Chapter 19
Nineteen
Astrid
She stared up at him, this monster who had covered her in starlight. He wasn’t what she had expected. He never was. One moment he was a warrior fighting for his life in a labyrinth, and the next he was sitting here putting fireflies in her hair because he couldn’t cover her in gemstones.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she stared up at him.
Bjorn looked down at her with that soft expression, a man who by all means had no idea what he did to her.
He didn’t have the faintest clue how much it meant to her that he cared at all.
He wanted her to be happy, healthy, well fed, all the things that people should have done for her since she was a child.
But none of them had. She’d always had to take care of herself and everyone else.
Until him.
She moved before her thoughts could catch up with her. Astrid reached for his jaw, sliding her fingers along the harsh angles there, and tugged him down to her lips.
She’d known kissing him would be a little odd.
After all, there were tusks on his bottom jaw that came out from his lips.
They weren’t entirely compatible, at least in a way she was used to.
But she wanted to try. A kiss had always been something soft between people, a thank-you, an I appreciate what you have done for me that went beyond what words could convey.
And because he was a good man who had done so much for her already. She didn’t want him to think that she didn’t see all his effort. She did. And it had changed how she would see the world for a very long time.
For a moment, he remained frozen underneath her touch. She had intended only to give him a peck anyway, so that was fine. But then he groaned.
The sound was deep and guttural. It came from deep within his chest, like she’d prodded an old wound of his. Then he lunged forward. His powerful arms circled her, clutching her against his warm chest. Her palms slammed down upon him, and the heat of his skin burned.
He kissed Astrid back like she had never been kissed before. There was desperation in the way his lips and tongue moved over the seam of her mouth. But it was so much more than that. It was worship as she parted her lips and he delved between them, tasting her for the first time.
Every muscle inside of her tensed, seizing as pleasure coursed through her from head to toe.
A wave of heat made her feel like she would soon start to pant, but she didn’t recognize this person.
She wanted to beg him to touch her more.
Suddenly, all she could think about was the ache in her breasts and the sudden hollowness between her thighs.
She wanted a troll. It was wrong. Deplorable. He was a different species, and she should never have been tempted by him in the slightest, and yet, her fingers clenched harder on his strong shoulders. She leaned into the kiss, kissing him back like she had never kissed another man before.
Because he was ravenous. He kissed her like a dying man who didn’t care who or what saw them right now. This was the last kiss of his life, if his touch was to be believed. He was making the most of every second he got with her.
When he pulled away, Astrid was breathless and could barely think straight. She shouldn’t have kissed him. He shouldn’t have kissed her back.
But she couldn’t regret what they had done.
His eyes and expression were so soft. Bjorn tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then followed the line of her jaw down to her lips. He traced them with one ragged claw. “Why did you do that, bright one?”
She didn’t know. She’d wanted to. Because something in her felt like it had been important for her to do it?
Taking a deep breath, she said, “You are a good man, Bjorn. Kind and thoughtful. You have cared for me more than anyone else has my entire life.”
“You are a priestess. I did what I was supposed to do.”
“But before that, I lived on the streets with my sister. We were orphans with no family, no hope. The kingdom we live in is difficult for many, and a long life is only given to those with money or power.” She licked her lips.
“I still remember the starving little girl who was kicked away from stalls of food and who barely slept in the gutters while trading the watch with her little sister. I became powerful so that little girl would never experience that again.”
At her every word, he seemed to grow more and more angry. When he replied to her words, it was with a snarl. “No child should endure that.”
“I will never endure it again. I thought our journey would be difficult, but you have made me remember that I am more resilient than I thought.” She took a step back from him, needing to clear her head.
Night had settled upon them. The fireflies were all alight, blinking on and off in the distance.
They made Bjorn’s features peek in and out of her vision.
It was so difficult to see him now that there were trees above their heads to hide the moonlight.
But she swore he was angry. She thought she would know the set of his shoulders easily by now.
