Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
Gunnar
Gunnar felt all the fears and worries drain out of him. The king had pardoned them. They'd broken the rules, but now he could finally relax. He could look at Rose and know that she was going to be his forever, for as long as she wanted him at the very least.
The only problem was that he didn't know what they were going to do next.
They were bonded. Technically, a blood witch had overseen the bonding, and that meant the ceremony that all the others got wasn't going to be the same as the one they did.
She deserved better than that. She deserved the entire world, and that was what he was going to give her.
Gunnar stepped away from Rose for a moment, approaching Bjorn. "I need your help with something."
"You need my help with a lot of things," Bjorn grumbled, punching him in the shoulder. "You got yourself paralyzed and then bonded to a woman without knowing that you did?"
"Oh, I knew. I was awake for all of it."
"And you didn't try to stop her? Knowing what the connection was?"
Gunnar gave him a look. "Did you try to stop Astrid? You could have kept her away from that knife, knowing exactly where you were and what was happening. But you brought her in there and let her touch whatever she wanted. At least I was paralyzed and couldn't have stopped Rose if I tried."
Bjorn looked more and more unimpressed the longer Gunnar spoke. But finally he grunted out a noise that was clearly supposed to be one of admission, before he asked, "What do you want from me?"
"Have Astrid get a dress for her. I want to surprise Rose with some kind of ceremony, even if the binding is already done. You, me, her sister... Bring Ragnar too. He'll want to give me away." Gunnar's mind was already racing.
There were a lot of pretty places in this kingdom to choose from, more than most. But he knew she liked the wisps, and that gave him a perfect idea for where he wanted to show her how much he truly adored her.
"Ragnar won't be giving you away," Bjorn replied.
"Of course he will. He knows about this already and worked through his anger. Unlike you."
"Men aren’t given away to their brides."
Gunnar froze. "Oh. Well, then I suppose Astrid will have to give Rose away then. You know how this works more than I do. I was thinking that blue glen we used to play in as kids, remember? I'll distract her and get her there. You do the rest. We'll say two hours?"
Bjorn had never had a less enthused expression on his face, as Gunnar gave him one more pat on the chest and turned back to Rose.
His troll wife was stunning, standing there in the clearing with her hair glowing in the blue light.
She was every ethereal creature he had ever dreamt of as a boy, and now that he looked at her, he felt like she held his entire world in her heart.
"Rose," he said, calling out for her and reaching out his hand for her to take. "Want to come with me?"
She didn't even hesitate. She walked over to him with a soft smile on her face. Beautiful in every way. With a spine of steel and an enduring nature that he still wasn't sure he deserved.
But he would try every single day to deserve her.
"Can I show you something?" he asked.
"I don't have anything else to do today. I suppose you can show me whatever you want."
He'd have to work on getting her to be a little more curious about their world in a way that wasn't so... well, maybe off-putting was a harsh word. But other trolls would wonder if she was all that interested in doing anything with anyone. She still wandered, just kept her soul in her body now.
Sighing, he pulled her back into the forest. "I wanted to show you where I got you that pet."
"The caterpillar?" she asked, clearly a little surprised that was where his brain had gone. "I had wondered why you'd brought it to me. They aren't particularly common. At least, I haven't ever seen one."
"No, they usually like to hide. They're quiet creatures and they don't like to have people around them. Most of the time, they let off little puffs of hair that sting when they get stuck in your skin." He could still feel them under his skin sometimes.
Itching his arm, he tugged her further through the woods. The venimoss were reclusive creatures, and it had taken him hours to find their dens. They moved every single year, as if the trees they consumed weren’t good enough for longer than a few months.
They lived in the roots of a very particular tree. And finally he found it with her.
Trollveggen was filled with very similar colors. Greens, blues, and purples. They glowed so brightly down here, it was hard to find any other color decorating their realm.
The crimson scale trees were the hardest to find. He wasn't sure if that's because they didn't grow naturally down here, or if they were dying out from all the other plants doing so well. But he had found a grove of them, and that was where the venimoss most liked to live.
Bright red leaves glowed, but not from the entire leaf like many of the trees here.
No, the veins of the leaf were what glowed in pulses.
The bark of the tree looked more like snake scales, covering the trunk with an armor that was likely very helpful.
The caterpillars ate the sap within it, and if there wasn't such good protection, it was highly likely they would eat through every tree in the forest.
The roots of the crimson scale tree regularly pulled out of the ground in giant loops that hid the caterpillars from their sight at first. Strangely enough, the venimoss enjoyed being on the ground more than they enjoyed being up high.
