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mahogany, I headed for the
nearest bedchamber.
    Inside I
found a wardrobe filled with threadbare clothes that had been hanging there for
at least sixty years. I shrugged off my fatigues and slipped on an emerald
green silk evening gown that appeared to date back to the 1930s.
    Spring
nights in the Alps were cold, so I flung two coats over my arm, a wool pea coat
with silly large buttons for myself and a long black trench coat for Jess. It
would hide his Army uniform during our trip to see Skuld .
    There was a
mirrored bureau in the corner of the room, and I moved closer to catch my
reflection. My hair was still pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of my neck.
I loosened my hair and used the ivory handled hairbrush sitting on the bureau
to brush it out, trying to make myself look presentable. I realized, gazing at
my reflection, that I was doing more than that. I was trying to look pretty for
him. The realization made me blush.
    I made my
way back to the great hall wondering how I could possibly survive letting
Sergeant Jesse Moran go.
    ****
    When I
returned to the hall, Jess was sitting up, blinking and massaging the back of
his neck.
    “ Where
are we? ”
    “ We
call it The Nest. It ’ s a castle that my family uses when we need a safe place to
stay. These days it ’ s only used for the Time of Progeny. ”
    Jess gave
me a blank look.
    “ The
Time of Progeny, ” I said, arranging thin pieces of rotting wood in the large
fireplace, “ is the time a Valkyrie spends in isolation during her last
month of pregnancy, just before the child is born. ”
    “ So,
you ’ ve …”
    “ No. ” I pulled a match from the match safe and struck a flame. “ I ’ ve never chosen a mate. ”
    “ But
you ’ ve been here before? ”
    “ Yes. ”
    “ But
not to have a child? ”
    “ No. ” I shifted the logs in the fireplace, letting the cold air
ignite the flames. When I had a good fire going, I stood and turned to Jess. He
was looking at me with a quizzical expression. Tiny lines crossed his brow, and
his head was tilted in a question.
    “ For
a Valkyrie, having a child is complicated. ”
    “ Complicated
how? ”
    I took a deep breath and gave myself some time to
decide how much to tell him. I’d already told him so much. “There are rules. The Rules of Progeny. Rules that the gods
put into place centuries ago.”
    “Okay, that’s weird,” Jess said, shaking his head. “What
kind of rules?”
    “When I’m ready, I can choose one of my heroes for a
mate. The expectation is that I will give birth within one year. If I’m lucky,
I will give birth to a daughter. My hero and I will be granted twenty-one years
to raise the child, and then we have to give her up to the Death Duty. All
Valkyries are required to serve the Death Duty, spending a decade walking the
earth as a corpse. As bad as that pain can be—to see someone you love, or
someone you have the potential to love, walk around as a corpse for ten years—it's
nothing compared to the bleak choices available if a Valkyrie gives birth to a
boy.”
    I stopped to take a breath and found I could not go
on.
    “Jesus.”
    I gave Jess a weak smile. “I suppose it’s no
surprise that most Valkyries avoid mating for as long as possible. But
eventually, mating is required.”
    Jess nodded, licking his lips. “And you’ve managed
to avoid it for how long?”
    “Too long.”
    “Meaning?”
    “I’m due.” I shrugged. “Overdue.”
    “God, Sabrina, I don’t know what to say.”
    “Oh, Jess,” I said. This time I managed a genuine
smile. “It’s just the way of things. I can’t change it any more than you can
change your mortality.”
    “We are what we are?”
    “Yes. We are what we are.”
    Despite the fire and the mild spring weather, the
ancient stones of The Nest seemed to suck the heat right out of the very air. I
picked the trench coat up from the divan and handed it to Jess. I was shivering
in my green silk.
    Jess’s eyes followed my every move