Page 54 of The Last Valkyrie (Vikingrune Academy #4)

OUR DEAD WERE BURIED and reburied in the catacombs beneath Vikingrune Academy over the next week. A ship burial on the southern shore for Gothi Sigmund and Tomekeeper Dahlia happened within the month.

It was a fitting end to the last line of King Dannon, whose body had been brought back from Selby Village by Thane Canute. The entire academy attended the ceremony along the shore, near the Wraith longships, complete with fiery arrows shot into their boats as they floated out to sea.

We watched for a long while as the flames consumed the ships and brought the dead Hersirs to their respective resting places.

I took solace in the fact Dahlia, at least, had gotten to Valhalla. Same couldn’t be said for Sigmund, but I supposed I’d never know.

For the month after that, I was in recovery. My wing was stitched, re-stitched, bandaged, healed by Dagny and other nurses, and tended after with meticulous care, until I’d had about enough of being pampered.

It took a while for the pain to recede, but eventually a full range of motion returned to my wings. I could fly again—and did so as often as possible.

After that, I went on an excursion with my mates and Hersir Kelvar to find every portal that had been opened in the Isle, to shut them down.

Since Dahlia’s studies had shown us that dragonkin were capable of closing any portal, no matter which race started it, I was the vanguard and VIP of the adventure.

Starting from Academy Hill, we closed the portal the jotnar had taken to leave, as the necromancer woman had told me to do. Then we went out to the elf portal north of Delaveer Forest—home of the encampment the Ljosalfar had first taken to get here—and closed that one.

Finally, we went all the way to Telvos Mountains for the first time, and a month later amid the frigid cold and destitute summit of those giant mountains, we found the final portal that the dark elves had used to persuade the jotnar to join them in Midgard.

“Sure hope we didn’t miss any,” I said once we had finished the job and were heading back to Vikingrune Academy one sunny day.

“Gods, who cares if we did?” Sven grumbled. “I’m just thankful to not be freezing my balls off on that mountain ridge any longer.”

The others laughed, and I agreed. My balls had been getting quite frigid.

“If we missed any, we’ll just find them and shut them down also, right?” Grim said.

We were all in agreement. Arne suggested maybe we could even use it as another excuse to get away from the academy on a vacation, when and if the time came.

Our hearts were light now that the battle was over and we had come out relatively unscathed. Granted, we’d lost over a hundred Vikingruners—cadets, initiates, acolytes, and Huscarls alike.

Their losses wouldn’t be in vain, and their deaths would remind us of the sacrifices we had made to get to this point—to survive the turmoil against the jotnar, draug, and dark elves.

There was still one situation that felt less “light” in my heart, and when I glanced at Corym, he simply smiled at me.

I returned a weak smile, worried about our future.

When we returned to the academy, Dagny and Randi were waiting for me with open arms and open textbooks. “Y’all missed a lot, you know,” Randi said, scowling at us. “Think you can just steal Vini away like that whenever you want, and let her get so behind on her studies that she’ll never graduate?!”

“You mean keeping her here forever?” Magnus asked my diminutive bestie. “Sounds like exactly what we want, Randi.”

Dagny scoffed and smiled as my guys chuckled.

The next day after our return, a campus-wide assembly was held, and all the remaining Hersirs joined in the speech.

Axel Osfen was the one who said the important bit.

“We have decided not to elect a new Gothi.”

Stunned gasps from the lot of us.

“Instead,” Gudleif Selken said, raising a finger and smiling, “we have decided Vikingrune Academy should be led by a council, with each Hersir getting a vote. We have seen things swayed by tyrants and greedy men and women, and we no longer believe the Old Way is sufficient to lead our academy going forward.”

Kelvar the Whisperer said, “Hersirs we cannot trust, brought here by Salos Torfen, have been relieved of their duties. Sitting on the First Council of Vikingrune Academy will be us three, as well as two others. With five, each vote will always count.”

He swept his hand out, stepped aside, and the giant, hulking frame of Thane Canute stepped onto the stage from the back.

Canute was greeted with a round of cheers and hollering from the students, who had all seen what he’d done during the battle to help us. The stern, monstrous Defender stared out at the sea of faces with a scowl.

