Valkyrie's Sacrifice (Academy of Immortals 3)

“Where is he then?” Clinton asks.

“Maybe he didn’t make it,” Bunny suggests.

“No,” I say, glancing at Agis and Armin as they walk over. I feel their eyes sweep over me to make sure I’m okay. “He stayed behind.”

“How do you know?” Marshal asks.

My eyes flick to Rupert, whose lips make a thin line. He knows. My hand hovers over my stomach, over the knot twisting inside. “Because I can feel him. He’s still there.”

“Then what does this mean?” Damien asks, searching the sky. “Is it over? Did you stop it?”

“If you’re back and alive, then yeah, I think so.” Dylan’s stern mouth lifts into a grin. “I think you did it. You saved us.”

What he’s saying is slow to process, probably because of what we’ve been through; the tricks and trials and death and destruction, but when it does it feels like a tidal wave of relief. The celebration is short lived.

“Oh,” Morgan gasps, grabbing her belly with one hand and Dylan’s arm with the other. He holds her up while she grimaces and bends over. “The apocalypse may be over, but I think this baby is ready to come.”

38

Hildi

Morgan has her baby at home, assisted by Mrs. Davis. We’re all a little shell-shocked, reeling from our time in the Lowerworld, but the squeals from inside the room marking the arrival of the baby, a little girl named Maeve, makes everything feel a little better.

Life goes on.

Love goes on.

And so will the Immortals. That’s a given. What’s not, is how and where?

That’s the question that lingers as the days pass.

The deal was that the Immortals were free after they did this. From slavery or obligation. From one another if they wanted. Yet we stayed at the Nead and settled back into the basement like we had before. There’s less venom between us than before. More trust. More laughter. And yeah, a lot more sex.

The Immortals may be free to go, but the bond we created to save the world runs deep. Deeper than the bands of rings we wear on our fingers. No one seems in a rush to go anywhere, but a sense of restlessness bubbles beneath the surface. These are men that need to fight and right now their only outlet for that is one another—or me.

One favorite topic? Luke.

“He betrayed us,” Marshal says. We’re standing around the training ring, watching Agis and Armin beat the crap out of one another. A pile of money sits on the edge of the mat—bets on who will win. “I knew he was a conniving prick.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think so. I think…I think he saved us.”

“Then where is he?” Rupert asks. He’s not as harsh about it as Marshal, who is intolerant on his good days, but he’s trying to work it out logically. “If his father is dead and if you two are still connected, then why didn’t he come with us?”

I glance at Miya, as I do a million times each day. He’s here. He’s back. He’s whole.

“Maybe,” I say carefully, “he and Lucifer can’t both be here at once.”

“Or maybe,” Marshal says, wincing as Armin’s legs are swiped from under him and he lands with a crashing thud, “Maybe he’s sitting on that throne himself and plotting his next move.”

I don’t have the answers. No one does, but I don’t think Marshal’s right.

The best we can tell is that when he overthrew his father, he gained the title of King of Hell. Luke never had the ambition to take over the realms, I believe that, but he also wouldn’t abandon his duty. I miss him. Even with all my men and all the pieces back in place, I feel a painful gap.

I try to fill it with Morgan and the baby. Dinners with everyone. Sly, dirty sex with Marshal. Painfully slow, tantric lovemaking with Miya. Late night firepits on the roof of The Nead, overlooking the city that has no idea how close it came, again, to being overtaken. I distract myself in the library with Rupert, stealing kisses when Dylan isn’t looking. Armin and I sleep, for hours and hours, trying to catch up on all the exhaustion that has melded into our bones. And then there’s the flying.

Agis lifting me into his arms and soaring with me over the city just before dawn, watching the sunrise over the water.

My days are full.