Page 102 of A Light So Blinding
But she could also recognize the calculating expression on the king’s face. This man knew it wasn’t a good plan. He was merely saying it to goad Bjorn into anger, or perhaps, to test her. Because Vilde’s gaze flicked toAstrid, not Bjorn.
“You know that is a plan that leads only to death,” Bjorn thundered. “You must know the moment we go into that labyrinth, we are never coming out.”
They weren’t looking at him. They were looking at her. Both the king and Vilde, and now the warlord on his other side as well. They wanted her to step in while Bjorn continued to yell at them about how stupid this plan was.
They were baiting her. But why?
Finally, it hit her. They wanted her to take part in this far more than they were saying. “You want me to open the doors,” she said quietly.
“What doors?” Bjorn yelled, turning toward her with his eyes nearly red. He was so close to losing it, and she could already sense there were more people approaching the room, just in case Bjorn tried to harm the king.
“The door we snuck out of. The one that is locked from the inside and spelled so that no one could open it without a key. You want me to open the door and let them into the labyrinth without anyone knowing.” She swallowed. “It is a good plan, King Egil.”
He tilted his head to the side, oddly bird-like as he looked at her. “But can you do it?”
“Not without support. Not without returning to my post as priestess and making them all believe it.” She ignored Bjorn’s blustering about how she would not be joining anything. “I would need the lord I left. I believe he could get me in.”
“Could he be bribed?” the warlord on the other side of the king asked.
“Perhaps. It wouldn’t be my first thing to ask him, though. I’d like to see if he’d do it simply because he feels guilty that he left me in there on my own.”
Tolly was a foolish man, and sentimental when it came to her. She could still see his expression when she’d last walked past him. If Astrid played her cards right, she could get him back under her thumb. She was quite certain of it, now that his debts were paid and assuming he hadn’t drunk himself into more of them.
Bjorn grabbed hold of her shoulders and forced her attention to him. “No.” He wasn’t ordering. He was pleading with her. “It’s too dangerous, Astrid.”
“Who else can do it? I can save so many trolls, and I won’t really be risking myself.” She smiled, but the expression felt a little thin on her features. “After all, it’s the same life I used to live. Nothing changes for me.”
Except, everything had changed. Because she loved him, and she hadn’t told him that yet.
King Egil clapped his hands. The cracking sound had her whipping her head to look at him, but he was just pleased, it seemed. “This is a plan I like. You will work with your lord and open the door for us. We’ll need a message to know when you will accomplish that.”
“I do not know how to get a message to you.”
“I’ll figure it out before the war band leaves. You will send us a message confirming when the gate will be open, and my warriors will enter the labyrinth unseen. We’ll destroy it from the inside out.” He pointed at her. “I want to leave your human king a message. I will rip open the labyrinth and expose the ugly underbelly of his kingdom to all who live there. It is the last chance for the people in his kingdom to prove to me that they are worthy of their lives. No more games between us. One last chance, or I will turn the rivers red with their blood.”
She nodded. “Understood.”
“Not understood!” Bjorn hissed. “She is going nowhere near that place again.”
“Bjorn,” Astrid put her hand on his shoulder, tugging at his anxiety until it gave way to clear headed calm. “You know as well as I do, this is the only way any plan works.”
His expression tore at her heart. “I cannot lose you, bright one.”
“And you won’t. But this is to help me too. Let me fix all the things inside myself that I didn’t even realize were broken.” She gestured around them, as though there were answers in the air for him to see. “I am part of that world. I was there when thelabyrinth fights were happening, and I did nothing to even try to stop them. I should have. A good person would have. This is my way to help, to show all of you that I have more remorse for being there than I can ever put into words. Let me help you tear that horrible place down.”
He seemed to understand. The anger faded for him to realize that she needed to do this, just as much as he did.
Bjorn nodded. “Then you will fight by my side.”
“As I always should.”
Thirty-Nine
Bjorn
Awar band. Bjorn hadn’t been part of one of these since he’d failed in battle and had been taken by the human king. It was strange to lace himself up in armor the same way he had done all those years ago.
Trolls like him wore different armor than the rest of them. He was their bulwark. The wall that stood between the others and the swords of humans that could bite through flesh. While many trolls chose to go into battle with very little armor on their bodies, he was completely covered. From his chest to his thighs, he strapped on thick hide that was harvested from wyrms deep within the mountain. Even his forearms and the backs of his hands wore some of the scaled material.
