Page 38 of A Darkness So Sweet

Darkness surrounded them. There was just the sound of his even breathing and her heart beating out of sync. Then, all she could focus on was the tightness of his grip. How easily he held her in those strong arms and the calm, steady thud of his heart that was half as fast as hers. All those sensations broke through the panic, the anxiety, and the downright fear that she had somehow failed her father’s ghost.

Her breathing slowed, until she stopped trying to get away from him and instead, just breathed.

“Are you done?” he asked.

“I guess so. I’m not happy about it, though.”

“The trolls have our ways. We can get your plants from your garden, although I don’t know if they will grow here. We might kill them by taking them underground, and that’s something you have to consider. But your business is gone. You’re a troll wife now. I’m sorry that makes you sad, fire hair. I’m sorry your king did this to you. But I cannot change what has been done any more than you can.”

She leaned the side of her face against his chest. It felt a bit like giving up if she didn’t at least try to argue with him. That was her life she was leaving behind. But her reality was that she’d never chosen anything for herself. She’d done what her father wanted and maybe… Maybe it was time to let that go.

“I think we can both agree that I’m giving up more than you are,” she whispered. It was hard to say the words. She still didn’t like arguing with anyone or even try to tell them her own opinion. “You get to go home to everything that is yours and all the familiar things that you’ve gathered over the years. I have nothing but unfamiliar people who don’t trust me.”

For a moment, she swore he hugged her a little closer. There was a gentleness to his touch that hadn’t been there before, but then it was gone. He was just as cold and stoic as stone. “You will learn,” he finally said. “But first, open your eyes and see the kingdom of the trolls.”

She hadn’t even realized she’d closed them. But then she blinked them open and a new world unfolded before her. She’d been told countless times in her life that the trolls lived in damp, dark caves. That they were little more than rats or moles living in the dirt.

But this wasn’t at all what she had thought. There weretreesdown here. Tall trees with spiraling trunks that looked like countless trees all wrapped around each other. A dim blue glow illuminated the entire world, turning the leaves into silvery, sky blue creations that hardly looked real. They stood on the top of a rise, with a winding path that was covered in a bed of those same leaves. Far beyond that path, she could see a river running through this world that stretched as far as her eye could see. But the water... it had an almost purple glow. Above their heads, she could see the entire kingdom was bracketed in stone.

Tiny green and blue lights dotted the ceiling of stone like stars, but then she realized they must’ve been some kind of glowworm. She’d heard about them in a tavern once, when a caver had mentioned that sometimes there was light in the darkest parts of the realm. She’d never thought to see them herself, though.

As Ragnar moved throughout this marvelous place, stepping foot on the path and drawing them into the blue forest, she realized the leaves were larger than she was. These trees were old. And they weren’t anything she would have seen outside of this place.

“Where are we?” she whispered.

“The home of the trolls,” he replied. “We call it the heart of the mountain.”

A wind stirred around them, and she caught a sweet scent in the air. It was a bit like honey and chocolate all mixed into one, although she thought perhaps that was her own wishful thinking. She’d wanted nothing more than a sweet this entire journey. And now, she swore she could smell them.

They didn’t walk on the path for long before he turned off it. Now there were lanterns lighting their way. They were spindly in creation. She thought perhaps made of iron, but she’d never seen such a slate gray metal be used to create something so delicate. The globe on top was clearly made of glass, because there were wisps contained inside of them. But the metal that rose up over it was like a blooming spiked flower.

The pathway of leaves turned into a pathway of stone. It was this path that Ragnar brought them to, his feet sure as each clawed toe hit the stonework and drew her deeper and deeper into the forest.

“Are we going to your home?” she asked, nerves setting in again.

“No. We’re going to the king.”

Every hair on her body rose and every part of her suddenly turned to stone. She swore she didn’t even have a heartbeat left after he said that. “Excuse me? We’re going to see the troll king?”

“Of course we are. All troll wives are presented to him before they’re brought back to their home.”

Maia resumed her struggles. She knew what kings did when they were presented with new brides. They took, and they tore and they did everything they thought they deserved to make women suffer. No man was going to do that to her. Not after everything else she had suffered at the hands of these brutes. She would not go through that. Not in her life. She’d seen enough women go through it in her own kingdom and she knew how to get away from that future.

Run. Run fast, far, and even if that meant she had to dig herself into a rocky crevice that these trolls were too big to get to, that’s exactly what she would do.

“Would you stop doing that?” he hissed, obviously trying to juggle her writhing form again.

“I will not go see your king!”

“Nothing is going to happen. I don’t know why you’re so?—”

“I know what kings do to brides!” she shouted, her voice echoing through the trees. It was only the second time she’d shouted in his presence, but he froze at the sound of it. Perhaps she’d finally startled him into submission. “I won’t let you take me there.”

But then he bounced her in his arms, so high that she was afraid she would fly out of his arms, only to catch her again. “What do you think kings do to troll wives, fire hair?”

“Kings...” She gulped, swallowing down the fear of saying this to him. “They take the first taste of the wife. That’s how it has always been. And I’m sorry—I’m just not... not able to...”

Her words trailed off. She didn’t want the king, or any man at all right now. Not even her own husband, which was an entirely different fear. She could barely consider sleeping next to him, let alone think about how terrified she was about the differences between their bodies. She’d hardly had a chance in her life to even look at a man naked, let alone explore all ofthat. And now she had a troll before her, one the other troll women had hinted had a pierced cock, and it was so overwhelming. She’d tried not to even think of it, but it had been hard not to while running her hands down the impressive ridges of his abs.

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