Page 27 of A Darkness So Sweet

He arched a brow, making all of this worse. “I’ll call you whatever I want. Human scum. Weak woman. Fire hair, troll wife—I’ll call you whatever I want because you don’t fight back.”

“Enough.” That red had reached her face now. Tomato red cheeks matched her hair. If she had been a troll, she would have smacked him already.

“It will never be enough. I will torment you for the rest of your life because you do not have a single bone in your body worthy ofme.”

And just like that, she exploded.

Both of her hands came down on his chest and shoved with surprising strength. She even pushed him back an entire step with the force of her anger. “Worthy of you? I know nothing of this world you brought me into. I’m not even supposed to be here! You don’t listen to me, you don’t do anything right according to the other trolls I’ve spoken with!” she seethed. “You dress me in rags and someone else had to pierce my ears and give me jewelry from her own husband! Nothing about you makes me wish I was worthy of your attention. You’ve wasted both of our times and I hope to all the gods in the sky and everyone who can hear me that the blood witch finds us incompatible, you absolute beast!”

Ragnar stared at her, watching as her chest rose and fell with the power of rage that coursed through her veins. She glared at him, bright red and angry. Her nostrils flared and her eyes were so green that he swore he could see the forest in them. Her hands curled into fists, perhaps ready to punch him if he pushed back at her in the slightest.

Instead, he raised his hands and nodded. “For a moment, I believed perhaps you had a spine after all. More of that, fire hair, and you’ll do just fine.”

She somehow turned even more red. “Excuse me?”

“You show your true strength when you’re angry. Such is power. When you let that fuel you, you can see more than what you did when you were trying to hide. I didn’t realize you were disappointed in my treatment of you.”

“How could I not be?” Maia burst out, shouting it into the forest.

And still, he grinned even wider. “I didn’t think you cared how I treated you.”

“You were the one who said you would never be my husband on our wedding day.” She turned her nose up at him and sniffed. “I’m just informing you that you were right.”

He wanted to kiss her. He’d wipe that snotty expression off her face and bring her down onto the bed of leaves at her feet. He’d ravage her right here in the forest until she screamed so loud the other trolls would hear her. All just to wipe that smug expression off her face. But she wouldn’t welcome that. Not when she was so angry at him.

Instead, he gestured for her to follow him. “The blood witch will determine if you are right.”

“I’ll make sure she sees reason,” Maia snapped before stomping in front of him.

He walked behind her, only giving her directions when she started going the wrong way. And what a view. He’d never noticed how round her hips were beneath that shirt, nor had he noticed how her bottom swayed with every step. It was quite the sight. Almost enough to make him like her.

But then the blood witch’s hovel appeared out of the trees. Her kind always lived in earthbound homes. This hut had sunk into the forest floor. It looked like a hill covered in fallen branches, earth, and moss. Hard to notice at all, unless one knew what they were looking for.

“There,” he said, pointing at the door that was barely a door. “We’re going in there.”

The worn wood, half rotten, swung open on its own. The smell of mildew and mushrooms filled the air as smoke poured out of the room beyond.

Maia gulped, her throat working to swallow her fear. But she didn’t cower like he’d expected. Instead, she just gave him a determined nod. “Looks inviting.”

Ragnar chuckled and followed her into the shadows. He’d known it was a bad idea to be alone with her. But now that he’d discovered her ire, he found he rather liked her.

ChapterEleven

MAIA

Maia was shockedby how good it had felt to just let loose. But the moment the angry words had crossed her lips, she had frozen, waiting for him to shoot back angry barbs. Surely he would make her feel awful about herself. He’d spit words that would remind her how she was beneath him, and everyone else.

But those words hadn’t come. Ragnar might’ve been a terrifying man with far more power than he deserved to have in just his pinky, but he wasn’t her father. He wasn’t like the man who had beaten her down into a mere smudge on the floor compared to what she wanted to be. Even in death, the man who’d raised her still lived inside her head. He still whispered in her mind that she should know her place, and that had kept her exactly where he had wanted her for years.

It would take more time to feel confident and able to say whatever was on her mind, but... Damn. It had felt good.

It was for that reason that she could look at the hovel rising out of the ground before her and not be afraid. Or perhaps not as afraid as she might have been if she wasn’t fueled by her anger. There was still an air of warning about the mist that flowed out from the door that swung open on its own. And from the house itself.

As they walked toward it, she stared up at the greenery that covered the roof. Sprigs of grass poked through the emerald blanket of moss that covered it, though some of it was flopping over the side as though they were lacking in water.

Something twisted inside Maia’s chest. Plants had always called out to her when they were in need. She could feel their pain in her chest. As Ragnar walked through the doorway, she reached above her head for a split second and let her fingers brush through the strands. The grass sent a pulse of happiness through her skin and she felt them wake with the slightest amount of magic she poured into them.

It wasn’t much. Not even enough to really be called magic. But it was a bit more than what they currently had, and they were grateful for her intervention.

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