Page 54 of A Darkness So Sweet

His hand was over her heart. Ragnar had moved them so that he could fall asleep with her heart beating against his palm, all because he had lost so many people today that he needed to know she was alive. Just so that he could finally rest.

She pressed her hand over his, holding him a little tighter.

ChapterTwenty-Two

RAGNAR

He snuck out of their home early in the morning. She didn’t need to come with him this time, because he didn’t plan to heal anyone today. Maia was very unused to using her magic, and he knew that would take some time to replenish what they’d used together. As much as she’d given last night, she would realize how much that had impacted her as soon as she got out of bed later today.

Everything in Ragnar ached. His shoulders, his back, his thighs. Every part of his body felt as though he’d been training like he had when he was a young man. Unfortunately, he was not as young as he used to be. He’d spent hours upon hours every day with his brother and friends, allowing Gunnar to hit him over and over until the pain didn’t matter anymore.

It made his heart hurt to think she would be suffering the same kind of pain that he felt now. But he hoped she would make use of the warm water in their bathtub, and he had too much to do today.

As expected, Gunnar was waiting outside of his home. His brother was strapped from head to toe in warrior garb. Weapons glinted at his sides, leather strappings held them tight to his legs and torso, while an armored plate against his back would serve as a shield should anyone try to attack him from behind.

“Took you long enough to wake,” Gunnar grumbled. “We’ve all been ready for hours now.”

“That’s an exaggeration.”

“Probably, but everyone is waiting.”

“You could have left without me,” Ragnar sighed, trying to dig his fingers into a knot at the base of his neck. He’d curved his body around her the entire night, but that had left his arm and shoulder in an odd position he now regretted.

Although he wasn’t sure he could ever regret sleeping beside Maia. It had been weeks since he’d slept in his own bed, wanting to give her space, yet last night he couldn’t help himself. He’d forgotten how nice it was to have someone by his side and in his bed. She was so warm. In the aftermath of the quakes, the mountain felt cold. Snuggled up to her, he’d been as warm as he could ever hope to be. Under those blankets, he had felt a significant amount of comfort as well. Just holding her body, feeling her heartbeat, knowing how easily she had melted into him as though she trusted him with her life?

Ragnar wouldn’t stop thinking about that moment for a long time. He’d thought, perhaps, that she would be enjoyable as a bed partner. That was why he’d caught her in the bathroom, tasted her on his tongue, so that he might at least know that she would be willing and enjoyable when it came to that. And she would be.

But last night had been something different. He hadn’t wanted to just bed her, rut into her until they’d both seen stars and forgotten about all the things that they’d seen that day. She’d offered him a comfort that no one else ever had.

Gunnar leaned in close and took a deep breath. “You smell like her.”

An unreasonable need to punch his brother in the chest and take that scent back filled him. Which was stupid. A scent wasn’t something he could get returned just by his brother exhaling it but... Maybe it would make him feel better.

Sighing, he instead shook his head and started down the streets toward where he knew the rest of the war band waited for them. “Enough, Gunnar.”

“No, you smell like her far more than you did in the past few weeks. Just living with her has, of course, left a bit of a lingering scent, but yousmelllike her.”

“Gunnar, what did I just say?”

His brother hustled to keep up with him, a laugh bursting forth as they passed a stall being filled with hastily made meat pies. The city was already piecing itself back together enough for Gunnar to get a breakfast pie and continue ribbing him as they hurried down the streets.

“Really? What happened last night? You went back later than she, which I’d thought would mean you wouldn’t even find her awake. But clearly she was. Did you finally show her the piercings you’ve gotten for her? I was there to hold your hand, man. I know how terrible those were for you to?—”

Ragnar spun on his brother and slapped him in the throat. A quiet gurgle filled the street they were in, followed by a few surprised snorts as Gunnar struggled to get air into his lungs. But Ragnar was done listening to this teasing.

“Stop talking about my wife,” he hissed.

But by the time they’d reached the other trolls in their war band, his brother was already laughing again. Shaking his head, Gunnar walked over to the other warriors who would be joining them and without a single pause in breath, his brother started talking about how good Ragnar smelled.

“You should go sniff him!” Gunnar said, his voice pitched low like he was trying to whisper but obviously projecting his voice so that Ragnar would hear him. “Seriously. I never knew humans could smell so sweet, like honey and fresh baked bread. It’s a good scent on him.”

Ragnar headed out ahead of the others. He couldn’t stay with those warriors without trying to push Gunnar over the edge of the cliff. And it was far too early in the morning for that kind of behavior. His brother needed someone to teach him a lesson, but realistically, that person could not be Ragnar. Not yet.

The war band moved through another path in the forest that led to their home, and then out of the mountain into the sun beyond. He squinted his eyes, the bright light always difficult to adjust to when he first left Trollveggen. He looked around, trying to figure out why the mountain had been so angry. But it didn’t take long for all them to see the problem.

Deep grooves slashed through the earth. He’d seen markings like this in the human villages before. They were the wheels of carts, but carrying something so heavy that it had left deep imprints that were easy to follow. Together, he and the trolls spread out to follow them.

How many times had he hunted the humans? How many times had he learned that, if they were in a group, humans would attack a troll without hesitation? Troll hide was tough. It was hard to put a knife or sword through their skin, so the humans had learned other ways to hurt. Fire, flaming acid, ballistae that threw stones at them. Anything they could do to kill the trolls, they would. Fortunately, the trolls were harder to track down than humans were.

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