Page 37 of A Darkness So Sweet

The sound of chittering bats could be heard from where they stood, and beyond that, the faintest clang of metal and the rumbling of deep troll voices that echoed from so far into the earth that it was impressive they could hear them at all.

The open maw that led deep into the ground swallowed all the light. It was easy to find if someone was brave enough to climb Trollveggen, but even then, it would be difficult to get the rest of the way down. He knew the rest of this tunnel was a labyrinth that sometimes led into only darkness and there was no getting out of it if one did not know the way.

Maia looked up at him, and he expected a question about where they were going. She was a curious little human, and he appreciated that about her.

Instead, the question that dripped from her lips was about what he had already said. “What are you trying to become, if not elves?”

He wrapped his arm around her waist, lifting her easily so they were face to face. He searched through her gaze, trying to know if she wanted to know the answer or if it would terrify her even more. Ragnar assumed the best he could do at this moment was to be honest.

“We are trying to become the darker version of them. Elves made of grit and power and mud.”

“Dark elves?” she whispered.

He didn’t have to reply. Instead, he drew her into the black maw of the cave, where the shadows swallowed them both whole.

ChapterFifteen

MAIA

She clung to him, feeling a little strange with his face so close to hers. Maia had expected to cling to his back, not to be carried like a proper bride across the threshold of darkness.

Soon enough, she would find out if the rumors were true. If the curses surrounding this kingdom would affect her, then soon her eyes would be lost. Perhaps she would learn if it was just blindness, or if it were the trolls that plucked out the eyes of any human visitor who dared to step foot in their kingdom. She wouldn’t be surprised. They were rather bloodthirsty individuals, in her experience, and they were very protective of each other.

Although she was coming to find it wasn’t just that they sought out fighting, but that they were born into it. If they didn’t fight, people took from them. Why wouldn’t they stand up for themselves?

It had only been a week here, and she already didn’t recognize her own thoughts.

She clung to Ragnar’s shoulders, and her thoughts turned to her safe home, a little garden left behind, and all of her things that she might never see again. She feared what would happen next. Would he force her to live underground for the rest of her life?

Ragnar was sure footed as he carried her through what looked like ink. Sometimes she swore she saw things moving in the black, but that had to just be a trick of the mind. She couldn’t seeanythingin this darkness, no matter how hard she tried. It was a little unnerving not being able to see.

All it did was give her more time to worry about what she would find in this kingdom compared to her own. She wanted to go back home more than she had so far on this entire journey. She wanted her comfortable bed and monotonous life. She wanted her freedom.

Ragnar’s breath was louder that she’d remembered. She could hear her own heart thundering in her ears, and she wondered if that was because all her senses were suddenly stronger.

He said she was his troll wife, now. Maia had no idea what being a troll wife even meant. Did that mean she was meant to stay here forever? Did she service him? She’d certainly attempted to do so, and he had denied her. That rejection had stung more than she wanted to admit.

If she was to be his wife, there were no rules around the role. After all, she knew what being a wife to a human meant.

And she damn well wasn’t going to let him crush her beneath his heel while she still had somewhere she could escape to.

Gasping, she struggled in his arms all of a sudden, trying to get down. He clamped down harder, grunting as she jammed her elbow into his rib, but never releasing her.

“Stop wriggling,” he growled, wrapping his arms around her even tighter. “You’re going to fall.”

“My plants!” The argument was meager, but she could only think of a few things to shout at him that might convince him to let her go home. “My business! We have to go back.”

“We’re not going anywhere but deeper into the mountain.”

“But the law! If a business and a home are vacant for more than two weeks, then it is forfeit to the crown. I have to go back and make sure that I get at least one client, or everything I’ve worked so hard for will be gone.”

“You’re a troll wife now, woman. What makes you think you’re going back home to your flower business?”

Tears pricked at her eyes. “You don’t understand. This was my life! My whole life. I spent countless hours in that garden, poured blood, sweat, and tears into the business. I never married, even after my father’s death, and starved some winters just to keep it. That business is mine, Ragnar. It’s no one else’s.”

Maia hoped he could feel the desperation in her. She had to go back. She had to get the business back on track. Her entire life—her entirebeing—was defined by that business. And he callously just thought she could throw it away?

His arms tightened even further until she could feel her bones creaking in protest. But then he stopped moving and just squeezed her.

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