The Valkyrie (31 page)

“What are you
going to do with yourself?” Honour asked.

“I don’t know
yet, I may take up tennis. I’ve always fancied being the sort who
plays tennis.” Glory said pondering where she could get one of
those white pleated skirts from. “I’ve got to be out of here by 3pm
so I’d appreciate some help moving my armour if you wouldn’t mind
Valour and Honour.”

“Of course I
mind.” Honour said schlepping over to a breastplate near the door
to the hallway and carrying it out of the front door. Valour picked
up a box of gauntlets and threw them down.

“That’s not
funny.” Liberty said as Valour followed Honour out to Glory’s car.
“What’s actually going on? I don’t want the press release, I want
the truth.”

“I honestly
don’t know.” Glory shuffled about “It just felt like the right
thing to do. I won’t be far away. I bought a house in Highgate a
century ago. It’s got a nice lawn, we could play croquet in the
summer and drink gin.”

“Croquet?”

“Yes I know
what you mean, it’s just not cricket.”

“And you’re not
compus mentis.”

“I am the
sanest I’ve been for a long time. I feel unburdened, liberated even
if you will.”

“What aren’t
you telling me?”

“Have you ever
doubted my judgement?”

“Constantly,
you’re a terrible judge of men for example.”

“Alright that
was fair. I’m done with this Liberty. I’m done with hiding behind a
job and a uniform. I’m done with finding joy in mundane routine.
I’m done with being hit on by Odin in Valhalla. I’m done with
picking up Freya’s slack. I’m done acting like an adolescent.”

“An
adolescent?”

“I’m not saying
that you act like a juvenile, but we kind of do. The drinking, the
drugs, the boys all of it feels so puerile. I’m not an anxious
teenager overcompensating any more. Don’t be mad with me. I can’t
be a Valkyrie, but I can be your friend.”

“Of course you
can be.” Liberty and Glory hugged.

***

Glory shut the
door of the Highgate house behind her. She cradled the last of the
boxes from the car and took them into the kitchen. This was a
kitchen with neither a narcotics nor an opiates draw. It was
however a kitchen with Gravitas in. He was leaning against the
island with a bottle of champagne in hand, concentrating on
removing the fiddly golden foil. Besides him were two champagne
coupes.

“Aha, there you
are. My congratulations.” Gravitas popped the cork “What? Oh I see,
you feel that I am intruding. I just thought it would be nice to
celebrate.”

“Celebrate
what?”

“Moving on. You
finally moved on. I had hoped you’d do it on your own but alas I
had to nudge you along. I apologise if you feel that I was heavy
handed. We’re going to have so much fun you and I.”

“Doing
what?”

“Universal
domination, my girl. Universal domination.”

“What’s in it
for me?”

“Well
everything. Don’t worry I’m not a raging homicidal psychopath.”

“That’s
reassuring.” Glory said taking the glasses from Gravitas’s hand and
sipping the champagne. “This is a nice vintage. How can I trust
you?”

“You can’t, not
really, but now you’ve seen Apollo and Ares in action I doubt you
would choose any of the alternatives.”

“Were you
really in love with Liberty?”

“Cheers”
Gravitas clinked Glory's glass.

Thank you for reading
The Valkyrie. I hope you enjoyed it. You made it to the end so you
can't have hated it that much. Or maybe you did and you carried on
reading out of anger at the cold blooded murder of the English
tongue? That way you could be an eye witness of my crime and give a
highly reliable statement at the High Court of Literary
Nonsense...

Either way if you want
to find out more and for 'bonus content' please visit
thevalkyrie.co
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Cheers, Charlotte
xoxo