Fang of the Wolf (Valaria Descending Book 1) by Henderson Ella Walker

Author:Henderson, Ella Walker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty-one

Valaria leaned against the cold stone wall. She slid to a crouch and placed her head in her hands.

She couldn’t help Fior. But Sofia could. If Sofia followed the plan, then the Jarlsorn wouldn’t find her. Before they tracked her, she could gain passage back to Vargland and support Fior in his claim as Varg. She could gain Njal’s support.

Sofia could already be on the journey south.

The Varg sighed. “I care less about being right. I’m only glad you’re still alive and that Culland has a steady hand with a sword. A sloppier man could have killed you if you attacked him in his bed at night. I was afraid that my advice to stay your hand would be the end of you.”

She thought back to the moment she had stood behind him, axe raised. His forearm had deflected the blow, changing her momentum. But if she had used the blade of her axe, the strike would have wounded him. Perhaps it wouldn’t have killed him, but it would have slowed him.

“If I had killed him, we would have escaped,” she said. “Grannd left their house first, so I wouldn’t have had to fight him.”

Her father stared at her in the shadowed darkness, the side of his face faintly lit by the fire outside. “Though it risked your life, it will be best in the end. We are in this prison, but Grannd Jarlsorn is not my sworn enemy, nor are we his. That would have changed with Culland’s death.”

She pressed her fingers to the sides of her head, rubbing past the tension and exhaustion of all that had happened and the many sleepless nights on the road. “How can you say that when they killed Ored and the others?”

“That is our way of life on raids. We’ve never been at war with the Jarlsorn. Life would be more difficult if we were.”

“But they captured you. How has that not sparked a war?”

He gestured around them. “Do you see a war? The council refused to send anyone other than my daughter. My capture didn’t start a war, nor would my death.”

“But it should have. All of Vargsung should have pursued you.”

“And then many of the Vargsung would have died.”

“What about honor? You’ve never shied from ruthlessness to protect your honor in the past.”

“They took my honor in this capture, but not the Vargsung’s.”

She squinted at him, disbelieving. “You are the Varg. The two are inseparable.”

Her father heaved another sigh. “To you they are, but not for all of our people. Nor should they be. There’s more to the Vargsung and our way of life than one man and the vengeance of one man. Honor and vengeance are not the same. But if you had killed Culland, that vengeance would have swallowed our family and his. Perhaps we could have still avoided war between us, but he would have come for you.”

“And if Culland had killed me?”

“Then I would have come for him.”

“From this cell?”

“Yes.”

She couldn’t understand him. “If you

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