Page 80 of A Light So Blinding
Thirty
Astrid
Astrid wasn’t sure what had come over her. The magic had just... flowed. She’d never felt so powerful in her life, but she’d also never been so terrified. The magic hadn’t felt like hers.
For years, she had known what her magic felt like. It was a warm, comforting friend that she could call upon whenever she needed to. The heat of it would flow down her arms, to her hands that always knew what to do with it. But this magic had been cold. Bitter on her tongue. It had swirled around her mouth, using her lips and tongue as its own.
The language she had spoken was unfamiliar to her. Just like when she had read the words on the talon, she hadn’t known what she was saying or what she was calling upon. It had felt like someone else was using her body as a puppet, and she hadn’t liked that.
She could still taste it on her tongue. The bitter aftertaste of that power was like she had sipped on oversteeped green tea. She couldn’t shake the strange taste or the feeling even as Bjorn lifted her into his arms and darted away from the men.
He stopped by their ruined tent to pick up a few things. Her pack with the pretty dress he’d made her, a few more weapons, and a water skein that he hung off the side of his hip. Then he picked her back up again, and off they went. Running across the ground was difficult for him with her in his arms, but he made it work. It wasn’t like any of the soldiers were following them.
The screams had died down, at least. It made the ache in her chest ease. They weren’t dead, she hoped. They were just reminded why they shouldn’t attack innocent strangers on a mountainside and assume they could do whatever they wanted. Bjorn remained silent throughout his mad sprint. Even his footsteps were quiet as he picked his way over the rocks, crouching low sometimes when his big ears caught something hers didn’t, and then making a mad dash toward the next hidden area where rocks would prevent others from seeing them.
She did her best to remain quiet as well. It wasn’t like she was doing anything to help, after all. All she had to do was not talk and keep her opinions to herself.
Until they came to a crevice in the mountain that looked like a naturally made crack. She wouldn’t have given it any thought if she had walked by it, other than thinking perhaps an animal might make that its home. But Bjorn headed right for it, ducking underneath the stone and setting her down in front of him.
“Go forward,” he said. “I want to stay behind you in case anyone follows us.”
“Do you think they will?”
“I didn’t see anyone, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t followed.” He nudged her. “Go on. I know you can’t see, bright one, but there shouldn’t be anything that will trip you up. It will get tight, though. Exhale if you get stuck.”
“If I have to exhale to get through, how areyougetting through?” She started forward though, suddenly terrified ofwhat she would find. Was it that tight in this tunnel into the mountain? Was this even the right one?
He chuckled, and the sound eased some of the tension in her chest. “This tunnel was built for trolls, Astrid. Not for humans. Where you stand can be narrower because it was built for hips, not for chests.”
That made sense, actually. She supposed it wasn’t all that surprising that she was going to have to fit tightly where his hips were built to go. She took her time, steadily making her way through a tunnel that would have otherwise terrified her.
It still did, at points. The jagged rock was unforgiving as she pushed her body through the tunnel. She had to turn her head to the side, so it wouldn’t scrape her cheeks. And there was a small section where her chest simply would not fit through. She did as he said, exhaling long and low until there was no more air in her lungs and through the stones she went.
A small spike of panic had overcome her halfway through that section. Astrid desperately needed to breathe, but couldn’t. Rocks held her chest and back compressed, but if she didn’t get oxygen soon...
“Easy, bright one,” his voice came from behind her in the tunnel. “Don’t freeze. Keep moving. If you don’t move, you will get stuck. But you can move.”
She could move. He said she could, and so she did. She popped free from that horrible spot and inhaled air that smelled like greenery and gardens. That little fact didn’t surprise her in her panic to get as much air into her body as she possibly could. Nor did she notice that there weren’t rocks on either side of her, and she could bend forward and place her hands on her knees. She just did it because she could, trying to get her body to release the tension that made every part of her shudder with fear.
She had done that.
Really, she’d done that. Some mad part of her had survived sliding through rocks that had tried to clamp down on her in their strong, vise-like grip. She could have died right then and there.
A wild part of her laughed at the thought. She hadn’t died. She’d almost died so many times recently, and none of it had stopped her. Astrid was stronger than she had ever thought, and that elation had her spinning in his direction.
“Are you all right?” he said.
She could only make out the shadow of him, coming out of the crevice himself as he wiggled his shoulders free. And the moment she could finally get her arms around him, she did. She climbed his body like a tree, framed his face in her hands, and kissed him.
Bjorn didn’t move for a second. His arms were at his sides, apparently surprised that she had climbed him that quickly. But then his arms came around her, and he kissed her back. Fiercely, almost violently. His tusks scraped against her cheeks, but she didn’t care. She just needed to celebrate with him, to share the elation of being alive.
His arms closed around her, safe and warm and all the things that she wanted him to be. Bjorn had proven himself time and time again that he was so much more than the broken prisoner she had thought him to be.
“This is a reaction to using so much magic,” he murmured against her lips. But she could hear the sound of his weapons dropping to the ground. “You are not yourself.”
“I am happy to be alive.”
“You used more magic than you ever have, and your body isn’t sure what to do with that.” Now, there was a heaviness against her back. Rocks, she realized, but not jagged like the stones had been in that crevice. Smoothed out, as though they had been carved to be this way.
