Val smirked, “I might still find a use for them, scared as they are, but you have 24 hours to let them know that if you do not report in and take new orders, I will send that one to hunt them down, and she will take pleasure in freeing their souls from the darkness they have embraced.”Val pointed at Alexa who grinned wolfishly. Val knew that while Alexa had claimed to not be a killer, the depravity she had seen on this street was enough for her to make an exception and that she would gladly hunt this kind of man down.“Now, as for the girls,” Val said turning to the doxies who all cringed in fear. “I want a list of everyone of your names. You have three options. One, you sign a release of work and leave tonight to seek your own way in the world free from the razor’s edges. I can offer you a months pay as severance.”Val glanced around and saw what she expected. While many would love to be free, starting over in this world was not an easy task even for those with the support of family

“Val, is that really you?” Valkyrie paused and glanced over her shoulder, instantly regretting it and averting her eyes. “Put some damn clothes on. No one wants to see that.” She heard Gregor quickly grabbed for a robe as he said, “Valkyrie, it’s you, isn’t it?” Val sighed and said to the room, “That girl died twelve years ago while cold, dirty, and without a home or a father.” “Celeana?” Gregor asked, a glimmer of hope in his voice. “Killed that same night, abandoned by the man she thought would love, cherish, and protect her and their daughter. But clearly, we both know that was not the case.” Val walked out into the hall with Gregor close behind her. As he stepped out into the hall to follow, Alexa stepped out of the shadows and placed one of her blades back at his neck. He froze as the cold runed blade bit into his skin. In a deadly tone, Val said, “I wouldn’t test her. Go back to your play thing in there and pray we never meet again, or I might be inclined to unman you. Wh

When the girls were set and Val returned to Alexa, her friend was just waking up.“Morning sleepyhead.”“Fuck off,” Alexa said groggily as she sat up and pushed wild strands of black hair from her face.“You are in a good mood,” Val joked.Alexa turned an icy glare on her. “Twice in one night you almost got me killed. This second time erased any scath I had collected to fix the damage caused by your so called ‘men’.”“But we won…”“This is what you consider winning? Val your winning sets us back in scath, cost us any level of surprise with Gregor, and now set you back half a guild's worth of personnel if that was really your goal. What did you actually gain out of this besides blood? Barclay is still out there, you own me even more scath…”Val looked at her friend sheepishly, “Its an investment towards future profits?”“An investment? Val, this is not really what they mean when they say ‘pour your blood, sweat, and tears into a business.’ It’s supposed to be metaphorical blood, not fu

Late that afternoon, Reilynn accompanied Valkyrie into town. Val had thought about trying to go on her own, but realized the General and his wife would protest and raise an issue. She was stuck between two worlds. One where she was an underworld queen of the sea, Durres, and now Caradon guilds and another world entirely where she was thought to be a helpless young woman whose outings could damage her chances of a marriage proposal.The notion made her sick to think about. Most of the men she had met thus far had died at the end of her blade or deserved to die in the near future.She thought of Alexa and considered sending for her to join them, but thought her friend likely wanted time away from her for now. The thought stunk in ways she had not expected.Morgessa had trained them both to be ruthless and to kill efficiently. Most of her training had been focused on Scath, but from time to time she had an especially nasty brute who had been sentenced to death by the Surian council of El

Valkyrie scowled at her friend. She supposed she should expect nothing less from Alexa and pushed to her feet. “I got your peace offering,” Alexa said over her shoulder before stepping off the roof and disappearing from sight. Val rushed to the side just in time to see Alexa tumble off a metal awning and then roll to her feet on the cobbled street. “Brazen showoff,” Val hissed as she followed Alexa to the street. Val rolled to her feet and set up to catch Alexa but when she turned the corner, Alexa was nowhere to be seen. “I like the chocolate covered strawberries,” came her voice from just behind Valkyrie. Val spun to find Alexa leaning against the brick wall. Alexa pushed off the wall and walked past Valkyrie with a determined gate. “You still owe me a lot of scath units, but the chocolate was a good place to start. Come on, there was a swarm of wraiths down by the fair. Its easy kills and we can likely load up for the night in a few hours.” Val had to run to keep up with Ale