I pinched my lips together and nodded, withdrawing my wings to allow Will to back away.
I matched each gaze in return, marveling how I’d made such close friends in such a short time. Paul smiled. “You can say it out loud, Val. The others would like to hear it.”
Iris punched him in the ribs in punishment for reading my mind and he doubled-over, but I was already smiling.
“Paul’s right,” I said. “I’ve grown to care about all of you, and you care about me, even though I don’t think I deserve it.” I straightened and a breeze kicked away my metallic locks. I drew in a deep breath of New York’s crisp night air. Something else was on the breeze. The tangy blood-sweet scent of Ragnarök drew close. “Even as a Frigg, I can’t tell you the outcome of tonight. All I can say is that I know Baldr intends to use Tyler, and if he succeeds, Ragnarök will be unstoppable.”
I glanced at Will, hoping to sense if there was any spike of bitterness or jealousy, but I only sensed his calm resolve to help me in any way he knew how.
We marched on, myself in the lead and the array of my allies trailing behind me. When I reached the bouncer, I did a double take.
Shade, one of Dalia’s men and a friend of Tyler. He gave me a grim-faced greeting. “Thought you might be here. Dalia sent me to make sure you gained entry.” He unlocked the velvet rope and glanced over my shoulder. “Brought your friends, too?”
Tyler had warned me never to tell Shade who I was, but it sounded like word had somehow gotten out. I was the reason that Tyler had become a Valiant in the first place. He’d fought his Heimdall heritage anyway he’d known how, and that included selling his soul to Odin, my father, for a chance to quell the misery of his curse. Each soul Freya fed him added another scar to his collection, and another promise that he would take the darkness in my stead.
I sensed the darkness now, its pull stronger without the purging fires of Muspelheim to keep it at bay. It called to me, whispered for me to reunite with Tyler and accept Ragnarök’s cold embrace.
I shook my head and faced Shade. “Yes, we are all looking to get inside.” I bit my lip before adding, “Tyler’s in there. Whatever Baldr has told you, he plans on killing him and taking this whole planet down next.”
Shade’s face paled. He reminded me of Tyler in the way his midnight hair fell into his eyes and he had that kind of murderous look that was sexy all at the same time. He leaned in close. “I know. Baldr thinks he paid me off with a couple of vials of Yggdrasil sap.” He shoved a vial into my hand. “Take it, and get rid of that bastard.”
I closed my fingers around the prize and grimly nodded.
Flaring my wings, which awarded oohs and aahs from the crowd thinking I boasted some mechanical garb, I stepped into the darkness and prepared myself for the one thing I’d never faced before… the unknown.
Ragnarök
Darkness swarmed inside the venue so thick that I couldn’t even make out the crowd farther than a few feet in front of my face. Music thrummed and made the people sway as if it locked them into a trance. Wings moved, making me feel like I was in some kind of nightmare with the undead Valkyries of Muspelheim. My breath caught, expecting for Sam to launch out at me at any second and thrust accusations of my failure in my face.
A gentle touch at my arm brought me back to awareness. Will, flanked by our new allies, moved through the shadows. “You can do this,” he whispered, then blended in with the crowd.
I hated how quickly I lost them and my fingers clutched at the empty space at my nape. I wilted. My necklace was gone and for the first time, I was going to have to do this on my own.
Then I heard a cry, the same one from my nightmarish vision that had brought me here. The shadows flashed as they surged with new power, and I spotted Tyler for just a split second before the platform went dark.
His gaze had met mine, and in that split second I knew what he was telling me to do.
Aerie… get out of here.
I wasn’t going to listen to him and I clenched my fists as raw determination swept through me. I marched straight towards the platform. Pain ricocheted across my face when I slammed into an invisible wall and a chuckle sounded on the speakers.
“Well, sister, so glad you’ve decided to join us. I was just thinking your boyfriend was a poor excuse for a snack. Ragnarök would truly become unstoppable if I fed it a Frigg.”
I slammed my fist against the invisible wall, awarding myself only strange looks from surrounding patrons who danced in a daze. When they refused to move, I shoved them out of the way with my wings.
