23 Chapter 23:

〰 Proximo 〰

"You and Hrudra are good now?" Valrun asks me when Hrudra dove past my Queen, Khole, and lashed out with her wooden sword. Khole dove away from the attack and flipped back in order to get some distance between us.

Just watching Hrudra fight aroused me and reminded me of the last two days we spent cuddled in the sheets. It had been the best time in my life, just to talk, joke, laugh, and have sex over and over again until we passed out from exhaustion.

Yep, that was the life.

"Yes. We sorted out of concerns and now we are prospering." I glanced over at Valrun, seeing she had large bags underneath her eyes. "How are you doing with him?" I ask, referring to Rogan, her supposed mate.

"I have nothing to say about the man. My heart and soul has and always will belong to my beloved." She curses at me while Hrudra threw her wooden sword at Valrun. Valrun barely ducked from the blade, it hit the ground beside her.

"Don't snap at my mate. Do it again and I'm giving Rogan your number." Hrudra snarls, her protective nature over me causing my heart to swell at her words.

"Fuck off, Hrudra. You've already given him all my social media accounts." Valrun snaps back in a threatful manner, picking up the sword and thrusting it back towards them before Khole launched herself onto Hrudra's back, taking her down easily.

"I got her Lana!" Khole yells at her best friend, Agalana, as she clapped happily and walked over to them.

"Well done! Only four thousand six hundred twenty-nine techniques left!" Agalana said in a cheerful voice causing Hrudra and Khole to groan. She helped Khole off of Hrudra who was quick to jump off the ground and glare at Valrun with mischief in her eyes.

"You're completely right?! I'll just help Rogan much like you helped Proximo catch me! That seemed to work fairly well in the end, right Proximo?" She turned to me, giving me a cute head tilt that made my heart swoon.

"Correct, Mate." I nod, both of us turning to a fuming Valrun who had very red cheeks.

"I'm going to slaughter you al-"

"That's not a very nice way to treat my friends, is it?" Rogan suddenly appeared, Valrun's body posture going rigid as she cursed and marched away. He sighed before smiling at both of us with kindness. "Has she been causing you both trouble?" He asks, watching her walk away.

"Nah. She just being Valrun." Hrudra waved off, walking over to me and sitting down in my lap. "Are you joining us in the front? I believe Valrun is going and when she's emotional, she doesn't fight all that well." Hrudra admits.

"Bitch! I fight perfectly well for your information!" Valrun snaps back almost twenty feet away but she continued walking not wanting to be near Rogan or any of us.

She sighed, leaning against my chest and closing her eyes in contempt. I wrapped my arms around her and leaned my chin against her shoulder before peering up at my old friend.

"Have fun." I simply said when Rogan glanced at his furious mate with amusement. Mist demons are normally the most entertained at someone running from them, and Valrun was the runner of light so my old friend will have much pleasure tempting her.

Though now that I knew everything about Hrudra, I even knew Valrun's past and I am templated on telling Rogan what he was against. Though Valrun has made it a mission to remind him that she's already been in love once and will never be in love again.

I've got to ask more about Valrun's fiance. Maybe Hrudra knows something about him.

"I will. You should know I love to make my woman obedient." He mumbles under his breath, walking in the direction where Valrun disappeared to making me sigh and hold onto Hrudra tighter.

"You think he'll be good for her?" Hrudra asks me with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"He's a good man, but a lot like me. He won't think before doing things. It may disrupt things." I point out as she nodded and leaned against my shoulder.

"Is it me or is it weird how there are so many Demon Valkyrie mate pairs? There's four already but we've yet to introduce everyone else. Recently, there's been an increasing number in inter-species coupling." Hrudra admits, thinking to everyone we know as I thought back to the Princess and her Valkyrie bride.

"That's true. I even heard of witches and wolves growing an alliance because of the increase in inter-species couples. Faye the heartless assassin even found herself the Lykae king. They are said to have three kids already." I inform her as she nodded and stared up at me with a timid smile.

"What do you think of kids, Proximo?" She asks out of the blue while I blinked back my shock.

"I'd love to have children. Why? Do you want to get pregnant with a child?" I ask in a joking way when she shifted to straddle my waist.

"Yes. I want offspring to grow an army." She says dead serious making me smile sweetly at her and press a kiss to her forehead.

"Hrudra. You can't be serious can you?" I said, hoping she truly wanted children but knowing it wasn't the best time to try and conceive.

"Well... Not about the army thing, I can easily get Valkyries to join me, but... Yes. I am serious about the kid thing. Maybe not yet but definitely in the future." She admits to me, her cheeks growing a little pink as she looked down at my shirt.

"I agree. When we return after everything has settled and Mira isn't after you, we will have children." I pressed my lips on her forehead making her clap happily and beam up at me.

