The Last Valkyrie Series Complete Boxed Set by Karina Espinosa

Author:Karina Espinosa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-05T14:00:00+00:00

11

The breeze in my face was the only reminder I had to stay alert. The rhythm of my flapping wings was slow and erratic as I made my way to the cemetery. Since the sword was sheathed, it was cloaked and made untraceable by Verdandi’s magic. I had to get there as soon as possible to keep it hidden. The pain on my back was a burn like none I’d ever had. I imagined this was what being tortured in the Underworld felt like. One wing stopped and I started to dive, my eyes rolling to the back of my head. I crashed on soft dirt and took on a mouthful of grass. I could barely lift my head and open my eyelids to see the headstones that surrounded me. I’d made it.

“Verdandi,” I mumbled into the ground. “Verdandi,” I repeated. The force with which I landed was sure to have shaken the ground and notified her of my presence.

My eyelids closed, but I could hear running feet coming toward me. The heat from her body was familiar, and she touched my wings. I flinched.

“Retract your wings, Hrefna. I cannot treat your back with them out,” she whispered so gently I wondered if it really was her.

“The sword,” I muttered. “Hide the sword.” My only concern was that the sword wasn’t in the open where prying eyes could see.

She responded by carefully removing the sheath from my body and left for a few moments before returning to my disfigured body. I retracted my wings, screaming into the night as I did. The pain was blinding and I saw stars, my fingers digging into the soil, dirt getting beneath my nails.

“Easy, Hrefna.” Verdandi tried to cover me with what was left of my shirt. “C’mon, let’s try to get up.”

I attempted to stand, but my knees groaned and buckled. She quickly put my arm around her neck and held me by my waist, putting pressure on the burn marks. I winced and gritted my teeth.

Verdandi walked me to the crypt, dragged me at times, and laid me on top of the tomb in the middle of the catacomb. Its flat surface was cold as I lay on my stomach, my cheek on the concrete.

“I can make a salve for you,” she said and she walked around, tinkering with the bottles she had on a shelf. “It will relieve you of pain and make the burn marks disappear, but it will initially hurt.”

“Do it,” I grunted. I’d endured more than enough pain in my long life—this would be nothing. I couldn’t heal myself as I normally did because I was weak. I’d poisoned my body with human vices and now I craved them. I’d broken myself.

“All right, take this.” Verdandi handed me a brown, worn-out leather belt. “Bite on it.”

“I don’t need it,” I said faintly.

“But you will.”

I eyed the ointment carefully and decided not to take the risk. I feebly took the belt and bit down on it softly. Verdandi moved the scraps of clothing from my back and brushed away any hair.

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