Page 82 of A Light So Blinding
Astrid tried her best to fit him into her mouth. Just the head and slightly more could fit, but that was all. She had to use both hands to work him, moving them in alternate directions, both slow and fast, meandering and hard. She didn’t give him enough of anything all at once. The man didn’t get to come, not yet.
She wanted to learn him first. To trace the veins of his cock with her tongue and learn what made him gasp. Was it her sucking on the head of him and flicking her tongue, or did he like it even better when she cupped his balls beneath? He seemed to like harder movements, faster than what she was doing. Delicatetouches weren’t for Bjorn, it seemed. Which was fine with her. She didn’t need to be delicate to do what she wanted.
Tormenting him was fun, she realized. She’d always done this just as a job or to convince a man to do what she wanted. But now it was just... enjoyment. She liked the taste of him. Liked the feeling of his ring on her tongue and how he didn’t hide his reactions in the slightest.
He was thoroughly and wonderfully loud. Every sound was an answer to something she did, and he didn’t seem to care at all that someone might hear him. She’d never been with someone who was so loud, so excitable by everything that she did.
And finally, she gave him what he wanted. Heavy, strong, squeezing him tightly in her hands while she sucked hard on his tip. Her knees had pressed up against Bjorn’s feet, and she could feel his toes curl as she did it until finally he let out a groan that made every hair on her body raise.
His come coated the back of her throat, and she swallowed it all down, licking him clean with slow laps.
He sagged against the wall, and then slid down it until he had her trapped between his raised knees. He reached for her, his hands skimming along her face and jaw before dragging her against him.
When had this become a place she was so happy to be? There was no one else she’d want to hold her like this, and he was a troll. A troll! Of all people, she shouldn’t feel so safe and at home in his arms.
But she did.
“I don’t think you understand how much I want to lock you up to keep you safe,” he whispered against her hair once his breathing settled down. “You are...”
He seemed to struggle to find the words, but even in that silence she felt her heart glowing in her chest.
“I know,” she whispered, pressing her hand against his thundering heart. “I know exactly what you mean, Bjorn.”
For the moment, they could rest with each other. They could linger in the darkness and in the aftermath of pleasure. Who knew what would happen in an hour, but for now, they were together.
Thirty-One
Astrid
At some point during the night, Astrid realized there was a light in the cave they were in. She’d opened her eyes to see that Bjorn had found implements to light a fire, or at least torches that lined the wall. She was so tired from their journey, from the fight, she hadn’t even thought to look at her surroundings. Instead, she had fallen right back into a dreamless sleep.
But as she woke the next morning, if she could even call it that, there were moments from the night that she wasn’t sure had been a dream or had been real.
The vision of him leaning over her, brushing her hair away from her face and arranging her body into a more comfortable position. Opening her eyes, she’d seen him standing before a wall that was painted with what looked like a map, with one of those torches in his hands. The glimmering darkness split open into something blue and purple that surely couldn’t have been real. But then she’d closed her eyes again and sunk back into dreams, so she didn’t know if any of it had truly happened.
His hand on her shoulder pulled her into the waking realm soon enough. “Come,” he murmured. “We wake and we go to the rest of my home.”
“Where are we going exactly?” She rubbed the heels of her palms against her eyes, trying to get the grit of sleep off her face so she looked somewhat presentable.
“To the king.”
He looked nervous. Almost as though he was hesitant bringing her anywhere. It was sweet of him to think she would be uncomfortable, but a troll king was likely not all that different from the others.
She patted her hand against his chest and smiled up at him. “He is not the first king I have met.”
Bjorn stared down into her eyes and then sighed. “I suppose you are right.”
“Let’s not waste too much time. Although I don’t suppose there’s any water left, so I might look a little more presentable?”
In the end, she changed into the dress he had made her. Freshly washed, now clothed in spider silk and the most beautiful gown she’d ever put on her body, Astrid was ready to meet a king.
Bjorn walked with her out of the cave. She’d expected a secret crevice in the mountain, perhaps a green area that had light spearing through it. But she hadn’t expected... this.
They stood on a small ledge that held them out over the kingdom below, and she feasted her eyes on Trollveggen itself. Bright purple trees with leaves that seemed to glow in the dark filled her vision. The cavern was hollow. The mountain itself was hollow. She stared down into a vast world full of brightly colored forests, a glowing blue river that ran through the center, and dotted buildings that looked like starlight.
Except there was more starlight up above. Dotted glowing worms that she could see overhead stretched ever farther outalong the top of this cave. And there were people. Trolls who moved about their day, wearing clothing that was so vivid and colorful that she never would have guessed it was possible to even make them.
This place was beauty. It was full of life and sound. Her ears couldn’t quite pick out the individual sounds at all. Only that there were so many different ones. The rushing river. People talking. Singing voices, although that couldn’t be right. She must’ve been dreaming that up.