"I'm not sure if that will ever happen, but once we get back we'll have a child! Oh, I am so excited to have my evil spawn conquer this world." She laughed out loud and blushed again. "I hate that you know this Hrudra..." She mutters under her breath making me laugh and hug her tightly.

"What are you talking about? I love this geeky side of you. It's the first time you've argued with me without beating me up." I tease as she shoved me and got off of my lap.

"Oh, I'll beat you up. But we'll do so privately." She hisses seductively, pulling my shirt and forcing me to get up. I looked down at her and noticed that her cheeks were bright red causing me to grin in victory.

"Tie me up then, M'lady." I taunt her as she narrowed her eyes and dragged me back towards our home.

"I'm so going to punish you now."

〰 Hrudra 〰

"Are you almost ready to head out?" I ask him, strapping on my last piece of armor as he walked into the room and handed me my sword.

"Yeah. Just getting the rest of your things then we'll go." He nods, turning to grab my trick bag from the closet. "Here." He tossed the bag at me while I snatched it and draped it over my shoulder.

"Thanks. Is everything prepared? Have you contact Valrun and Rogan to see if everyone is ready?" I question, sliding my blade in the belt and feeling the familiar strength that I've lacked for the last three days. It felt wonderful to have it strapped onto me yet again, but I didn't mind being tangled in the sheets with Proximo.

I wasn't going to lie, these were the best days of my life.

But we were going out to war with the vampires and wolves. Even if I wanted to remain in this calm life, I knew it wasn't for me.

I was a Valkyrie after all.

"Rogan contacted me saying that Valrun decided to go ahead before everyone else... He's keeping an eye on her so there's no need to worry for them." Proximo assures me when stuffing clothes in his duffle bag.

"That's Valrun's style. She takes after me sadly." I sigh, knowing the long months of running away but hoping Valrun would just accept Rogan as her own. Though I knew she wouldn't...

"Aww, mate. Don't worry about them. If I know anything about Rogan, he loves his woman to defy him. Think of it as his kink." He tells me, wrapping his arms around me when I scrunched my face up and shook my head.

"Ew. Gross, don't mention your friend's kinks." He chuckled leaning his cheek against my head.

"I was only kidding, Hrudra." Proximo jokes when I sighed and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Don't worry. She'll be safe with him." He comforts while I shook my head and pushed away.

"I'm not worried about her. She's my apprentice and more than capable than watching over herself. I'm more concerned about your friend. Valrun was a general in her past life with her beloved. They had one of the purest loves I've ever encountered at the time." I admit, running my hand through my hair.

"What- What was their relationship like?" He asks me in a curious tone.

"I don't know much. I just knew what I needed to at the time, but I was there when her beloved died and she was using the last bit of her energy to avenge him. At the time period, men and women were not allowed to fight. But... He was different and let her fight, trained her at her weakest points." I turned to him with a gentle smile. "That man was her savior," I said, knowing this knowledge would get to his friend but I wouldn't blame him.

I'd do the same thing in his position for his friend.

"You don't mi-"

"Go ahead. I'm just going to get everything else ready. Ask him how she's doing for me." I leaned up, pressing a kiss to his cheek before leaving the room. I listened as he dialed the phone for his friend when someone knocked on the door.

I walked to the door, I leaned up and saw Fiero outside with a basket of things before I backed away and opened the door for him. He smiled kindly and held the basket out to me.

"I brought some things for your travels." He says with a gentle smile when I looked at him suspiciously. "I'm a soothsayer, remember?" Fiero reminds as I nodded and relaxed slightly.

"Of course. Thank you, but what do I need these things for?" I ask, pointing out a toy in the basket making him smile softly.

"Just bring them. You'll need them all." He assures before leaving me without another word. I simply stared at him and closed the door with my foot.

"Whose that from? And why is there a condom?" He questions when I blushed and set the basket on the table.

"The soothsayer brought it for us to bring with us. He didn't tell me what everything was for." I inform Proximo, almost tempted to leave everything here.

"Alright then. I'll go grab a bag then." He nods when I spun around in shock.

"You're serious? Why would we bring things we don't need that'll just hold us down?" I said in confusion, not understanding the reason why he would even think of bringing these things.

"Hrudra. If a soothsayer tells us to bring things, even if it's heavy. We should at least consider the possibility these things may be needed. That package of food could be for survivors at the camps. Or, those matches may be for a fire if we need one. What's the worst that could happen?" He questions with a gorgeous smile while I looked away and shook my head.

"Don't say that. You're gonna jinx us..." I murmur with irritation as he chuckled and walked into our room.

"I'll be back. Be ready in ten." He calls back while I sighed and collapsed on the couch and closed my eyes. The soft cushions behind me making me think back to the last few days. My instincts told me that something is going to happen in the next few days and that wasn't a good feeling.