Page 74 of A Light So Blinding
“Every good priestess knows how to manipulate a man. That’s actually very easy. We’re taught how to use our magic to convince others that what they want isn’t what they want.We know the ins and outs of the entire kingdom. Secret passages. Who is fucking who. The children who are actually another noble’s child. We are the secret keepers of quite literally everything.”
And he had known she was powerful in the human realm, he just hadn’t realized how powerful she actually was. She knew... everything?
Bjorn stumbled over a rock, realizing in that moment how dangerous it was for them to return to Trollveggen. If King Egil caught wind of everything she knew, the ins and outs of the kingdom, who they could blackmail, everything that she said she could do…?
Hurrying behind her, he grabbed onto her shoulders and spun her around to look at him. “Listen to me. When we make it to Trollveggen, you cannot tell anyone that you know all of these things. Do you hear me?”
“Why would I not tell them?”
“Because my king will use you. I do not know what he will want to do, or how he will extract the information from you, but you must be careful.”
She stared up into his gaze, clearly confused by his words. “Why wouldn’t I want to help your people after seeing what mine can do?”
He swallowed hard. There was still a part of him that was still twisted from what he had experienced, he realized. His instincts should tell him to destroy the entire human kingdom and all the people within it. And he wanted to. He wanted King James dead, and he wanted the human king’s blood to run out onto the very grounds that he had killed so many others upon.
Yet Bjorn’s instinct, the fear that ran through his veins, told him to prevent that from happening at all costs.
Bjorn shook his head. “Maybe you’re right. We should probably take you to King Egil as soon as we can. You should tell him all you know so that the trolls can...”
He didn’t know what they would do. Attack the human kingdom? Perhaps. He had seen it happen in his lifetime, although it had been a very long time since they had done so. The trolls rarely had the resources they needed to do such a thing. But he knew without a doubt that his people wanted to. They would kill hers off in a heartbeat.
She reached up and touched a hand to his jaw. “Why are you suddenly so worried?”
“I don’t know how the trolls in Trollveggen will react to you. They are not kind to your people.” He could see it now. They would do whatever it took to protect their own families and the people in that mountain. She represented a group of people who had hunted his kind and killed his people in horrible ways for centuries.
She’d been there in the labyrinth, after all. For years before she ever tried to help him. And even then, it had been for her own gain.
Astrid merely smiled up at him, and patted his neck before turning to continue up the mountain. “I know they aren’t going to trust me. They have no reason to. But I’m not there for them, Bjorn. I’m there for my sister.”
And that was that. She didn’t seem to care that she was going into a very dangerous situation with people who could kill her. She’d walk through fire if it meant she got her sister back.
He’d never been more attracted or confused about being attracted to a woman in his life. After that, it was a little hard to talk. The steep incline wasn’t all that difficult for him, but it very much was for her. Bjorn found himself stopping more often, waiting for her ragged breathing to even out before he continued. The sound of her breath sawing in and out of herlungs was more than a little concerning. He’d never heard a human wheeze like that before.
But she didn’t complain, nor did she say to stop, so they kept going. Up and up until the sun started to set, and finally he determined it was a good time for them to pause. The last thing he needed was to run her into the ground.
“Here,” he said, pointing to a rock for her to sit on. “Rest for a moment while I set up camp.”
She nodded furiously but said nothing in return. That was his first warning of concern. Bjorn took the skein of water off his side and handed it over to her.
“And drink,” he added. “All of it.”
“That’s the last of our water,” she said, still breathless and almost impossible to understand.
“I will find more.”
He kept an eye on her while he set the tent up. She weaved a little back and forth, but seemed to be settling in a bit better. Her breath didn’t sound so ragged anymore, and she was steadier as she sat there sipping at the water. Enough so that he didn’t fear so much that she was going to keel over.
At least he knew she could survive a trip like that if necessary.
Bjorn laid out their blankets and then stared down at them, realizing that there was only one tent and a small space between their bedrolls. He’d have to do something about that. He wasn’t all that convinced he could survive the night if he had to be so close to her for that long.
Ducking out of the tent, he headed away from the tent and started setting up a fire. “Are you hungry?”
“I could eat.”
So that was what he did. He settled her, gave her water, fed her, and made sure that everything was a little better on this difficult journey. That was what a good husband would do. He knew the right motions, but somehow it still felt like it wasn’tenough. This partnership was still a little cold, when he wanted everything to be warmer for her. He wanted to convince her that this wasn’t just the right thing, but that shewantedher life to be like this.
Bjorn was perhaps a little stuck in his own head about all of this, because he blinked and suddenly she was standing. There wasn’t any food left in her hands, and she stretched her arms over her head with a deep groan.
