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Beautiful Conviction
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About the Author
I have been a writer from the time I was old enough to recognize that reading was a doorway into my imagination. Poetry was my first foray into the art of the written word. Books were my best friends, my escape, my haven. I am essentially a recluse but this part of my personality is impossible to practice given I have two teenage daughters, who are actually my friends, my tea-makers, my confidantes… I am blessed with a husband who has left me for golf. It’s a fair trade as I have left him for writing. We are both passionate supporters of each other's loves – it works wonderfully…
My heart is currently broken in two. One half resides in South Africa where my old roots still remain, and my heart still longs for the endless beaches and the smell of moist soil after a summer downpour. My love for Ma Afrika will never fade. The other half of me has been transplanted to the Land of the Long White Cloud. The land of the Taniwha, beautiful Maraes, and volcanoes. The land of green, pure beauty that truly inspires. And because I am so torn between these two lands – I shall forever remain cross-eyed.
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JOSHUA (EINHERJAR - A DEAD RADIANCE COMPANION NOVEL)
A VALKYRIE NOVEL BOOK 6
Copyright 2018 by T.G. Ayer
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Eduardo Priego
Cover art © T.G. Ayer. All rights reserved.
License Notes
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the Retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.