“Astrid,” he said, his voice so low she almost didn’t hear him. “I don’t think you understand—”
But then they were both interrupted by the rustling of leaves and bushes before another troll walked into the clearing.
Astrid couldn’t see her well, but she could definitely tell it was a woman.
She was tall and lean, with wide hips that clattered with the sound of bones clacking against each other.
She was decorated with so many of those gleaming white bones.
There had to be at least two hundred of them creating the entire skirt.
Her top was similar to the skirt, although it seemed like it was made out of much smaller flat bones, so at least it appeared to be a little more comfortable than the skirt did.
The troll woman didn’t look at her at all.
She just looked at Bjorn as her face lost all the slate gray coloring and turned nearly white.
“Bjorn?” she asked, her voice croaky with some emotion Astrid couldn’t name. “Surely it’s not you?”
“It’s me.”
“But it’s been...”
“Years,” he replied. He took a step farther away from Astrid and then sank to his knees.
She had no idea what he was doing. Why was he on his knees as though praying to this woman? But then a breeze ruffled the leaves above the woman’s head, and some moonlight cast upon her features.
Pretty, broad features, with a strong nose and a wide mouth.
A familiar pair of tusks jutted up from her bottom jaw, and twin horns curled over her head.
They weren’t as large as Bjorn’s, and they certainly didn’t appear as though they would aid her much in a fight.
But it was hard to deny the resemblance.
This was almost certainly his mother. And he now was prostrating himself before her. As though being on his knees just wasn’t enough. He laid down with his face on the ground, his arms outstretched toward his mother’s feet.
She stood there before him, tall and strong and staring down at her massive son, who was now trying to make himself small before her.
“Mother,” he said. “I have been gone too long.”
“By choice?”
“Never.” The word ripped free from him. “I was taken by Dag the Destroyer, and then...”
Astrid could hear how hard it was for him to even say the words. She almost stepped in to tell his mother that he’d been in the labyrinth, that King James had done horrible things to him for years and that his mother should be gentle with him. He was just learning how not to be in that place.
She didn’t need to step in, though. His mother bent down and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I know where you have been, my son. And I have seen what you have done. I needed to hear for myself that you were not there by choice. That is all. I never doubted you, even for a second.”
Bjorn got up on all fours, still not looking at the woman who’d birthed him. “I return to you with no decorations, no piercings, no honor. I am not worthy of your love, Mother.”
The sound that came out of her was both a howl of rage and a cry of torment.
His mother grabbed both of his shoulders, forcing Bjorn to sit back on his heels and look at her.
Then she cupped the back of his head, pressing their foreheads together.
“You have always been worthy of love. When you were here, when he took you from me, and even in that dark place. I never stopped loving you. Not for a single second. There is nothing you could do that would make me love you less. Nothing, do you hear me?”
Astrid’s heart shattered. The moonlight turned the tears running down Bjorn’s cheeks into glimmering diamonds, and she wiped her own tears away with the backs of her hands.
What a beautiful moment to witness, and suddenly she felt like she was trespassing. She should fade into the bushes, maybe head back to the stream. Bjorn would know how to find her. He always did. She could give them a few minutes alone and then join them. This wasn’t about her. It was about them.
She was just about to leave when his mother turned to her. “You. You are the priestess who saved him.”
Why did those words feel like an accusation?
Astrid wasn’t entirely sure what she was supposed to do in this situation.
If she had been in court, then she would have curtsied and simpered.
She’d met quite a few important mothers in her day, but she wasn’t in court right now.
She was in troll lands, surrounded by their culture, and she had no idea what was polite here.
So she nodded. “I am.”
“Why?”
“Because I need his help to get my sister back.”
Bjorn’s mother seemed not to believe her. She reached for the bones at her skirt, tearing off a few and then whispering to them in her hands. Throwing them onto the ground, she tossed them right at Astrid’s feet. “Read them.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Look at them. Read them. Will the words to appear in your mind.”