Baldr appeared on the edge of the platform and grinned, looking manic and wild with his hair sticking out at all angles. Apparently using hair gel was his idea of a fashion statement. “I’m so disappointed that you haven’t decided to join me. It’s unfortunate, but I can rebuild this world with or without you.” His grin widened. “Unfortunately, I’ll have to destroy it before there’s something worthy to rebuild. That’s where your boyfriend comes in handy.” Another male scream overrode the music and I beat against the wall as rage took over. Even without Muspelheim’s link, my vision tinged with red. “Let him go and perhaps I won’t kill you,” I snapped.
He buckled over and held his stomach as he laughed. “You really are my sister. Arrogant and oblivious to the very end.”
Before I could retort, some bumped into me from behind. I blinked at Paul.
He pretended to be drunk and laughed, tangling with my wings as we both tumbled to the ground. “He’s terrified,” he said, just loud enough that the music drowned out his words from anyone else who might be listening. “He’s fed Ragnarök too much, and now it’s out of control. Tyler is the only thing keeping it in check, but when it’s done feeding on him, it’s going to come after the next most powerful object.”
I swallowed hard. Baldr had managed to unlatch Ragnarök from Muspelheim, meaning it’d already devoured what was left of the undead Valkyrie and the power offered by the planet’s core. I could only hope that the Surtr still huddled in the protection of Jotunheim and I hadn’t been too late. But now Ragnarök was here, and if Tyler was the only thing distracting it, the next most powerful object in Ragnarök’s vicinity would either be Baldr… or myself.
“And how many souls have you fed on?” I asked, shooting to my feet. “If I’m so oblivious, then why can I see you shaking?”
His spine shot rigid at my taunt, rage tinting his expression with a mixture of surprise. That’s exactly the kind of reaction I’d been going for.
I used his hesitation to slam into the invisible wall again, because I knew it was some magic of his own creation. It hummed and dipped with the wrongness that reeked of his power. All I needed to do was break his concentration long enough to get through the barrier.
I didn’t have to know that Michael was behind me. His mental shove sent me reeling into the wall hard enough for my head to spin… and to form a hairline crack.
Baldr snarled with primal rage and snapped his fingers, enacting the first round of his attack.
Half the crowd shifted before my very eyes. Flesh melted away, revealing the horror of the Skuld and their white bones shining through shadow. The other enemy was one I hadn’t encountered before. Ice creatures with faces frosting over with splintered eyes screeched and the high-pitched cry made me buckle to my knees. Then I recalled the race of Jotun that had betrayed the gods long ago. The Skaoi, ice elementals that had settled in the folds of Neptune and likewise inhospitable planets frozen to the core—just like their hearts.
The crowd exploded and my Valkyrie allies launched into action, forming a barricade around me as I worked on the barrier.
A flash, another cry, and Tyler yanking at his chains. I had to hurry. This was the part of my vision that, if it came to fruition, meant Ragnarök would get exactly what it needed to become unstoppable.
“You are only making this worse!” I shouted. Rage tinted my vision red and I found the strength to summon my spear. I was so grateful that the we
apon wasn’t attached to the necklace I’d detached from my body and my soul. I wasn’t a daughter of fire anymore, but I was still a Valkyrie; I was still a weapon that would seek justice.
I pierced the crack in the barrier with my blade and steadied my foot on the wall as I levered it back and forth. I thrust my wings to give me balance as I worked.
“You know nothing of Ragnarök!” Baldr bellowed, but I recognized the tinge of panic in his voice. “I’ve studied it all my life. What have you done? Played footsie with a Valiant and a human. You’re pathetic.”
I slammed the spear into the crack again and the barrier finally fell. I glanced over my shoulder once to check on my friends. They were holding off the attack, but just barely. Nina clawed at the face of one of the Skaoi, sending ice splintering everywhere. Red tinged the floor, betraying that not all humans had survived the onslaught. Michael levitated one of the Skuld in the air, containing the wisps of violent darkness before flinging it at another. Its neighbor invaded one of the humans, sending the man roaring towards Will. Will punched the man in the face and it went down, sending the Skuld unravelling with him. He glanced at me over his shoulder and gave me a nod.
