Page 12 of A Darkness So Sweet

But then he’d leaned forward and whispered that he would never be her husband, and Maia felt again the charge of terror that came from those words.

Or maybe that was just vomit pressing against the back of her throat.

“Stop,” she hissed out, trying hard to not spew it all down his back.

“No,” the monster growled.

“Stop, or I’m going to vomit all down your back.”

“I told you not to do that, woman.”

She slapped her hand hard against his spine, not caring if he beat her for the action. If he didn’t stop, she was going to embarrass herself even further. She wanted to tell him that not vomiting wasn’t an active choice, but all that came out was a horrible retching sound.

He stopped immediately and tossed her from his back.

Maia landed in a heap on the ground. Some of it was soft moss, so at least her knees didn’t hurt when she landed, but her right wrist cracked against a fallen log. The blinding pain was a distraction only for a moment before everything heaved out of her body in one impressive projectile mess.

Her captor made a low hissing noise, one that she was certain was meant to be an expression of disgust. She was disgusted with herself, too.

But maybe, if she could pull herself together, she could get home. All she had to do was explain to him that she was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. He’d wanted a princess for a wife! She certainly wasn’t that.

Just look at her. There was mud on her wedding gown. It splattered over her knees and left dark wet patches all down her chest. She’d managed not to get vomit on the dress, but the puddle of it in the moss was humiliating enough.

She stared down at the fabric and could only feel angry at what the king and princess had done to her. “Cream,” she muttered. They’d truly expected her to believe that, and she had.

What a mess she was. None of this would have happened if she had just said something. Her entire life was filled with moments like this because she was too scared or too passive to speak up. All of this was her fault and somehow, that made it even worse.

“What did you say?” the troll asked, his deep voice different from anything she’d ever heard before.

The accent there was similar to how the other troll had spoken. She’d never forget the way that green creature had sounded. Everyone always talked about the black tongue and how just hearing it could curse a person.

But it had sounded so lyrical. Like a song or a hymn the other troll had hummed through words, and that made her feel like an absolute idiot even thinking so pleasantly of him. Because so far, all she had seen from these people was callous treatment and vomit.

She ran her hand under her weeping nose. “I said nothing.”

“I have better hearing than humans.” He crouched down in front of her, sinking onto his haunches and not even caring that his pants were loosely tied onto the sides of his legs, and his movements revealed more skin than it should have.

She averted her gaze, just in case it was rude for her to stare. “I know you can hear better, and see better. There are many stories humans tell of your kind.”

“What do you know of trolls? You won’t even look at me.”

Why did he want her to? He didn’t want to be around her, and he certainly didn’t want her as a bride.

So she stared at everything but him. The forest was just as unforgiving, though. She’d always thought there was a romantic quality to the hidden trees and space between the glens. But now, all she saw were the sharp edges of the twigs and the ominous silence that surrounded them.

“I used to dream about walking through this wood,” she whispered. “It was always forbidden for any of us to come in here. But I always wondered what magic was hidden within the trees.”

“There is no magic hidden here.”

“No.” Her voice cracked around the word, and she tried hard to rein those feelings in. “I fear there is very little here for anyone but trolls.”

Even the rocks that poked through the moss were hard, sharp. Her wrist ached where she’d struck it against the log, and her stomach felt bruised. She feared he’d injured her just by carrying her. Her mind whirled, the truth pressing against her tongue even as hopelessness set in.

She should tell him now. This was all just a horrible mistake. If she didn’t tell him the truth soon, he would think she was part of the plan. Would he kill her? Would he do what others had said the trolls did? Skin her alive and then hang her body from the trees?

Finally looking over at the monster that crouched in front of her, she stared at all the pieces of him that could so easily harm her.

His claw tipped hand rested on his knees. The black claws were curved like a falcon’s and left little dimples in his skin, as though even he could not escape their sharpness. They could tear out her throat, even if the massive size of his hands didn’t give away that he could kill her without a moment’s thought. All he would have to do was grab onto her head and twist. The power in the size of his shoulders, in the towering height of him, all of that proved he was a walking weapon.

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