Page 26 of A Darkness So Sweet

He told himself to say something, anything, that would make her angry at him. There were words that could fly between them, and keep her at arm’s length. That was all it would take. A single sentence that would fill her with rage or fear of him.

“The blood witch can determine if we are not compatible,” he said, clearing his throat at the sheer wrongness of saying that. “She is the final test before you become my bonded mate.”

Maia staggered. He grabbed her elbow, certain she had tripped. But there didn’t appear to be anything that she’d caught her foot on.

Quickly she stammered, “What do you mean, the final test?”

“There are many seers for us to meet with before we can truly become mates.”

“But we’re married?”

He didn’t see how this was any reason for her to look so surprised. “In your human ways, yes. We are.”

Her mouth opened, closed, mimicked being a fish for a few moments before she gasped, “But we said vows before a priest. Nothing can change that.”

“In the human kingdom we are married. Not yet in mine.” He released her and shook off the sensation of her on his hand. No matter how many times he touched her, she lingered on his skin. Everywhere burned whenever he touched her. The heated sensation was distracting.

He continued forward, listening to her follow him after a bit of time. He knew it would take her a while to say anything, so he indulged himself in enjoying a sunny day in the forest. Ragnar focused on the beauty of the leaves, how pretty the song of the birds was, but then it grew too much.

Finally he turned around, crossed his arms over his barreled chest, and asked the question that had been burning in him for ages now. “Why do you not argue with me?”

She froze like he was a hunter who had come across a deer. Her eyes widened, her limbs tensed as though preparing to flee, but she didn’t. She stood there and said, “Do you want me to argue with you?”

He blew out a frustrated breath. “I want you to say what you’re thinking. I do not enjoy that you play coy and pretend to be some weak little thing. There is fire in you. A fight. It lives in all things just as the dragons of old breathed fire. You hold yourself back, and I do not understand why.”

She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing with the emotion. “Most people don’t want to fight.”

“Troll wives do. You dishonor me by not speaking your mind.”

He watched as she blinked and then drew her body in on herself. But she didn’t quite curve like normal. Instead, she took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “When I was growing up, I was told the sound of a woman speaking was grating on the nerves of men. My opinions did not matter. My knowledge about any subject also did not matter. I was to be silent, seen but not heard. That’s how I was raised.”

It made sense. But what didn’t make sense was why she still clung to those flawed teachings. “You are free from such expectations. You are now a troll wife. Act like one.”

He turned to go, assuming this conversation was over, but then heard her bitter laugh. He turned again, his brow arched in surprise.

Maia stood there in the glen, her arms raised as if in shock. “You think that’s it? You just say I don’t have to be like that anymore and an entire lifetime of discipline will disappear?”

“Yes. I gave you permission to let those memories go.”

“That’s not how it works!” It was the loudest he’d ever heard her.

Maia’s eyes widened as she registered her own volume. But this was what he had wanted. This was the person he thought might live inside of her. It was the same woman whose eyes had glittered with rage at their wedding.

He took a step closer to her, everything in him insistent that he push. “It sounds to me as if you are clinging to these old ideals. You are the one who wishes to be silent and meek.”

“That is not who I am.”

“You could’ve fooled me. Since the first moment I met you, you have been silent. Quiet. Lingering in the shadows like a mouse, flinching at every loud noise. You are nothing like a troll wife should be.”

He could see the red gathering at the base of her neck, slowly moving up her throat as massive emotions filtered through her body. And still, her voice was only mildly loud when she replied, “I do not cling to anything, troll! I’ve lived my entire life under a certain set of circumstances that kept me safe. I made my own rules, and they got me to where I am now.”

“Those rules bind you. You created your own chains and your own prison. This is foolish human nature and why you will never be worthy.” He walked ever closer to her, close enough to touch her if he lifted his arm.

She glared up at him. “It’s not a prison if it keeps me safe!”

“A prison is four walls from which you do not allow yourself to leave. You stare out at the world beyond, and you wish to live in it. You’ve told me so. The forest scared you? Everything seems to scare you, fire hair.”

“Don’t call me that.”

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