Page 93 of A Darkness So Sweet

Somehow, that hurt to hear. It made every part of her being ache to hear those words, when others were bubbling up inside her mind. Words that her father would have said.

This is your fault.

If you weren’t there, that man might still be alive.

If you hadn’t insisted and gotten yourself caught up in the trolls’ drama, then there would be more humans alive. This was your fault, Maia. No one else.

Swallowing hard, she tried not to let his voice get any louder. Because if Ragnar had named him a wolf, then she didn’t want to give her father any more power than he already had in her mind.

Inkeri watched all these emotions play across her features. The troll wife stared at her with far too much intent before she tsked. “I can see the ghost of someone is still clinging to you. That’s why I brought you here, Maia. You are not alone.”

“I’m very much alone. Half of the trolls still think I’m a spy, the other half are worried I’m going to shatter into a million pieces.” She sighed and looked down at her hands, stretching her fingers as though she didn’t recognize the palms. “I’m not certain that I’m either of those people, but I don’t think they’re wrong, either. They have a reason to fear me. Maybe they should. I saw what my people did to the trolls, and what they would do to so many others if they were given the chance.”

Inkeri crouched in front of her, tipping her chin up with a single finger so Maia had to look at her. “You are not one of them anymore. I’ve wondered about how I could prove that to you, and all I could think was to do this.”

“This?”

Maia watched as the troll grabbed her hands. Inkeri’s fingers were so different from Ragnar’s. Where her husband’s hands were blunt and broad, Inkeri’s were thin and graceful. Her fingers were long and delicate, tipped with sharp claws that were so much smaller and less hooked than the male version of her kind.

But then Inkeri sank both of their hands into the moss, holding onto her fingers gently. “You have green magic. There is much of it here. For centuries, we troll wives have come to the same place and left bits and pieces of our own magic. We let it linger long after we are dead. And there were so many of us, Maia. So many you couldn’t even dream of the number.”

“Why are you telling me this?” she whispered, feeling the wet moss between her fingers and the way it almost thickened at her touch already.

“Because there is nothing any of us can say to make this better. Nothing any of us can do. You don’t want to talk? We respect that. You don’t want to be held or cry with those of us who have suffered similar fate? That is fine as well. You will heal as you wish to heal. But if I can give you anything to help, it is to let you be held in the arms of the ancestors. Even if they cannot touch you physically.”

That sounded... nice. Less terrifying than having to face what had happened to her. At least ancestors weren’t actual people. They weren’t standing in front of her looking at her with pity she wasn’t sure she deserved.

Eyes wide, she gave Inkeri a curt nod. “I think I might like that.”

“Good. All you have to do is let your magic join with theirs.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

Inkeri’s fingers squeezed around hers. “Of course you do. Every troll wife does.”

And just like that, the knowledge seemed to bloom in her head. Because she did know what to do. She knew all the ancestors required was that she use her magic on the moss. Let it seep into the ground around her in bright green sparkles that only she could see, but that fell from her fingers like snow. All that green magic sank into the moss and suddenly, she could feel them.

Her eyes widened even more as her sight disappeared. Inkeri was no longer crouched in front of her. Instead, all she saw was the blooming of flowers and the unfurling of leaves. She could finally, effortlessly breathe. It was like someone had reached into her heart and taken all the stress away from her.

She hadn’t realized how heavy it was.

Maia let out a long, slow sigh. Her shoulders curved forward and she could faintly feel Inkeri propping her up.

“There,” the troll woman’s voice sounded so far away. “Let them guide you, Maia.”

But it didn’t feel like guidance. It felt like someone had taken all her burdens for a little while. Not forever. She knew that soon enough they would hand them back to her. When they did, she would be more ready.

She’d needed a few moments to breathe. Just a few moments where she wasn’t the woman this had all happened to, and instead, she was just herself again.

“I’ll be here with you,” Inkeri said. “Don’t worry about anything. I’ll be here with you the entire time.”

And something in her soul relaxed at that. She wasn’t alone. She didn’t have to fear.

Maia could justbe.

ChapterThirty-Eight

RAGNAR

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