Page 39 of Of Ash and Iron (Flame Cursed Fae #3)

Chapter 39

Maddy

" N o." I shake my head, trying to clear it. "No, it can't be you."

I stare in disbelief at the gold-fae as he smiles mildly back at me. "Why not? Because I'm Erik the Kind?" His smile turns sour. "If I had been shown half the kindness I deserved in life, none of this would be happening!"

"Why?" growls Kain. "Why destroy Featherblade?"

Of the hundreds of questions charging around in my head, that one is near the top. What could Erik possibly have to gain from attacking the Valkyrie training hall?

The question I would have asked first, though, is how in Odin's name did he fall in love with a Frost Giant?

"I'm not trying to destroy Featherblade, you infernal fucking fool," he snaps at Kain. It's stranger than my brain can handle, seeing and hearing him speak like this. He is the kindhearted Valkyrie who heals people, nurtures them, is patient when the others push us hard.

"Then what the fuck is this?" Kain shouts, gesturing at the plumes of smoke around us, fireballs still hurtling toward the hall from the dark water.

"This, you pathetic, wingless vermin, is a distraction."

Erik's eyes move back to me.

I freeze, but Thyrvi moves fast, bounding to my side.

Erik has always been interested in me. He openly admitted his fascination from the start.

"Me?" I'm extremely aware of the Frost Giant towering behind me, but I have Kain and Thyrvi either side of me, so I keep my eyes on Erik.

"You have something I need."

The bag on my back suddenly seems to weigh a hundred pounds.

Fuck! I should have left the vault well alone! My sister's voice, chiding my curiosity, rings in my mind. I try to keep anything from showing on my face.

"I doubt that."

"I know about your secret power, Madivia."

I blink, the words the last I ever thought he would say.

He can't know. Only Kain knows, and Kain wouldn't have told him. Would he?

Erik laughs as I flick my eyes doubtfully to the fire-fae. "Not him, foolish girl. Your friend in there. Very forthcoming, after sedation."

"Sarra!" Fear for my friend lurches through my whole body. "What have you done to her?"

He laughs again. "You mean, what have you done to her? All she needed was to get the magic out of her system. She would have returned to normal. But when you brought her to me telling me she wanted a feather in her toxic state… Well, I couldn't resist finding out what would happen if she got one. I've never seen shriek magic do this before."

I feel sick. My mind can't process anything but guilt and betrayal. And fear. A cascading torrent of fear for Sarra.

"Make her better."

Erik shrugs. "Can't now. Too late."

"What do you want from Madivia?" Kain interrupts, raw rage in his voice.

"That has nothing to do with you," Erik says.

Kain opens his mouth to answer, but there's a flurry of beating wings, and then Brynhild swoops toward us, faster than I knew she could fly. She alights and spins, holding her staff out at the Frost Giant.

She shoots ice, and the giant flicks her hand, deflecting it with a smile. "Hello, Brynhild," she says, and the ice-fae Valkyrie does something I've never seen her do before. She falters.

"You don't recognize her?" Erik says softly.

Brynhild frowns, and then her bird swoops out of nowhere toward the Giant's head. "What in Odin's name are you talking about? Featherblade is on fire, Erik! Destroy this beast and tend to the injured!"

"Oh, Brynhild, I believe my injury-tending days are over."

She stares at him, then snaps her attention back to her bird, true shock on her face. "No," she says, shaking her head. Her staff dips for a beat, and before I realize what's happening, shadows tighten around her body.

She's doesn't even notice.

"Brynhild!" I yell, but Orgid steps out of the Snake Wing behind her, the shadows flowing from the other end of his staff.

I look around, seeing Inga in the shadows beyond, her bear's fur flickering gently.

"But you're dead…" Brynhild says, her bird swooping back to her. "The Frost Giants killed you."

The Giant shakes her head, a dry smile on her lips. "In a sense, I suppose they did. But no. I'm not dead."

"Ishild… It can't be you. Why didn't you tell me you were alive?" Pain is etched into Brynhild's features.

Kain is staring at the Frost Giant, and I can see shock in his eyes too. A faint memory floats into my head. The list of Valkyrie I scanned before coming to Featherblade, in my parents' ballroom. A line halfway down the page with a red line through it. Ishild. Gold-fae. Dead.

Ishild snorts at Brynhild. "Would you have wanted anything to do with me, like this?" She gestures at herself with a colossal hand. "Erik is the only one who tried to save me."

Thyrvi's voice sounds in my mind. "The fire bear comes closer. The shadow scum is sweating, and his heart races. He is planning something. I will take the bear. You must take the male."

I give the tiniest nod and take a slow step toward Brynhild.

With everyone fixed on the Giant, and whatever the fuck is happening between the Valkyrie, nobody seems to notice.

"I would have done anything to help you! You know I would," Brynhild continues.

"All you have done is sworn revenge on the Frost Giants," Ishild responds.

"To avenge your death! I even orchestrated a reason to wipe them out!" Brynhild's voice breaks. "I loved you."

The Frost Giant's eerily beautiful face hardens. "I discovered who truly loved me that day. And it wasn't you." She nods her massive head, and in a blur, Orgid is moving.

Kain and I move too, but he's already too close.

His shadows tighten around the ice-fae as he steps into her back, and there's a spray of crimson over her shining silver wings after he drags a blade across her throat.

Time stands still. Sound dims to my crashing pulse. My peripheral vision vanishes.

Orgid just killed Brynhild.

Erik is in league with the Frost Giants.

A roar pierces my daze. It's Kain, and he's slashing his sword down toward Orgid. The shadow-fae rolls away, and Thyrvi and the fire bear issue bellowing challenges.

The ground moves, and I know it's the Frost Giant behind me.

I don't know what to do. I'm paralyzed with indecision.

Instinct tells me to look for Inga. Or to run.

I don't get to make a choice.

I'm knocked to the ground. When I lift my head, a portal is whirling across the water, just like the one the Valkyrie first spoke to us through in the Ice Court.

A scream escapes me as arms wrap around me. I squirm and kick and punch.

But nothing lands. It takes me precious seconds to realize that I've been picked up by Erik. His wings are beating hard, across the water and toward the portal.

"Thyrvi!" I will her into the darkness. I can't be separated from her, and surely, this way, wherever I go, she'll come too? I send a desperate prayer to the gods that's true.

I hear Kain bellow my name, then a splash. I kick and roll and squirm, and Erik almost drops me.

I feel a stab of pain as something sharp stings my skin, and look down. His snake has its fangs deep in my arm.

Wooziness rushes me, then everything is dark.