She did what the woman bid her, but she didn’t have any expectations. She’d seen bones before, and they had never spoken to her before. They still didn’t, but she tried at the very least.
“They say nothing to me,” she finally said.
“And the wind? Does it whisper in your ears?”
“No.”
“Have you seen sights in smoke? Glimmers of a time that has yet to come?”
“No.” What were these questions, anyway? Why was she asking her all this?
Bjorn’s mother tsked. “You brought me a difficult one, my son. There are more tests I must try with her, but these are the ones I can ask for now.”
Her dark green troll shrugged. “I do not know what she is. They call her priestess, Mother.”
“And they are right. I can sense it. Her magic is waiting to break out, but there is something blocking it. I don’t know what.” Bjorn’s mother stood, staring at Astrid with the same intensity as her son.
Astrid wasn’t sure if she should be insulted or intrigued by what was being said.
Eventually, though, Bjorn stood as well.
Astrid noticed how shaky he was as he stood up.
She wanted to ask him if he was all right.
She wanted to clarify that this was what he wanted, and that was the only reason why he was so shaky.
That he’d finally come home, seen his mother, he knew that his life could be put back together.
But she didn’t have the chance. His mother barreled toward her, cupping her face and turning her head from side to side. “She is interesting, isn’t she?”
“Mother, you may be scaring her.”
“It’s rare for me to get to see a woman like this. Humans are usually so weak in their magic, or they do not know how to use it.” Again, the woman cranked Astrid’s head to the side. “I wish I could peer inside you. Perhaps that would give me more clarity.”
If she wasn’t careful, she was going to snap Astrid’s neck. Eyes wide, she looked to Bjorn for help because she couldn’t tell his mother to let her go, but the troll woman did not know how fragile humans were.
Bjorn seemed only amused by his mother’s actions.
He walked over to the two of them and pried her hands off of Astrid’s face.
“There will be plenty of time to peer into her. But we are tired. We have been traveling for nearly a week now, and at a pace that is not sustainable. If I have any right to beg you for anything, Mother, I request food and a safe place to sleep.”
She looked him over and then seemed to agree. “You will have that, my son. It is the least of what I can do.”
The troll woman turned and headed out into the forest, as though she knew her child would follow her.
And that left Bjorn and Astrid in what seemed like privacy once again.
But she swore she could feel eyes on them.
It was like they were never alone in this place, and she hadn’t realized it until this moment.
He gently turned her head to the side, looking at the marks his mother had left on her skin before sighing. “I apologize. She is... intense.”
“You could say that.”
“But she will be able to break our bond. If anyone can, it will be her. I am glad to see she is alive.” His thumb pressed against the ache in her jaw, tracing the redness on her cheeks that was surely there. “There will be a healer in the camp. I will bring them to you.”
“I don’t need a healer. The marks will be gone in the morning.”
“They may bruise.”
Astrid lifted her hand and pressed hers on top of his, holding his hand in place so he would understand that she was not afraid of his mother.
“I don’t need a healer, Bjorn. If I think I do, I will ask for one.
Otherwise, leave it be. Your mother seemed intent on getting to know me, and that is something I will indulge her.
But I don’t want to find out what magic I have, or what magic she thinks I have.
I know who I am. We’re here to break the bond, not for any other reason. ”
Something flashed in his eyes that she couldn’t name. Disappointment, maybe? But that didn’t make sense. He wanted this to be severed just as much as she did. They couldn’t remain bound to each other when their lives were so different.
“Come with me,” he said, his voice gruffer than before. “I will show you where I grew up.”
As he turned around, she felt a cold wind tracing down her spine. She’d said something wrong, she realized. But she had no idea what that wrong was.
For a moment, she entertained the thought that he wanted to keep her. Because that kiss had been world changing.
Still. A kiss could just be a kiss. Of thanks, of desperation, of hope…all the things that they had both poured into it. But that didn’t mean it was anything serious.