Chapter 7 #2
He shook his head, more animal than man. Anxiety seemed to ride him so much she could see the little wavering lines of emotions pulsing out of his body. There were lines of tension around his mouth. His brows were drawn down, and his movements were still odd. Twitchy, even.
She wanted to use her magic to peek inside his head.
She didn’t need to know what he was thinking or how to fully manipulate him, but this was a different version of the Bull than she knew.
The man she had seen in the arena was terrifying, bloodthirsty, capable of killing anything and everything in front of him.
This man crouched in a corner, desperately trying to make himself seem smaller, was not the Bull. Perhaps who she was seeing right now was... Bjorn.
If she was going to get anywhere with this, she would need to confirm if there were trolls looking for him. Or, at the very least, if there was a way for him to know if her sister was with the others.
Perhaps now wasn’t the best time. But she’d already taken the leap into being locked in this dungeon. She could at the very least tell him why she’d done it.
He had killed for her, after all.
Removing her mask, she reached down for the cup of water, noting that it was dented many times over. She sipped again, and the muscles on his shoulders seemed to release. As though the mere act of her accepting his care was important.
“I do not know your culture or your people,” she said. “If I do something wrong, or if I somehow insult you, I need you to tell me.”
He nodded. “My memory is not what it once was. But I know that a good troll takes care of women before himself and that a priestess’s needs are far more important than my own.”
What a strange way to say that. “Do you have priestesses where you come from?”
He nodded. “We do.”
A voice came through the wall, startling her so much she almost dropped the cup. “They’re terrifying.”
Bjorn reacted as if someone had slammed open the door.
One moment he was in the back corner and the next, he’d launched himself at the cot.
She froze, uncertain if she’d done something wrong, only to realize he wasn’t coming for her at all.
He had put himself between her and the wall, his teeth bared and a snarl ripping out of his throat.
Was he protecting her? From someone on the other side of the wall?
“Hush,” the voice said, and she realized it had to be the strange yellow troll who had come up with the plan that had gotten them out of whatever the king had wanted from them. “It’s not like I can ignore you.”
Bjorn seemed to deflate a bit, but there was still rage running through his body.
In this small space, it was so much harder for her to be brave.
A voice in her head told her to place her hand on that rippling back.
She could convince him to relax beneath her, though.
But then another voice, one much louder, shouted that she needed to keep herself safe.
So Astrid shifted away from him. She gave him enough space that if he was going to explode again, then she wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
He didn’t. Bjorn pulled himself back together, piece by visible piece.
She watched him as he struggled to get himself under control.
But then he looked over his shoulder at her.
His gaze swept from the top of her head down to the bottom of her feet, and she had the distinct feeling he was measuring to make sure that she was all right.
Then he grunted. With slow movements, he pulled the blanket up over her shoulders again and then retreated to his corner.
“I, uh...” She tucked the blanket around her shoulders a little tighter. “I didn’t just end up here. I received a letter from, um...”
She hadn’t struggled to speak like this in such a long time. She had to just blurt the damn sentence out.
“I was contacted by who I believe to be trolls that know you. They said you need help to get out of this place, and that if I do, they’ll return my sister to me.
” Her heart stuck in her throat. “My sister’s name is Rose.
I had hoped that maybe... maybe you would know her. Or know if she was really with them.”
He stared at her, his eerie eyes glowing in the dark. “You sacrificed yourself to find out if I knew your sister?”
“I want to know if the letter is true.”
“You could have just asked when you saw me hanging from the ceiling. There was no need to come here.” There was a hint of anger in his voice, as though he was upset with her.
“I had no other choice. I need to get my sister back, and if that means helping you escape from here, then that’s what I’m going to do. All I’m asking is if you know if it’s true that she is with the trolls.” She wanted to pace, but there was no room here.
He stayed where he was, at least. Giving her all the room she needed to breathe. “She’s with the trolls who escaped from here. Your sister was in the labyrinth with the rest of us. She was one of the women gifted to the warriors who won. She was never gifted to me.”
Astrid’s heart shattered.
She’d known Rose had been taken somewhere. She hadn’t realized her sister had been right under her nose all this time.
If she’d known, she could have saved her. Rose had been so close. She might have even seen Astrid in the stands if she looked through her cell or... or...
Astrid pressed her hands to her suddenly hot face. “She was so close this whole time.”
“There is no way out of this labyrinth now,” Bjorn said.
His gaze caught on her face, as though he was seeking a way to ease her torment, but that didn’t help at all.
“I gave your sister the last way out. If the trolls asked for your help, it is because they are going to try to come for us. If they succeed, we will leave. If they do not, then we will all die here.”
She needed a moment. This was wrong. None of this was going as she had thought it would go, and Astrid was never wrong.
Until now. Until...
“Sleep, priestess,” his deep voice rumbled. “Tomorrow will be a better day.”
She rolled onto her side on the cot and tugged the blanket over her head. Maybe tomorrow would be better.
But she doubted it.