One Night With The Valkyrie. Jane Godman

had died when Danny was a baby and their mother had remarried almost immediately. Although their lifestyle was privileged, their stepfather was not a warm man, and despite their age difference, the two brothers had grown closer than ever. When their mother died, Adam had been twenty-one. He hadn’t needed her deathbed reminder to care for Danny. His eleven-year-old brother had moved in with him. Adam had found a school that specialized in helping students with Danny’s needs. Even though the diagnosis of severe dyslexia had come late, the teachers had supported him well and Danny had thrived. He had graduated high school and, refusing Adam’s offers of help, had found himself a job in a charitable foundation working with refugees.

      Adam had done his best to talk him out of coming to Syria, but Danny had a stubborn streak a mile wide. Adam smiled. It was a Lyon trait. His own was several miles wider. His mind conjured up an image of his brother in the days before he’d left. So sure of what he was doing, so dedicated, so determined.

      “That’s where we differ, Danny. You have strong principles, and are prepared to stand up for them.” Adam remembered his own words just before Danny left.

      Danny had returned his gaze steadily. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’re the person who raised me.”

      Adam had given a self-deprecating laugh. “I have no illusions about myself.”

      Once Danny got to Syria, the brothers had maintained a regular communication. Calling, messaging, emailing whenever they could. Then Danny’s attitude had started to change. He had always been upset about what was happening in Syria. Suddenly, instead of wanting to help in a humanitarian way, he began to talk about taking real action. That was when Adam started to get concerned about him. When the communication stopped, his concern turned to fear.

      He found out from the organizers of the charity that Danny had gotten friendly with a group of men he’d met in one of the local villages. It was only after Danny left the nonprofit that the organizers discovered his new friends were mercenaries.

      Adam withdrew the photograph of Danny from his pocket and looked at the familiar face. At the clear, laughing eyes so like his own, but lacking Adam’s cynicism and ruthlessness. His fist clenched hard on his thigh.

      I must find him. I have to take him home.

      The opening of the door interrupted his thoughts and a small, tousled head inserted itself into the room.

      Tarek smiled when he saw Adam was awake. “I can put the light on?”

      Adam nodded. “Please do.”

      Tarek’s presence was a welcome interruption. The dog he had carried with him on the previous day also seemed to consider himself included in the invitation. After bounding into the room with a shrill bark, the little creature leaped onto the bed and made several enthusiastic attempts to lick Adam’s face.

      “He likes you.” Tarek took the chair at the side of the bed. “He knows you saved us when the Reapers were chasing us.”

      The dog might have been a terrier, but his unkempt appearance meant his parentage was indeterminate. He was young and friendly, and once his initial exuberance had died down, he curled up on Adam’s legs with a contented sigh. Having him there felt curiously comforting.

      “What’s his name?”

      “Leo.” Tarek must have been aware of the sudden intensity of Adam’s gaze, because he clearly felt the need for further clarification. “I named him after the man who gave him to me.”

      Leo. It was a long time since he’d heard his brother’s childhood nickname. Leo the Lyon. It had been their private joke. Adam felt sharp, unaccustomed tears stinging the back of his eyelids.

      “Is this the man who gave you your dog?” He held out Danny’s picture.

      “Yes.” Tarek laughed delightedly as he looked at the picture. “How did you know it was him?”

      Although he smiled, his hand reached out for Leo, tangling itself in the wiry fur as though the dog was his comforter.

      “Tell me some more about this man, Tarek.”

      “You sound just like Maja. She wanted to know all about the warriors I have met.”

      Adam sat up so abruptly it felt like a red-hot wire had been inserted into his shoulder. He also dislodged Leo, who whined a protest. “Maja?”

      “The lady with the long gold hair. The one who was dressed like a superhero.” Eyeing him with concern, Tarek clearly felt further explanation was necessary. “She brought us here after you were shot.”

      Adam slumped back on his pillows. The action dislodged something from his hair. A single feather, so pure and white it could only have come from the breast of a swan, drifted down and landed on the worn sheet next to his hand. His fingertips closed over it.

      I am not a figment of your imagination. He heard her voice saying the words. Stunned, he remained still for a few minutes, letting Tarek’s chatter wash over him.

      There were too many questions vying for dominance in Adam’s mind. When had Tarek seen Danny, the man who had given him his dog? What did Tarek mean when he said the Reapers had been chasing him? Surely he had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time when Adam rescued him?

      Somehow, all the other questions were pushed aside and Adam asked the one that mattered most right now. “Did you see where Maja went?”

      Tarek started to answer, but his words were drowned out by the sound of gunfire coming from just outside the building.

      * * *

      Being stranded in the mortal realm without her steed shouldn’t feel like a reprieve, but it did. Maja had no doubt that recalling Magtfuld was Brynhild’s way of punishing her. Cutting her off from any means of returning to Valhalla would ordinarily feel isolating and frightening. Right now, it felt like she had been handed a lifeline.

      This was temporary, Maja told herself, as she did a final check to make sure she really couldn’t call Magtfuld from the shadows. Her guess was that Brynhild’s plan was to leave her in the mortal realm just long enough to make her suffer. Then her sister was likely to send a rescue party. The message? Don’t step out of line again. By dismissing her companions, Maja hadn’t conformed to the behavior expected of a shield maiden. Brynhild didn’t do anger. She did retaliation. Cold, calculated and carefully planned.

      This way, Maja might have time to at least salvage part of her reputation. Maybe, just maybe, she could still track down the American Lion. She had an outside chance of succeeding, but she may as well make the attempt. And the key to the whereabouts of the brave warrior she sought was back at the mission. The only brief glimpse she had gotten into his whereabouts had come when Adam had responded when she had mentioned him. His words had suggested that the American Lion was his brother. Although he had refused to discuss the matter, he had not denied it. And Maja had subsequently become somewhat distracted from the topic.

      A blush tinged her cheeks. Was she being honest with herself? Was she really seeking the American Lion, or was she looking for an excuse to go back to Adam? She decided the two things were so closely entwined that it would be impossible to separate them. Tell yourself that. It sounds so much better than the truth...that you cannot stay away from him.

      Unearthing her cloak, helmet and weapons from the space beneath the stairs where she had hidden them, she decided the only way she would know for sure about any connection between Adam and the American Lion would be to ask him outright.

      A heavenly dawn light was breaking through the wispy cloud as Maja retraced her steps. She had never had a chance to appreciate the beauty of the mortal realm on previous missions. Although humans had a terrible capacity to cause harm to each other, this world of theirs had the power to move her with its magnificence. The contrast between the destruction that had taken place within the town, and the rolling countryside around it, unveiled now by the emerging light, could not have been starker.

      As Maja followed the road out of the village, she picked up the sound of conflict. They were, after