Page 103 of A Light So Blinding
He had his choice of weapons made by the finest craftsmen, and picking up his double sided axe again was like coming home. He hated how easily it fit in his hand, and how well his muscles remembered how to swing it. It would be so simple to cleave heads from shoulders with the sharp edges, even without thinking about what he was doing.
Every part of him was made to kill. Every bit of his body was a weapon that had been honed and trained by the labyrinth itself.
Now he was going back. Back to the place that had turned him into the monster his father had always wanted him to be. Because his people begged him to go. They wanted him to be a monster as well.
His soul ached with this burden.
Heading out of the armory, he pulled the pieces of the person the other trolls expected onto himself like more armor. He became the Destroyer they all wanted to see. The son of the man who had led them to victory countless times.
He would too. But not for them. Bjorn was not his father, who’d fought for glory and honor and the recognition from a king who was so willing to throw him to the wolves. He did it instead for the children he could save who lived here in Trollveggen. He did it for his bright one, who risked her life along with the rest of them. He fought because it was the right thing to do.
His father had never possessed the ability to fight for others. This was what set them apart.
Astrid waited for him. She stood with her sister on the precipice of a steep cliff, both of them gleaming, golden beings who looked more like royalty than any other human here. They were stunning together, beacons of light in a dark time.
He was shocked to see them hugging. Rose had been so touch averse, it was almost startling to see her do so. This was a marked improvement.
Gunnar stood next to him and snorted. “Oh, sure. She’ll hug her sister but not the troll who’s been providing for her for ages now.”
He glanced over at the other man. “You?”
“Who else?” Gunnar shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a bleeding heart. You handed her to me in the labyrinth and I... I haven’t let go of her since, you know? Just hasn’t felt right when she’s been struggling.”
Bjorn eyed him a bit more, seeing right through what his friend said. There was something else at play here. Something that wriggled beneath Gunnar’s skin and wouldn’t let him go.
“You haven’t touched her, then?”
“Gods, no. She doesn’t even like it when she notices me looking at her. I’ve got her set up somewhere nice. I bring her food, run a bath for her every night, and buy her new clothes. Just little things to make her life easier.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I find her when she wanders off, which is often. She’s just... really broken, Bjorn.”
“Broken things have pieces to pick up.”
“I don’t think she even has a clue where all those pieces are. She hides them every day, scattering them to the wind so no one can put her back together.” Gunnar’s gaze was haunted as he looked at Astrid’s pale sister.
Where Astrid was golden, Rose was nearly white. She was losing more color every day, it seemed. Fading like all of her magic was draining out of her. Pale hair, pale skin, nearly like a star that had fallen into their realm.
“You’ll figure something out,” Bjorn murmured. “We all do when we love someone.”
“Love?” Gunnar scoffed. “I barely even know the woman. Like I said, I’m just a bleeding heart. Don’t know what’s good for me.”
He stalked off, but there was a nervous set to Gunnar’s shoulders now. He knew without a doubt that Bjorn was onto him. No one put that kind of effort into another unless there were feelings involved.
Poor man. He was going to have his work cut out for him.
Bjorn headed over to the sisters who had finally parted. Their quiet, murmured words filtered through the air as he approached.
“I’m going to be fine, Rose. I won’t even be in any dangerous situations.”
“You stay away from the king. He’ll steal you away from all of us, and I don’t know how I’ll get you back.” Rose wrung her hands, clearly nervous about her sister leaving.
“I’m not going to get taken, Rose.”
Bjorn stood behind Astrid, looming over both of them and casting a horned shadow that seemed to stretch across the ground. Rose’s face somehow paled even more, but then he saw determination square her jaw.
She looked right up at him—the first time she might have ever done that—and said, “You take care of her.”
He nodded solemnly. “It will be my honor.”
Astrid said one last goodbye before turning to him. Together, they headed toward the rest of the war band.
