章 56: We Were One

I couldn’t stand it. I jumped to my feet and took two fast steps away from him. I glared at the praying hands of the stone angel, determined not to look at Michael. I imagined grasping those small, innocent hands in mine and crushing the hope right out of them.

“Why?” I asked the statue. “Why would she do something so…horrible?”

“For a long time the Hallowed had been losing the battle against the dark. Your mother knew that the only chance we had was for someone stronger than any human to stand against him.” He paused and cleared his throat. It seemed like he had something more to say, but wasn’t too happy about it. I almost turned around. Almost.

“The Hallowed asked Odin to intervene. To send Valkyries once more. But there are few left, and he said no. He said he’d already sent many of his precious daughters but man and demons had cut them down, killing them and their offspring to the very last one. He said he could do no more.”