Page 49 of A Light So Blinding
“No,” he replied with a chuckle. “It bucked me off instantly, and then I learned what it was like to kiss the ground. I have not ridden a horse since.”
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a troll riding a horse.” Astrid walked beside him with all the grace of a woman used to people looking at her. Priestesses glided as they walked, he decided, and she certainly was.
Much later, he brought her to a stream where she could wash and relax for a little while. He knew she had to be feeling rather horrid after their journey, but she didn’t complain. Instead, she had endured all that he had thrown at her with grace and poise. He was thankful for that kindness, considering how horrible he felt for not providing well enough for her.
“I will leave you here to wash,” he said. “I’ll be back in a while, but you... take your time.”
She turned to look at him, standing beside the area of the stream he had deemed safe. There were plenty of large flat stones where she could lie out in the sun if she wished. It was also a good place to dry her clothes. There were still bloodstains on the white shirt that weren’t likely to come out, but hopefullyshe could at least turn them into a pink streak rather than the brownish smear they were right now.
The stream was fast moving here, but shallow. He could see that the speed had made the stones less slippery than other places, so he wouldn’t have to worry about her falling while he was gone.
She was safe here. But it looked like she was going to ask him if that was true or not.
So he interrupted her before she could even ask the question. “No one will bother you here. Humans never come to this side of the mountain, and you deserve some time to clean yourself. You do not strike me as a woman used to traveling like this.”
He was rewarded with her cheeks turning that bright, pretty pink. “Was it so easy to tell?”
“Very, Priestess.”
With a soft smile, he left her in the stream. But he couldn’t make himself go very far. Bjorn had thought he would explore the area a bit. Maybe seek a place to hunt and gather them some food for the evening. He’d thought his own people would find them sooner, but perhaps they were giving them time alone.
For all his mother and her people knew, he was here with his mate. They likely thought he and Astrid would want to be alone for a while before they were forced to meet his family.
He should head out. He should go farther and farther from her, if only to get some clarity, but instead he found himself downstream from where she was. Not because he wanted to sneak a peek at her. He wasn’t that far gone into his own madness.
But because if he laid out on his belly on the warm stones, he could smell her on the water. Her soft scent eased his mind and filled the small pool he was suspended over like a perfume in the air. And yes, he could see the dirty water, the blood that swirled in the eddies before disappearing again. No one else would havenoticed it maybe, but he did. It eased his soul knowing that he had provided her time to be clean.
He gave her until the sun was far behind the peak of the horizon. He allowed the evening to barrel toward them before he joined her at the water’s edge. Bjorn, at the very least, made sure to hunt down some food for her. Arriving empty handed would have been foolish of him.
She was dressed again, seated on the ground with her arms wrapped around her knees. For the first time, he saw her as herself and not the priestess. He’d been holding her on a pedestal this whole time, seeing her as a being who was so revered and talented that he shouldn’t see her as anything but. Except now he could tell that she was so much more than that.
She was small, sitting by the water, a bright light in the midst of green and emerald. A small chip of gold hidden in a stream that had caught his eye, glinting in the sun. So pretty, and yet so small.
The world seemed too big with her in it. And he wasn’t all that certain he liked that.
Bjorn sat down beside her without saying a word, handing her the water sprouts and apples he’d found nearby. “They will keep you going until we find the rest of my people.”
“Thank you, Bjorn. You’re very good at caring for me.” He could see a spark of something in her gaze when she said it. Something that looked a bit like regret, or perhaps... something else. He couldn’t quite tell.
“What is it?” he asked, curious.
“What do you mean?”
“You did not like saying that I was good at caring for you. I want to know why.”
“Oh.” Again, pink returned to her cheeks. “It’s just... I don’t feel like I’ve done that much for you in return.”
“You got me out of the labyrinth.”
She sighed. “I did, but that was more for me than it was for you. Your people made it very clear that I needed to free you to see my sister again. I wasn’t doing it for you, although perhaps I should have. That makes me feel guilty. Even though I have nothing to feel guilty about. My head doesn’t feel like it’s been put on correctly. You’ve been going out of your way to make sure I’m well fed and safe and that this journey is as manageable as possible for me, and I’ve just been entirely useless.”
That wouldn’t do. She hadn’t been useless, she’d been... been...
No, he wouldn’t allow her to think that this hadn’t been a mutual experience. He couldn’t. “Even without you saving my life, the bond between us has rules. Mostly for me, of course. You wouldn’t know what it means, but I need to be a good mate.”
“You need to be?”
How did he explain this? “A troll wife is honored. I have not been an honorable man for a very long time, and I wish to be. This is a good way to prove to myself that I can still be honorable, even this new version of me.”