I had to let them fight, and while they did their job, I had to do mine. I spread my wings and I did what a Valkyrie does best.
I launched, spear in hand, straight towards my enemy.
Baldr grinned, and I knew at the last moment that I’d made a mistake.
He vanished, leaving me to fly face-first into yet another barrier. This time it snapped around me with finality and I found myself embraced by a familiar glittering darkness.
A male groan got my attention and I crawled across broken glass until my fingers met chains.
I dismissed my spear in a puff of flame and ran my touch over the iron until I found ice-cold skin.
“Tyler?” I whispered, the word a desperate plea.
His hand gripped me with unexpected strength. “Aerie,” he responded and the shadows cleared just enough for me to see his bloodied and bruised face. “You shouldn’t have come here. It’s a—”
I waved him away. “Yeah, yeah. It’s a trap. I got that.”
He smirked and my toes curled. Even now, with chaos rampaging all around us and certain doom hanging above our heads, he could make my breath catch with one of his wry grins. Then his gaze fell to my collarbone and his eyes went wide. “You don’t have your necklace.” His eyes shot back up. “You gave that up… for me?”
I swallowed hard. Of course I had. The only hesitation had been if it would be enough to save him, and now I wasn’t so sure. Yet, as I wrapped my fingers around his and felt my heart slide into place alongside his, I knew that choosing Tyler would never be the wrong choice. “I couldn’t just let you suffer.”
He drew me in close and buried his face in my neck. He inhaled as if I was air itself and he’d drown without me. “Aerie. You’re a beautiful fool.”
Ice spread around my knees and a piercing cold made my legs go numb. “What is that?” I asked as a vibrant hum sounded all around us.
He held me tighter. “You don’t have your mother to protect you anymore. Ragnarök can feed on you now.”
Just before the glittering black descended on us, I drew out the vial that Shade had given me. I popped off the cork and downed it in one shot.
Heat blasted through me and my wings flared out with renewed embers. My eyes went wide, because this wasn’t just some harvested sap from a Huldra honeycomb nest. This was the same stuff that had made up unadulterated Yggdrasil fruit.
I didn’t question where Baldr had gotten his hands on such a rare and precious commodity—then again, he was a Frigg as well. It shouldn’t have surprised me that he’d made his single trip to Yggdrasil and grabbed a fruit or two. He’d even found a way to harvest it into vials, enough to bribe Immortal bouncers to make sure the right people got into his “end of the world party.”
Ragnarök wailed with such agony as it slammed into me, then bounced right back off. It wasn’t just the power of Yggdrasil that gave me the strength to withstand its blow, but my acceptance of Tyler’s hand in mine. His dark runes stood out stark against the pale marble skin of his body. Corded muscles boasted the scars and the slid over his knuckles and onto me. He’d taken on the shadows of the world for far too long. It was time that I accepted what I was. It was time that I accepted the dark connection that Tyler and I shared.
I stood, hand-in-hand with Tyler, as my skin glowed to life. The flames of Muspelheim renewed in me three-fold and shadows scurried away from my feet. Ice melted and the air steamed as I blazed. “I am your commander!” I bellowed up at the writhing void.
The glitter inside of Ragnarök’s dark mass twinkled like a thousand stars, and now I knew what they were. Each diamond speck was a lost soul, a piece of a heart torn asunder and bound with so much suffering that it would never find peace. Ragnarök was a poor, pitiful creature that only knew how to devour, to destroy, all in an attempt to rid itself of its sorrow.
“Freya has trapped you for millennia and made your suffering grow,” I said, my voice lowering.
The mass crooned and bellowed, snaps of black ice whipping around my face. It wasn’t going to try to feed on me again, now while I glowed with the strength of a hundred suns. It lowered as if trying to get a better look at me and I stared, face-to-face, looking into the eyes of the underworld.
