Page 29 of A Light So Blinding
“We can escort you to Lord Faraway’s home,” the guard said.
“No.” Disdain colored the word. “I have my own guards outside, thank you. They are more than capable of handling a troll.”
More words were hidden in her statement. More than capable was clearlymorecapable. And though the surrounding guards were insulted, they dropped their weapons and let them walk up to the door that left the labyrinth and then... out.
Eleven
Astrid
The problem was that she had no idea where to go from here. Astrid had been born in this city, and living on the streets with her sister had been one thing, but she’d never actually left the vicinity of the castle in all her time as a priestess. She’d had no reason to leave when Lord Tolly ruled one of the castle districts. He’d always had visitors come to him, never the other way around.
She closed the door of the labyrinth behind herself, sealing all those bad memories inside. She’d poke and prod at them someday, just to get the haunting images to stop, but for now she needed control.
Where were they going? She had no idea. How were they going to get food? That was also a very good question she didn’t have an answer to. How were they going to get her sister back?
Her hands were trembling against the wood of the door. They never trembled. Tucking them into her sides, she curled them into fists so no one would see her weakness before turning to look at Bjorn.
He’d tilted his head back, eyes closed, just soaking in the moonlight that played along his features. Bliss, she realized. That was the expression on his face as the air cooled the sweat on his brow and tried to stir the greasy hair that tangled around his horns. Out here, she could see how poorly he’d been treated.
They had exited through a side door. It was the discreet exit, so no one would see them behind all these bushes with a stone wall behind them that extended up to the castle itself, easily fifty feet or more. But the moonlight could still play across his features, and the wind could still touch him.
The shadows cast by his ribs alone were concerning. There was a hollow above his belly as well, where his skin dipped in heavily toward his spine. But he was still massive. His muscles were still bulging as he lifted a hand to his head and smoothed his hair away from his horns. Those tangled locks needed far more than a good brushing. She’d prefer to cut it, but maybe with patience his dark hair could be saved.
As she stared, a single tear leaked out of his eye and dripped down his cheek. It left a track of clean skin in the grime that covered his face.
Her magic stretched out, brushing against his skin just to see what he was feeling. And it broke her heart to see that he was glowing with a bright white light. Hope, she realized. Hope was nearly bursting out of him.
She’d never seen anything more beautiful than him. The moonlight turned his horns and figure into a silhouette outlined by the moon. A warrior, a survivor, a man who had been through so much and came out alive.
She removed the veil on her face, feeling the wind with him. It cooled the faint sweat on her face as well. Perhaps both of them could be free from their shackles now.
They didn’t have much time, though. They had to keep going before someone came to look for them. She tucked her shaking hands against her sides and resolved to take charge.
“I don’t know where to go now,” she whispered. “I didn’t... I should have thought this far ahead.”
She always thought ahead with every plan that she had ever conjured up in her mind. Why hadn’t she done it this time?
Astrid had been so wrapped up in trying to get them out that maybe she hadn’t really thought this would happen. Maybe some part of her had believed this was an impossible task and that no matter what she did, she was going to be stuck in that dark cell for the rest of her life.
But now they were out in the moonlight, and it all felt far too real. She was standing beside atroll. A creature who would be hunted down in this city if anyone saw him, and then they would both be thrown back into that dungeon before they had a chance to escape.
He took a deep breath, those harsh ribs flaring wide before he opened his eyes and looked at her again.
She hadn’t realized his ears were so big. She hadn’t really looked him over in the cell, or couldn’t in the shadows. But his ears were large and pointed, and as she looked, they twitched toward some sound she couldn’t hear.
“We go,” he said, turning confidently away from the bushes and toward a small path that led toward the village and away from the castle.
She supposed it made sense they would go that way, but it still made her heart skip a beat.
“Where are we going?” she whispered.
“You said you don’t know where to go,” he rumbled. The path led downward, and she was certain it popped out in the heart of the villages that surrounded them. But that wasn’t good, because people were always walking around the villages.
If he were any of the other trolls, she might have hidden him. Tall men existed here, and she could easily claim he was her guard. A priestess wandering about in the middle of the night was a woman on a mission, and no one would question what she was doing, at least until they figured out who she might be.
But with those horns, there was nothing she could do to hide him at all. He would stand out with any covering, any helmet—even a blanket tossed over his head would be ominous. People would either think they were dreaming about some demon appearing on their doorstep, or they would run away screaming,troll.
Both of which would get them caught.