I couldn’t help but smile at the one-eyed commander . . . until the fifth member walked out, which made my heart stutter.

In Canute’s shadow was a slight woman—some weight added on over the past few months, with more color in her cheeks than I’d seen in ages.

Kelvar said, “The fifth councilmember will be one of our alumnae, Lindi Foradeen.”

I beamed after seeing her face light up. Glancing around the loud hall, I spotted Eirik off to the side with his clique. He smiled at me with a small nod.

Great gods, I thought. Ma is finally getting the recognition she deserves. My brother and I both noticed it.

Ma made an announcement to the students. “Our first order of business on the council,” she said, “is to open the gates of Vikingrune Academy to the Lepers Who Leapt, who have been scorned for too long at this place. Forevermore.”

“Forevermore,” answered the other four Hersirs.

Some students didn’t know how to react to that news, but the ones who knew anything about the Lepers—me included—cheered loudly.

It was hard to keep the tears from spilling at how well Lindi wore this new mantle of leadership. Gone were the vindictive vibes and vengeful expression on her face.

Now, she could help run the academy and bring us into new prosperity.

The next week was the end of my second term, which meant I would still have two more years to witness all the great things I knew my mother would do now that she had some control in her hands.

The day before the start into my third term, I was in my longhouse, minding my business. Construction had begun to repair the southern wall and some other buildings that had been razed during the attacks. It was loud and made it hard to concentrate, but I appreciated it nonetheless.

Vikingrune was bustling and surging into a new era—hopefully one of long-lasting peace.

As I reclined and read a textbook on my belly, Sven grumbled as he walked inside the longhouse. “Gods, woman, haven’t you studied enough? You just passed the finals with flying colors!”

I closed the book and winked at him. “This is for third-year studies, love.”

Corym was right behind him, joining the other three mates who had been quietly doing their own thing in my house, all of us casually enjoying one another’s presence. Corym and Sven had gone to get some food, and brought back a few plates for us.

The elf plopped down next to me, biting into a muffin. “I’m getting used to these human puffs.”

“You mean . . . muffins?”

He smiled at me around a mouthful.

My cheeks flushed and I looked away. “You know . . .” I started, growing hesitant and scared in an instant. “You’ve been pretty mum about the whole Zentha situation, Cor.”

He let out a pleased sound and tossed the remains of his muffin to Arne across the room, who fumbled with it, watched it fall to the ground, and then stared down forlornly before picking it up, shrugging, and eating it.

“It’s strange, lunis’ai , but nurturewife Zentha has allegedly gone missing from Heira Nation,” Corym said.

My eyes bulged. “M-Missing?”

He shrugged easily, resting back on his palms—one of them strategically placed between my stretched legs. “That’s what my contact tells me.”

“You still have contact to people in Alfheim, even though the portals have been closed?” Grim questioned.

Magnus folded his arms at the edge of the bed, staring down at the seated elf. “Unless this was something that happened . . . before the battle, perhaps?”

Everyone fell silent.

Corym shrugged, keeping his cards close to his chest.

Finally, Sven said, “How much did you pay her?”

I gawked.

Corym said, “All my titles, my land. Enough to make her very wealthy, powerful, and get far, far away from Heira. I’m sure she’s a powerful princess of her own by this point, in another nation in Alfheim.”

He was quite smug and proud of himself.

I couldn’t keep my heart from plummeting to my stomach. “You did all of that . . . for me?” I asked sheepishly, sitting up.

He tilted my chin with his warm finger, kissing me softly as his golden eyes locked on mine. “I would do anything for you, lunis’ai . Absolutely anything.”

I gulped past a tight throat.

Arne quipped, “Wait, so that means you’re not a prince anymore?”

Corym dashed a smile at him. “Afraid not, iceshaper.”

“For shame. You were hotter as a prince.” Arne’s shoulders sank as everyone laughed.

“What,” Sven said, “were you starting to enjoy getting fucked by a prince, dandy?”

Arne scowled at him, cheeks flaring red. “I don’t know, wolfie, are you starting to enjoy getting fucked by a dandy?”

The laughter was huge, and I sputtered before hiding my crinkled face in Corym’s shoulder.

