Page 35 of A Darkness So Sweet

ChapterFourteen

RAGNAR

He didn’t sleep that night. Instead, he leaned against a tree and watched the firelight play over Maia’s features. He’d decided for her to be his troll wife, and now he wouldn’t go back on that. Once Ragnar gave his word, he kept that word, no matter how hard it was. But what he hadn’t figured out was how to make sure that he could.

His people would be livid to find out that he hadn’t killed her. They were probably all assuming he’d taken her away to make this slow. He would keep the kill for himself, then show back up with her fingers in his pockets and blood coating his skin. He would return victorious, keeping his people safe from yet another human who thought they knew how to hurt the trolls. But that was far from the case.

The seers knew something he didn’t. And he was starting to understand perhaps a bit of what that was.

Maia was softer than any troll he’d ever met. His people had learned to be hard throughout years of war and hiding from the humans while they’d learned how to be people themselves. And that was the most difficult part to get over. They had hundreds of years of animalistic nature they fought against, even now. She would never understand that.

He was no better than the trolls with the least elven magic. Though those families were just starting on their journey out of the mud and the pits of darkness, they were the ones who he looked to first. They were the ones who deserved his attention more than any other. Because they still didn’t entirely have their minds yet. It took time and generations to be able to think rather than react.

As the pink streaks of sunrise crested the sky, his little human woke. She scrunched in on herself at the dawning of consciousness. He’d thought perhaps she would stretch, show off more of those curves that were barely revealed through the slices in his shirt. Instead, she curled a little tighter, as if clinging to sleep for a few moments before all that tension released.

Rolling up into a seated position, she stared at him through bleary eyes with her hair tangled in a red cloud around her head.

“You’re still here,” she muttered.

“Where else would I go?”

“You could have just left me in the woods to fend for myself. I get that you don’t want to kill me, but there are plenty of things here that would, I reckon.”

It would take time for him to win her trust. And time for her to win his trust as well.

Ragnar shook his head. “I don’t want to kill you, fire hair. But we do need to return.”

“Are we finally going to your home?”

“Yes.”

“How far is it?”

He pointed at the mountain she’d been leaning against. The monolith of power stood at her back and the massive rock had kept her safe from the winds last night. “We’re already here.”

All night, he’d listened to the song of the mountain. The echoing cry of the stones that recognized him. This place sang for him, and it called for him to come home. It wanted him to return to the depths, to the safety of where all the trolls lived. But it wasn’t sure if it wanted him to bring a bride who might be dangerous to them all.

He wished he knew the right answer. But for now, he had to trust her. And keep an eye on her. The moment she stepped foot into his home, she would be watched by everyone around her.

Maia craned her neck and looked behind her. Her eyes widened, and he wished he knew if that was in shock or anticipation. Or if she was terrified at what she imagined lived within.

But, after the meager time he’d spent with his troll wife, he should have known she wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut and hide her thoughts from him.

“Trollveggen,” she whispered.

“Indeed. It is.”

What must it look like to her human eyes? He knew what it looked like to him. The “troll wall”, as the humans called it, was a wide swath of mountain that lurched out of the earth as though it was a living, breathing thing. Parts of the mountain range caught clouds within it, and that made it look like the mountain itself was breathing, exhaling smoke into the sky. The peaks were rarely visible, but he’d climbed them when he was young. He’d seen the sun pierce through the veil of clouds that shrouded the sight of the sky and he’d seen tops of those clouds as he peered over them. They looked like he could walk upon them, though he’d tripped over himself when he tried.

“They say Trollveggen is cursed,” Maia whispered. “The darkness inside of the caverns will steal your eyesight if you even try to go into it.”

“It is dark inside, yes.”

“The rumors always claimed that it wasn’t just the trolls who lived within. But giant worms that would devour an entire person in one bite. Bats the size of small horses and... other creatures that were likely just conjured up by a terrified mind. That’s what the smoke is. The mountain breathing, and maybe, the creatures within it causing that breath.” She tucked a strand of that wild hair behind her ear, as though that would do anything to make her appear more presentable. “We’re taught to fear it.”

Ragnar stood, kicking dirt over the fire before he reached out a hand for her to take. “There is nothing to fear here but rocks and stones.”

“Those can be fearsome in their own right.” She reached for his hand, her tiny fingers tucking into his as he easily lifted her.

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