Page 108 of A Darkness So Sweet

The guard she’d spat at grabbed her arm and gave her a little angry shake. “You’re the one who wanted the troll, weren’t you? Come on, bitch. Let’s see if you’re as angry once you spend an evening with one of those monsters.”

“They aren’t monsters.”

“This one is,” he muttered, dragging her away from the others.

Rose tried to catch her hand, though her fingers slipped through Maia’s. “Be careful, Maia!” she called out. “He’s killed everyone else!”

Killed everyone else? What would lead a troll to do that? All the trolls she’d met valued the lives of women far more than just to… kill them. She staggered after the guard, disappearing into the shadows that blinded her after standing in the bright lights for so long.

Before she even knew where they were, the guard was already shoving her in a direction with an angry grunt. “Good luck, troll whore.”

And then there was only silence. She stood very still, waiting for her vision to come back. If this had been Ragnar’s cell, she was certain he would already have gathered her up in his arms. Which meant this wasn’t Ragnar’s. Which meant.... It could be anyone.

Taking a deep breath, she started with honesty. “If you’re one of the trolls I came with, then know I am Ragnar’s troll wife.”

A rustling noise came from the corner. Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned her head to look at the troll who crouched in the corner. He had his back to her, and there were horns stretched over his head. Not features she’d ever seen in their kind before, and that was enough to give her pause. She had an idea who he was, and how dangerous he was.

But she’d heard the other women whispering about him. The Bull, they called him. And he’d certainly torn through every single person who’d tried to fight him. Even Ragnar, although they had both stopped at the last second. Much to the disappointment of the surrounding crowd.

He shifted a bit more, and the light caught in his eyes, an eerie glowing green staring at her over his shoulder. “Don’t scream.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“I don’t like it when they scream.” He seemed almost to be talking to himself as he straightened.

By the gods, he was big. Bigger than any troll she’d ever been around. He was so much taller than she was, broader, and with more rippling muscles that were painfully on display. But she could also see his ribs. Too many of them. Too easy to count because he’d been starved for so long.

He took one lumbering step forward, awkwardly moving. She feared other women might have thought he was lunging at them, but she could see he was limping. His right leg was so stiff, he could hardly walk, let alone approach her without looking terrifying.

She stayed where she was, not screaming or allowing herself to even feel fear. She let him come to her, as slowly as he needed to.

And when he stopped so close that his chest almost brushed hers, she looked up at him. “My name is Maia,” she said. “I’m Ragnar’s troll wife.”

He leaned down, all deadly intent and flashing eyes. Closer and closer until she could feel his puffing breath against her face. “They gave you to me.”

“A troll wife cannot be given to anyone other than her husband.”

It seemed to shake him out of whatever state he was in. One moment he was glaring, and the next, he let out a long breath that sounded like a sigh. He curved in on himself, all that anger draining out of him until he took two of those staggering steps away from her. Gesturing to the cot, he finally said, “Sit, troll wife.”

She still wasn’t certain if he would harm her. Rose’s warning ran through her head a little too loudly for her to trust this troll. After all, he had killed other women.

But, as she perched on the edge of the cot, she remembered he had asked her not to scream. That he didn’t like it whentheyscreamed.

Perhaps that was part of the issue. The women they tossed in here reeked of fear. They screamed when they saw him, antagonizing every animalistic part of him just by existing. Maybe, just maybe, he didn’t have as much control as the other trolls.

A low, keening sound echoed in this throat. “You smell of fear now. Why?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know you. This is a unique experience for me.”

“I would not...” He blew out a long breath. “I do not want to harm a troll wife.”

She noticed the word switch and the way he emphasized the words “do not”, as though he needed to convince himself that they were true. He didn’t want to harm her, or at least, some part of him didn’t.

So she forced herself to relax, tried her best to drain all thoughts of fear from her mind, and watched as he limped to the corner. He had to bend awkwardly to reach something on the floor, though she couldn’t see what it was in the shadows. Then he was limping back to her with a small brass cup in his hands. It was dented on all sides, making it almost impossible to tell what it once might have been.

But it was full of clear water. He awkwardly knelt in front of her again, holding the cup out with clawed hands.

“A troll wife should always be offered refreshments,” he seemed to murmur to himself. As though he had to remember the rules for all this. “They drink before we do.”

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