A thousand voices permeated my mind as Ragnarök tried to talk to me. In there somewhere was Sam, my lost sisters, even Will’s mother. They all just wanted the suffering to end and my wings flared with embers at the distaste their rot left in my mouth.
There was only one way to save them. Only one way I’d been trained to deal with lost causes and enemies.
I summoned my spear and I slashed.
Ragnarök split in two and the wound I’d left behind glowed with a bright scar of purification and light. The blackness cracked all around, sending streaks of lightning followed by ear-breaking thunder to crash through the building. The upper floor peeled away in the crash of a tornado that hadn’t quite touched down, leaving me an open view of the star-speckled sky.
Across Central Park humans cried out and the skies churned in response to their suffering. I swept out a hand, my powers as a Frigg humming to life as I slowed time for them.
The world kept spinning. Ragnarök continued to fall apart, but at least those impacted by the rampaging screams of chaos wouldn’t have to endure it for much longer. I protected each one in a bubble of their own present, a gift that Will had taught me.
I banished what was left of Ragnarök to the low weight of the space-time net. With Yggdrasil’s power running through my veins, I connected with the universe on a level I’d never experienced before. I knew its layers and its secrets and where Ragnarök could find its own present in time, away from suffering, away from worlds it only knew how to destroy.
When it was gone, I released my time stop on the humans. Distant groans sounded, followed by the low hum of Grimhildr kicking in for cleanup. I straightened, because surely that meant that Freya was still alive. And if she was, why had she left me to fend off Ragnarök all by myself?
Tyler spoke to my unanswered questions, showing no shame that he could read my mind. “Your parents love you more than you know,” he said, his fingers wrapping around my chin and pulling me up to him. “Please don’t hurt, Aerie.”
Tears sizzled in my eyes and I was so grateful that Tyler could withstand my heat as a Valkyrie renewed. I couldn’t bear to be without his touch just now. “Are they dead?”
A slow nod and my stomach dropped. “When Baldr sent you to earth… Odin activated the Mojinir.”
My vision blurred, my tears coming too fast for my heat to wipe them out.
Muspelheim was gone. That’s why Mojinir had come to earth. Odin had activated his last resort, destroying the planet so Ragnarök couldn’t get any stronger. If he hadn’t, I might never have been able to subdue it.
“But, I’m
a Valkyrie,” I said, the words not making logical sense. All I could think of was that I had nowhere to call home anymore. I was orphaned, alone. “Where will I go?”
He leaned in closer until our breaths mingled. “Aerie, my love. You are the Queen of Asgard.”
The shock that came with that statement didn’t prepare me for the full force of his kiss that he was no longer able to keep at bay. He crushed his mouth to mine and wound his arms around me to squeeze me close. His fingers tangled with my feathers, the sensitive nerves lighting up under his touch.
I returned his kiss with every ounce of fervor I’d denied myself before. Tyler had always been the one. He’d always been there for me and always held my heart.
Epilogue
“Ragnarök has been vanquished!” shouted Billy, who’d become my new overseen for matters concerning Asgardian management.
The crowds loved him. The Surtr had enough charm to go along with his wit and most importantly, his voice carried with undiluted adoration of his new queen.
It felt weird to be a queen, but as I sat on the throne with a wide back to accommodate my wings, Tyler slipped his fingers through mine, a stolen touch to help me feel grounded and in control.
Whenever we touched, our shadows mingled and his dark runes quivered over his body. He grinned, and even though an entire city cheered and a purple sky danced above us, it felt like we were on our own little planet in our own rotating solar system, where he was the moon and I was the sun, forever revolving around one another in an endless cycle.
“Are you happy?” he asked as his fingers ran up my arm and he gave my wing a strong caress.
I shivered at the possessive touch. Tyler was mine, and I was his. I didn’t care if everyone knew it. His internal glow radiated. He was free of Odin’s bond and his dark runes gleamed his scars and suffering proudly. The sharp angles of his face gravitated me to him until our lips met and I answered his question the only way I knew how. I kissed him, wrapping my wings around us to give us a shield of privacy.
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