she’d encouraged him to kill Rollo, but for a single moment she imagined them living quietly here.
A cabin by some lake, surrounded by warmth and green and growing things. Fields upon fields, open and wide.
But she’d forgotten that Valkyries did not live quiet lives.
They lived hard, they lived fast, and burned to ash.
She looked at Magnus and realized that while the quiet life seemed pretty because it was safe, it wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted Magnus—all of him.
And that included the hard things, the ugly things. The things she feared. But she realized she’d rather burn out with him than ever go back to the life she had on Hel.
Mercy would do everything she’d said she would. She would learn to shoot, to fight, she’d be an asset to Magnus rather than the wilting flower that needed protection.
A woman approached, a priestess of some sort. She bore a crown. “May I?” she asked Mercy in the common tongue.
She tried to imagine her father waiting on a woman’s permission for anything. That would happen when the sun shone in the Great Dark. Mercy nodded to the woman and she placed the crown atop Magnus’s golden head.
In truth, it looked so right. He was King of the Acadians—small population though they may be, they were his people.
Now hers.
“And you? Will you accept your crown, Mercy, daughter of Eir, Valkyrie to the Destroyer?” the woman asked her.
Emotion welled thick in her throat. She’d been raised to be a leader’s wife, not to lead herself.
Magnus took her hand and she bowed her head.
She didn’t expect the crowd to cheer.
She didn’t expect this to feel so right.
Most of all, Mercy didn’t expect to belong.
The crown was a slight thing, simple, but lovely. Yet it weighed heavy on her brow.
The woman led them both through the throng of people to a conveyance and then she spoke again. “You don’t know how long we’ve waited for you, Magnus.”
“I’m sure I do.” He nodded.
“We’d heard you were imprisoned on Hel.”
“Yes.” He didn’t offer any further explanation.
“My name is Anae. I know you don’t remember me, but I brought you into the world, Destroyer.” She turned to look at Mercy. “It’s such a transformation seeing them go from fat-cheeked darlings to… that.” She offered a kind smile.
Yes, looking at Magnus it was hard to think that he had ever been small, helpless, or round-cheeked.
He arched a brow as if daring her to visualize it, but then his expression melted into one of seriousness. “Tell me, how did you come to be here? And how did Rollo not know of it?”
“With you captured, he left us in peace.”
“And when he gets word of my return, there will be war.”
“Yes.” Anae nodded. “But it is a war we’re ready for. We knew you’d return and avenge Boudicea. We prepared for your coming when we heard about what happened on Hel.”
“There’s news of Hel?” Mercy interrupted.
“Oh yes. It’s been all over the ‘verse.” Anae pushed a few buttons and a screen slipped down from the ceiling.
“Breaking news,” a voice said. “When following up on an SOS dispatch from prison planet Hel in the Asgard system, Interstellar Commission officers found this.”
And there, on the screen, was nothing but fire. A planet, engulfed in flames.
“The last transmission from Hel shows that a global riot had overtaken the planet and steps were taken for containment. Hel All-Father, Warden Lokison was on Holle when it happened and Stigurrson Brie is on the evac site with him now.”
She was torn between being glad he was still alive and wondering just how things would’ve gone down if Magnus hadn’t taken her. Would she have been among the casualties? She waited with baited breath to see if he mentioned her or Magnus.
Odin Lokison wore a proper mask of severity and empathy when he faced the reporter. Yet, for all of the struggle and the horror, his hair was perfect. Not a strand out of place. His Galaxy Corrections
A cabin by some lake, surrounded by warmth and green and growing things. Fields upon fields, open and wide.
But she’d forgotten that Valkyries did not live quiet lives.
They lived hard, they lived fast, and burned to ash.
She looked at Magnus and realized that while the quiet life seemed pretty because it was safe, it wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted Magnus—all of him.
And that included the hard things, the ugly things. The things she feared. But she realized she’d rather burn out with him than ever go back to the life she had on Hel.
Mercy would do everything she’d said she would. She would learn to shoot, to fight, she’d be an asset to Magnus rather than the wilting flower that needed protection.
A woman approached, a priestess of some sort. She bore a crown. “May I?” she asked Mercy in the common tongue.
She tried to imagine her father waiting on a woman’s permission for anything. That would happen when the sun shone in the Great Dark. Mercy nodded to the woman and she placed the crown atop Magnus’s golden head.
In truth, it looked so right. He was King of the Acadians—small population though they may be, they were his people.
Now hers.
“And you? Will you accept your crown, Mercy, daughter of Eir, Valkyrie to the Destroyer?” the woman asked her.
Emotion welled thick in her throat. She’d been raised to be a leader’s wife, not to lead herself.
Magnus took her hand and she bowed her head.
She didn’t expect the crowd to cheer.
She didn’t expect this to feel so right.
Most of all, Mercy didn’t expect to belong.
The crown was a slight thing, simple, but lovely. Yet it weighed heavy on her brow.
The woman led them both through the throng of people to a conveyance and then she spoke again. “You don’t know how long we’ve waited for you, Magnus.”
“I’m sure I do.” He nodded.
“We’d heard you were imprisoned on Hel.”
“Yes.” He didn’t offer any further explanation.
“My name is Anae. I know you don’t remember me, but I brought you into the world, Destroyer.” She turned to look at Mercy. “It’s such a transformation seeing them go from fat-cheeked darlings to… that.” She offered a kind smile.
Yes, looking at Magnus it was hard to think that he had ever been small, helpless, or round-cheeked.
He arched a brow as if daring her to visualize it, but then his expression melted into one of seriousness. “Tell me, how did you come to be here? And how did Rollo not know of it?”
“With you captured, he left us in peace.”
“And when he gets word of my return, there will be war.”
“Yes.” Anae nodded. “But it is a war we’re ready for. We knew you’d return and avenge Boudicea. We prepared for your coming when we heard about what happened on Hel.”
“There’s news of Hel?” Mercy interrupted.
“Oh yes. It’s been all over the ‘verse.” Anae pushed a few buttons and a screen slipped down from the ceiling.
“Breaking news,” a voice said. “When following up on an SOS dispatch from prison planet Hel in the Asgard system, Interstellar Commission officers found this.”
And there, on the screen, was nothing but fire. A planet, engulfed in flames.
“The last transmission from Hel shows that a global riot had overtaken the planet and steps were taken for containment. Hel All-Father, Warden Lokison was on Holle when it happened and Stigurrson Brie is on the evac site with him now.”
She was torn between being glad he was still alive and wondering just how things would’ve gone down if Magnus hadn’t taken her. Would she have been among the casualties? She waited with baited breath to see if he mentioned her or Magnus.
Odin Lokison wore a proper mask of severity and empathy when he faced the reporter. Yet, for all of the struggle and the horror, his hair was perfect. Not a strand out of place. His Galaxy Corrections
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