Valkyrie's Sacrifice (Academy of Immortals 3)

“Maybe she’s passed through the fourth already?” Luke muses.

“Can we just skip a circle?” I ask. I flip through more pages, futilely hoping for more information.

“If we go by river, maybe. Technically we’re still passing through the circle. If we stay on it, maybe we can move ahead. Especially if Hildi was already there.”

“What if she’s hurt,” Elizabeth asks.

“She’s not,” Rupert says. He glances at me and I nod in agreement. “We can feel her through the bond.”

It’s still a strong connection—a constant tug. She’s far away but she’s alive. I have no doubt about that.

“So that settles it,” I say, reaching for my weapons. I feel better with a plan. I know Rupert does as well. “We find a boat and then we find Hildi.”

25

Hildi

A shrill whine rings in my ears, followed by a flash and a ground-shaking explosion. I wake with a jolt, the bed rolling side to side. I’m not outside. I’m not under fire. I’m…I look up at the low ceiling, then at the walls made of long planks of wood. Just as I start to sit, the room sways and I grip the edge of the bed.

“You’re on a boat,” a voice to my left says. A match flares, igniting the scent of sulfur. Marshal’s face brightens and I watch as he lights the wick of an oil lamp affixed to the wall. “With me.”

He’s sitting on a chair too small for his body. His face is impassive and in between his fingers is a silver circle. He rolls it between his thumb and pointer finger, studying it closely.

“What are you doing?” I ask

“I’m trying to figure out why you gave me this.”

I lean back against the pillow. “I should have given it to you at the beginning—back at Miya’s garden.”

Miya. Gods. Marshal doesn’t even know.

He licks his bottom lip and my eyes follow the movement of his tongue. “Why the change of heart?”

“Because I realize that you’ve been loyal this whole time. You rescued me, Marshal, more than once. Even back in that shitty circle not knowing who I was. Any suspicions or hesitation was from my own hang-ups about our…relationship.”

He nods and clenches the ring in his fist. “What if I don’t want it? What if it’s too late?”

“You playing hard to get?”

“Maybe.”

I shrug. “To be honest, I’m not sure if the rings matter anymore. Miya’s gone, Marshal.”

He frowns, the cool façade fading. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s alive,” I say quickly, “but he put himself in some kind of self-protective trance in the third circle. We couldn’t get him out of it.”

“Where is he?”

“Safe. The Guardians and the gods took care of him.”

His shoulders ease, slightly. “So, we’re down a warrior.”

“We’re supposed to have five Immortals, plus me, to draw on the power of the Guardians and Morgan.”

“So what? We let Lucifer just have it? Hand the realms over to the Lowerworld.”

“No,” I snap. “I said we won’t be at full power, I didn’t say we weren’t going to fight.”