Within minutes, with all the naughty talk flying around, we had exactly zero clothes on between the six of us.

Corym moved in me first, drilling his cock in me as I reclined in the bed and took him, hooking my legs and arms around the elf. Two more years of this before I graduate? I thought as the first orgasm rolled through me and made me cry out. I could use twenty more years of this, and then some. Infinite years. All the years.

My other mates were quick to join in, our frolicking happy and sensual and oh-so-hot as the guys took me—and each other—one after another.

By the end of it, I was panting, and when I closed my eyes I got a glimpse of the snowy place.

Shit, I thought, and quickly opened my eyes—

Only for my wings to sprout out and throw two bodies off me in a crash of limbs and wailing voices.

“Sorry!” I squealed.

Sven and Magnus got to their feet, rubbing their heads.

Magnus yelled, “You have got to stop doing that without warning us, silvermoon!”

“I can’t help it!” I cried out. “Sometimes it just, uh, comes out.”

“Ever since you got those things healed, they’ve been a nuisance,” Sven added with a frown.

Grim said, “Shut up, you two. She’s still getting used to them. Is it really her fault that they ‘come out’ whenever we make her come hard enough?”

“Yeah!” I yelled in my own embarrassed, humiliated defense. “You should take it as a compliment!”

Corym chuckled in my ear, lying on top of me with his smooth skin pressed against mine. “Well, if we’re going to give you a ride, love, then you’d better be ready to give us one also.”

My lips parted as I stared down at his silky cock lodged inside my pussy. Licking my lips, I caught his meaning. “What a great fucking idea, you naughty elf.”

“Wait, what’s happening?” Arne asked from my side, dick in his hand but just as confused as ever. The poor, pretty man.

Without warning, I wrapped my wings around Corym’s taut body. He sheathed himself inside me to the hilt, making my body bow to his whims, and then we were covered in scales and a warm cocoon that only allowed the two of us in.

Darkness, heat, and Corym’s soft breath against my cheek. “I knew I made the right decision staying,” he whispered.

Our yellow eyes glowed in the darkness created by my curled wings. “I never had any doubt,” I said, kissing him feverishly as he bucked his hips into me. His hands caressed my thighs, and then moved to my scales over his shoulder. “Oooh, that feels nice.”

“Now then,” he said, pulling back and leaving me wanting and craving so much more. “That ride you promised?”

With a grin, I unfurled my wings—to the dismay and shouts of the other four who had been trying to get closer to see what was going on with us two. They spread from nearly one end of the small longhouse to the other.

And with all the effort and energy I could muster—a moan of delight as Corym kept drilling me—I fluttered my wings and took us airborne over the bed.

The weightlessness, the freedom of having my mate inside me while we hovered in the air was like being a gods-damned orgasm-propelled wizard. I’d never experienced anything like it, and by the way Corym kept moaning and drilling into me, burying his face in the crook of my shoulder, neither had he.

I winked at him, our faces flush and red and heated. “Bet you can’t get that treatment in Alfheim, can you, love?”

“Gods, I fucking you love,” he answered.

“Hey!” a voice sounded from below—Sven’s. “We want a turn too!”

These damn boys. Incorrigible, amazing, and so needy at the same time. They simply couldn’t get enough of me, and the feeling was mutual. I wanted to spend every waking moment with them.

Grim, Sven, Magnus, Arne, and Corym had shown me who I was meant to be. A badass bitch with dragon wings who controlled the very pathways of our world to other realms.

I had no idea what my end at Vikingrune Academy would bring. Maybe I would start popping out dragon babies left and right, to “proliferate the species” as Korvan had so crudely put it. Gods knew I had the right men for the job.

I still had a couple years to figure it out. It was anyone’s guess if the peace would remain in Midgard and the Isle, and that the jotnar, dark elves, light elves, and wood elves would keep to their word. We would be ready if any of them got squirrelly.

At the end of the day, it didn’t matter. Because no matter what happened, I would have these five men with me, always by my side, and we would conquer whatever obstacle presented itself.

With my fated mates, my found family, anything was possible.

And good fucking luck trying to take them away from me.

The End