Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
Bjorn
Bjorn packed with blistering speed after that. Some part of him was concerned about the time they had wasted here, but another part feared what it would mean if they lingered for too long.
The grotto had always been home to him, but now it was like poking a bear.
Everything that he used to love annoyed him.
He didn’t like that there were people training at all hours of the day.
He didn’t want to join them, even though they were kind enough to continually ask him.
The sounds of people moving set his teeth on edge, and no matter how hard he tried to be comfortable here, he just couldn’t.
There was guilt in that admission. A feeling that he should have been able to handle this and for some reason, just couldn’t. Perhaps there was still a lingering part of him that feared it made him weak that he was so incapable of being around others.
Astrid was a good excuse to leave. Especially since he had told his mother that he would try his best to be a good husband. Her family was important to her, and her sister needed her.
He was being a good partner to her. She needed to leave. He would guide her safely to Trollveggen, and argue on her behalf that her sister should be released, and that was all he was expected to do.
Packed and ready to go, he shifted a few items that he had strapped onto his back.
His mother had insisted she send them with better care.
One of those items was a rather large tent that made it difficult for him to carry much else.
Thankfully, the troll maidens here were quick to set Astrid up for the journey as well.
His troll wife had boots on her feet now.
They were made for a troll child, but they would work for the journey.
The spider silk dress he’d made her was wrapped carefully in her own pack, although she carried little else in it.
Another dress had been given to her, a sturdy one made out of wool that would hold up to the test of the journey, keeping her warm on the cold nights as they journeyed over the high peaks of the mountains.
Astrid stood outside his mother’s home, waiting for him beside the woman who had birthed him.
Bjorn was surprised to see tears in his mother’s eyes. She had never been one for emotions. Even when he’d been a child and his father had taken him away, all he remembered was the rage in her gaze as she’d watched them leave. But now, she reached for him and held him close to her thundering heart.
“My son,” she whispered. “You take care of all that the gods have given you.”
“I will, Mother.”
“And fight for what you deserve.” She pulled back, framing his face with her hands. “Because you deserve so much more than you are willing to give to yourself.”
He wasn’t sure he agreed with her, but he nodded to appease the sadness he could see in her gaze. “We will return to see you.”
“Please do. Bring my new daughter back.”
Her new daughter? He hadn’t even thought she’d liked Astrid. At least, not that much.
But he could still see his mother’s earrings glinting in Astrid’s ears, and something clicked into place inside of him. She was his troll wife. She was his mother’s new daughter. And this was the only way the trolls would accept a woman like Astrid.
Honor. Loyalty. Dedication. That was what their people lived on.
“No more goodbyes,” he murmured, reaching out his hand for Astrid to take. “Come, troll wife.”
He didn’t think he was mistaken in the heat that flared in her eyes. She was intrigued by what he’d said. She wanted more from that as well.
Sometimes it still felt like kissing her in the glade or watching her with hungry eyes was forbidden. Perhaps he was wrong about that.
Things were different now. They weren’t going to sever the bond. The oldest and most talented of their seers, witches, and prophetesses had given them a glimpse into the future of what their magic could be.
Her tiny hand fit into his, and off they went. He lifted the brambles for her, headed off into the tall grass, back toward the mountain that had sheltered them from their first journey.
Astrid seemed happy to be traveling this time around. He watched her as they walked, and she didn’t show any signs of fatigue. Her arms swung at her side, her hair bounced where she had tied it on top of her head, and she started talking the moment they were a few steps away from the grotto.
“I have never traveled this far from the castle,” she said, her voice clearly delighted. “I didn’t even know there was another side to the mountain, isn’t that silly? All the human settlements and other kingdoms are on the opposite side. At least, as far as I know.”
“There are no humans here,” he replied.
“I wonder why! Humans like to spread out. Kings don’t get along when they are too close together.
But I suppose there has always been more room where they already are.
No one has needed to go over the mountain and risk angering the trolls.
” Her brows furrowed. “How strange it is to think. Maybe this is where the elves came from?”
“I don’t know.” Bjorn had never given it much thought. The elves were fickle creatures who had created his people, and he wasn’t all that impressed with their work. His people were exhausted in the pursuit of becoming more like their originators. Why should he give them much thought at all?
She glanced over at him the moment they reached the base of the mountain, amusement twisting her lips into something similar to a smile. “You don’t like talking about elves.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“It’s a touchy subject for most trolls.” He held out his hand for her to take.
He needed to get her up and over a rather large rockfall before they were back on a twisting path that headed up the mountain.
It had been used for ages by his people, although it looked more like a goat path than one for people.
“The elves were what made us, so we are grateful to them in some way. But they also were cruel masters.”
“As they were to most. They considered themselves gods among humans.” She hopped over the rocks, dropping down rather impressively for a woman who had been raised the way she was. She glanced back at him to see the surprise on his face. “What?”
“I expected you to be more... finicky. Less capable. Every time I look at you, you surprise me, Priestess.”
“Because I was a pretty doll all dressed up for men to look at?” She snorted. “That’s what the king wanted everyone to think about us. The training to be a priestess was significantly more than how to make your hair look nice.”
“Such as?” He found himself rather interested.
His people were specific in how they trained their more powerful women as well, but he knew there weren’t any similarities between the trolls and humans.
A priestess among the humans was a woman who was used as a weapon but hidden to look like a pretty comb.
Astrid seemed to think for a while. He didn’t mind allowing her the silence.
The day was beautiful, the sun was in the sky, warmth on their shoulders as they walked through the prettiest part of the mountain.
As of right now, the incline wasn’t very steep, but it would become very much so by the end of the day.
She took a deep breath and started to tell him a story he never would have guessed.
“I told you I was on the streets with my sister. Most of us were. Girls gathered up by people who knew that they had no one else. Some of us looked enough like the princess to actually be used as priestesses. Others ended up working in other ways with the sisterhood. There were a lot of us. Hundreds of girls of various ages, every single one of us hoping that the king would see us to be worthy of more than just living on the streets.”
He glanced over at her, clearly surprised. It gave her a bit of strength to continue, because she knew it was surprising.
“Of course, my sister and I were chosen.
I thought that meant they would teach us how to use our magic in new and impossible ways.
And they did, but not at all how I expected.
We were taught the basics like how to cook and clean, and yes, there was an emphasis on using our magic to convince most people, if not all, that we were powerful.
But the reality was that they wanted us to control the court system.
“Every good priestess knows how to manipulate a man. That’s actually very easy.
We’re taught how to use our magic to convince others that what they want isn’t what they want.
We know the ins and outs of the entire kingdom.
Secret passages. Who is fucking who. The children who are actually another noble’s child.
We are the secret keepers of quite literally everything. ”
And he had known she was powerful in the human realm, he just hadn’t realized how powerful she actually was. She knew... everything?
Bjorn stumbled over a rock, realizing in that moment how dangerous it was for them to return to Trollveggen. If King Egil caught wind of everything she knew, the ins and outs of the kingdom, who they could blackmail, everything that she said she could do…?
Hurrying behind her, he grabbed onto her shoulders and spun her around to look at him. “Listen to me. When we make it to Trollveggen, you cannot tell anyone that you know all of these things. Do you hear me?”
“Why would I not tell them?”
“Because my king will use you. I do not know what he will want to do, or how he will extract the information from you, but you must be careful.”
She stared up into his gaze, clearly confused by his words. “Why wouldn’t I want to help your people after seeing what mine can do?”