Page 71 of A Light So Blinding
“She doesn’t know our ways.”
“Clearly she does! She buys for Ylva, does she not? She is a shameless woman. Walking around without a single piercing. She dilutes his honor, and he shouldn’t let her leave the house without bridal piercings.”
“Maybe they haven’t talked about it yet,” Tyra said. “They’re newly bonded.”
“Then that is a flaw for both of them to rectify. I will sell nothing to a woman who dishonors her husband so publicly.” And then the vendor stalked away from the stall, clearly not going to sell anything at all to Astrid.
She waited until Tyra returned. The troll had a sheepish expression on her face. “I guess she had somewhere to be. Don’t worry, I have another idea.”
“What are bridal piercings?”
Tyra’s deep red face paled. “Um. You heard that?”
“I heard most of it.”
“I thought humans didn’t have very good hearing,” she muttered, rubbing the back of her neck before taking a deep breath. “When trolls are bonded, truly bonded, they getpiercings. I’m sure he told you that. Women pierce our ears. They’re the markings of a troll wife, through the lobes.”
Tyra gestured to her own ears, and Astrid could see of all the decorated piercings that marked up and down the cartilage, there were no piercings on Tyra’s lobes.
“Ah,” she said. “And the vendor was angry that I didn’t have them?”
“Guess so.”
She took a deep, steadying breath. Piercings weren’t on her list of things to do, but she supposed if that was what it would take to get people to trust her, then she would do it. “I think I need to speak with Bjorn, then.”
So much for a gift.
So much for anything reasonable.
There was too much rattling around in her head now. Bridal piercings, Bjorn’s poor abused cock, not to mention the kiss. He wanted to stay bonded with her, which essentially meant they would stay married as far as his people were concerned.
She hadn’t even given that much thought, considering she didn’t think they were married. It had been a mistake for her to read a few words off a knife, and then they’d accidentally brushed their cut hands together. It shouldn’t be that easy to mistakenly get married!
Tyra must have stopped following her as she headed back to Ylva’s, because she was alone as she stood in front of the door. She wasn’t even sure what she was going to say to him. Only that there was a strange feeling in her chest that wouldn’t go away since the vendor had said Astrid was dishonoring him.
She didn’t want to do that. He was quite possibly the best person she’d ever met. And she trusted him. Liked him, even. But was she sure she wanted to dedicate her entire life to a troll? No, of course not.
He had kept her safe. He’d done everything in his power to give her a chance out here, and then he’d done everything in his power to get to her sister. So it felt like... Well, not quite that she owed him. That wasn’t the right word.
But it did feel like she wanted to return that trust and favor.
Astrid headed into the house not knowing what she was going to say to him. He was standing in the back, perhaps cooking breakfast considering all the food spread out around him. He had a knife in his hand, a cutting board on the counter, and very much looked like he was involved in something torturous. But he smiled at her the moment she walked through the door.
“Mother headed out already. There was someone who needed her counsel with the smoke, so it’s just you and me for breakfast.”
“I’d like to go get my sister now,” she said, the words blurting out of her before she could even talk to him about what had happened in the market. But then she added, “And why haven’t you talked to me about bridal piercings?”
He froze, with the knife held in his hands and a blank expression on his face. “All right.”
“All right, what?”
“All right, we can go get your sister now. I wasn’t expecting us to be here forever.” He set the knife down. “Now what was it about the bridal piercings?”
“A vendor wouldn’t sell anything to me in the market. She said I was dishonoring you by flaunting that I don’t have anything in my ears. I used to have my ears pierced.” She ghosted her fingers over the lobes. “I’m not even sure that I’d need them to be pierced again, honestly. I can put earrings in my ears. I just didn’t know it was important.”
That blank stare wasn’t helping. He just looked at her. For longer than was comfortable. Was he even blinking?
Then finally he blinked, swallowed very hard, and said, “I didn’t think you’d want to wear the earrings. They are a sign of a bonded couple, and you want to break the bond.”
