Page 41 of A Darkness So Sweet

“You are an abomination in this court,” the troll king said. “You should not be here. A deal was made for a powerful match. Elven blood for less spilling of human blood. Do you understand this?”

“I do,” she whispered.

“And yet, you still decided to deceive me and my people?”

“They tricked me into the marriage as well. I did not know King James’s plan.”

The king scoffed and then released her chin. She felt a bit like she could breathe again when he turned away from her. But then his words echoed throughout the hall. “You are a liar, just like all humans. I should send you to the gallows.”

Ragnar flinched beside her. “I would request that you do not.”

“There are better matches out there for one with your power. She will stagnate your bloodline. It’s too important that we foster your healing magic, Ragnar. Kill her and move on.”

A spear of anxiety flashed through her. Maia felt her heart stammering in her chest but with it came an icy cold calm. She’d known they would want to kill her. She had felt it from the beginning.

But then another voice rang out, this one far bolder than Ragnar’s. She turned to see a dark green body barreling toward them, anger on every inch of his form as he shuddered with rage. “Do not kill that woman! The Blood Witch has already declared that she is his.”

Gunnar was going to get himself killed arguing with a king. She wasn’t worth that.

Maia whipped back around to catch the king’s apathetic expression. “The Blood Witch can bring it up the next time I see her. She rarely comes to this castle, though, and I am certain one human woman will not change that fact.”

“It will weave a new future lacking the thread of a necessary color,” Gunnar insisted, standing beside her and Ragnar. “You cannot deny the Blood Witch, my king. This is why we have the seers.”

The king snapped his jaws, the sound echoing in the chamber. “I have made my decision. There will be no liars in the court.”

“We all smelled the steel at her back. The human king held a knife to her. What was she supposed to do?”

“Not allow cowardice to force her to comply with a plan that would doom us all! This was meant to stop the fighting and the battles. Now we must retaliate because this was an act of war.”

Ragnar stepped in front of her and everyone fell silent again. She couldn’t see past his broad back, but she could see the expression of surprise on Gunnar’s face. As everyone stopped talking, they all listened to the words that Ragnar declared.

“This is my troll wife. I have agreed to take her. I made a vow the moment I saw the Blood Witch, and she said this woman was my destiny. I have no desire to leave this place, but you will force my hand if you try to take her from me. My father’s line does not end with me. Gunnar is perfectly capable of creating strong children. Therefore, I relinquish my claim to my father’s birthright and I give it to my brother.”

Gasps echoed in the hall, but Maia had no idea what that meant. Why was he relinquishing his birthright?

The king’s voice rumbled with anger. “You would give up all that you have been given? Your father’s house? Your mother’s treasures? All of it would go to Gunnar and you would return to living in whatever you can afford?”

Ragnar’s back tensed. “If that’s what it takes.”

A snap of a jaw and a scoff was the king’s response. “If you are willing to risk so much for a weak magicked woman, then you can have her. What a shame it is, Ragnar. You and your bloodline have fallen so far under the guidance of emotional decisions that have always flawed your family.”

Then there was the sound of the king returning to his throne, the scraping grind of his wings on the floor and the silence that surrounded them.

Gunnar turned to them, his expression a bit stunned, before he wiped it off his face and looked more like the carefree brother she had come to expect. “Ah, don’t you worry about it. You can keep the house.”

“I’m not keeping the house,” Ragnar replied.

“Keep the house. I’m in the barracks and I enjoy being in the barracks.”

“It’s not my house any longer.”

Gunnar slapped a hand to Ragnar’s chest, and even Maia flinched from the sharp crack of flesh on flesh. “You have a troll wife, brother. I do not. Keep the house and use the treasures to your heart’s content. You have my blessing to do so.”

Ragnar nodded, but she could see the anger and disappointment on his face. It seemed she had caused more trouble without ever even attempting to do so.

ChapterSeventeen

RAGNAR

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