Page 58 of A Darkness So Sweet

RAGNAR

Ragnar returned home, dripping in the blood of Maia’s people and riding on the high of vengeance. He had made them suffer. He had watched as countless human men begged him for mercy and he had given them none. He’d made sure to cut them in ways that they would never heal from. Ways that would take days or weeks to die before they finally had suffered enough for what they had done to his people.

And still, it didn’t feel like it was enough. He wanted to wipe the stain of them from the entire face of his kingdom. The trolls deserved to live in the sun without fear, if that was what they wished. They deserved so much more than being trapped inside a mountain, knowing that the humans had figured out a way inside.

The war band stood before their king, all kneeling as they reported what they had seen. And at the end of it, their king bid them all to rise.

He was tired. Ragnar could feel the exhaustion in the old troll long before he even looked and saw the bags underneath his eyes. At some point in their report, King Egil had removed his crown. It dangled from his fingers, the truest symbol of defeat that he had ever seen.

“So, the humans know how to find our paths now.” The king heaved a long, regretful sigh. “That complicates things.”

Gunnar was the first to stand, pounding a fist against his chest. “I would gladly set up the first watch, my king. My warriors will ensure that no human succeeds in destroying more of our roads into this sacred home.”

“It is an honorable thing you ask to do, but there are not enough trolls to watch every entrance, and certainly not enough of us to stop the humans if they try more. We will set up scouts so we know which of the entrances they are targeting and nothing more.”

The words weren’t enough to satisfy the war band. They were all dripping in blood. Ragnar could see the crusted, dried flakes settling on the stone floor where all of them stood. They had destroyed everyone who had dared, but there would always be more.

But then the king continued, and Ragnar realized the wisdom in this choice. “We will hide the entrances better, but first, I must know which ones the humans are aware of. Those are the ones we will allow them to destroy. Let them cave in the entrances, or even better, we will do it ourselves so that it is controlled and no one else gets hurt. I do not want even a single human knowing how to enter Trollveggen.”

Gunnar nodded. “I can send out scouts to listen in on the human conversations. It shouldn’t take long for us to be in the basements of the barracks yet again. Last time it took them two weeks to realize we had tunneled our way in.”

“Be careful. Clearly, their king has plans. After the betrayal with his daughter, I am inclined to believe their king wanted that entire wedding to be a message.” King Egil’s eyes darkened, and Ragnar’s skin crawled with the sensation of magic that rolled off of the king’s body and onto the floor like mist. “He will learn how foolhardy that act was.”

All the trolls let out a synonymous growl that echoed throughout the room, but then they were dismissed. There was nothing Ragnar could do. He wanted to destroy the damn world because of what the humans had done, and he knew the other trolls in the war band felt the same. Unfortunately, they had to wait.

He headed toward his home, pausing only when Gunnar called out to him.

“Brother!”

Ragnar turned and waited for his brother to catch up with him.

“Be gentle with her,” Gunnar said, and there was worry in his eyes. Ragnar hadn’t recognized it at first, but now he could see the fear. As though his brother feared he would take these emotions out on his wife.

“I’m always gentle with her,” he replied with a quiet sigh. “It’s hard not to be when she is so delicate.”

It hadn’t even crossed his mind to purge some of this anger on her. Maia had proven herself worthy of him, but it was worrisome that his brother feared what he would do to the delicate creature. Clearly, she had made an impression on Gunnar. But somewhere along the way, Ragnar had given his brother reason to worry.

Perhaps that was partly because of the wedding. Perhaps it was that the first thing he had said to his bride was that he would never be her husband. And now he was returning to her dripping in the blood of his enemies, who wereherpeople.

He had a lot of explaining to do, and perhaps some healing of his own. He trudged back toward his home, knowing without a doubt that he would need to tell her what had happened. If he didn’t, someone else eventually would.

Maia, up until this point, had only seen him as a healer. He feared that some part of her thought that was all he was. Dealing with someone who wasn’t active in the fight was likely easier for her when she was trying to reconcile what the trolls were going to do. War was brewing. And he wasn’t so much of a fool to think this wouldn’t affect her.

He stopped by the public baths before he got home. At the very least, he could arrive at their doorstep not covered in blood. While he scrubbed the deaths of her people from his skin, he tried to figure out what to tell her.

Perhaps he should lead with something along the lines that he didn’t want to hurt her. It might be good to state that he had no interest in making her life harder, or taking out these feelings on her, as Gunnar feared. Then she would know that he was serious. He still saw her as a human, but not like...

No, that wasn’t right. He couldn’t even say she wasn’t like the others, because she was. He knew she was. There were both good and bad people in every species, from the elves, to the trolls, to the humans. He’d have to be a fool not to recognize that, and so would she.

He couldn’t say he didn’t even see her as human. She was. And it wasn’t that she was different from anyone else. He knew there were countless good humans. There had to be.

So whatwouldhe say?

He was embarrassed at how long it took to clean the blood from his skin as he tried to figure out the correct words. But by the time he stood in front of his own house, he was still tongue tied. No path made what he had done right, but no path said he was wrong either.

Blowing out a breath, he just opened the door and walked in. The least he could do was get inside and say what was on his mind. He would tell her the truth and then see what she said about that. If she wanted to yell at him, throw things, scream and rage, then beg to go back home, he would endure it all. She deserved that.

He walked into the parlor and furrowed his brow in confusion. He’d expected there to be far more rubble in here, considering the state that it had been in yesterday. But where he had seen small rocks in the corner and broken furniture, now the parlor was nearly put back in order. The broken pieces of his couch were gone, and the stones had been removed. Even the rug had been beaten free from dust and shards that had clung to the thick weaves.

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