"Oh!" Rose said, letting out a little cry of happiness as the first few venimoss poked their heads out of their caverns.
There weren't a lot of them. This tree was too small to house the hordes of them that were sometimes there. But at least six of them started coming out from their homes, slowly making their way toward Rose, who had fallen onto her knees in the dirt.
Her white dress was going to be ruined. But she didn't care at all as she ran her hand over their prickly bodies and then toyed with the antennae on top of their heads. "More of them?" she asked.
"I thought maybe you would want to bring the one I gave you back here. There aren’t too many venimoss here, and I think the food competition would be less than where I found it.
" Gunnar crouched down next to her, watching as all the little creatures turned their faces to look at him, suspicious at his movement.
"As much as I think it enjoys living with you, perhaps it's best to let it go to its family once more. "
"Oh, I would love that. Maia is so concerned that the gardens are going to be destroyed by it, and the plants don't like the little one at all." Rose picked up one of the venimoss, its many furred feet waving in the air before finding purchase on her lap. "And I could come visit?"
"As often as you'd like."
They spent the next few hours there, mostly him watching her play with the venimoss and enjoying the sight.
She was good with animals. Every touch they ate up, and her attention didn't seem to scare them like he did.
In fact, any time he moved toward them, they got all their little spikes up and he swore he heard one hiss at him.
But Rose?
They adored her almost as much as he did. They were all over her. Constantly climbing on her lap, crawling into her arms to be petted, and if they could have purred, he was certain they would have.
It was the best way to spend an afternoon, especially since he was still waiting for everyone else to get together. Gunnar got to spend even more time with her, and that was all that mattered to him.
While she played, he planned. The words were going to be the hardest part.
He was a very wordy man, and he knew how to talk for hours on end, but when it came to her, he found that he was at a little of a loss for those words.
He wanted to tell her how he felt, what was in his heart, and yet. .. all of it felt difficult.
He still wanted to hunt down all those who had hurt her.
He wanted to start a new life, finding every single one of them, plucking their faces from her memory, and becoming the creature who haunted their steps.
Their death would make him feel maybe a little better about what she had endured, but it wouldn't erase it.
As much death that could come from his hands, the only thing that would actually help her was to use his hands to be soft. Kind. Healing for her.
She looked up at him, her face bright and full of happiness, and he knew that his place was right here. With her. No matter how hard it was to let that rage go.
A movement in the forest caught his attention, just beyond the crimson scale tree. Ragnar stood there and then lifted his hand to indicate they were all ready for him. His brother melted into the shadows once more, and Gunnar sprang into movement.
He reached out his hand for her to take, always allowing her to make the first move.
She didn't even hesitate. Rose reached for him with a smile and allowed him to pull her up to standing. "What now?"
"It didn't seem fair that everyone else gets a ceremony while you and I had ours in a cave." He tugged her through the woods, closer and closer to the blue glowing glen that wasn't too far from this tree.
He'd always loved this spot. The stone above their head was much lower, so all the glow worms that looked like stars so far above them were actually visible here.
They dangled above their heads in long strings, pulsing with light so bright it almost looked magical.
The trees around them were cerulean, and the grass beneath their feet glowed the moment it was touched.
Their family stood waiting for them. Ragnar and Maia. Bjorn and Astrid. And in Astrid's hands was a pretty blue dress, not white like he had always thought humans got married in, but blue, like the sky beyond this mountain.
"Oh," Rose said, halting the moment she saw everyone. "You... You want to get married?"
"We're already bonded," he replied. "I want you to feel as special as I know you are."
She turned to him with tears in her eyes, happy tears.
He could smell it on her. And then she was whisked away by her sister.
He stood there watching as she drew the blue dress over her white one, and Astrid wove tiny blue flowers through her hair.
The sisters whispered words to each other before she was right in front of him.
Perfect in every way.
Perfect for him and his life and all the things that he had done. So perfect that she made his heart stutter in his chest as he reached for her hands.
"I don't know what to say," he said. "Other than to tell you how beautiful you are.
Inside and out. The first moment I saw you, I knew there was still a fight inside of you.
Not because of what you said or did, but because I could feel your soul wandering.
The husk of a body you left behind was for other people to do with as they wanted, but your soul was always yours.
And that strength called out to me. I had to know more about you. Where you came from. Who you were."
She grinned, the expression so bright and lovely.
"I knew that you were going to stay when I realized that you just wanted me to live my life.
You allowed me to wander, to experience new things, to grow all on my own, and you waited until I was ready.
That is the most beautiful gift you could have given me, Gunnar.
No matter how long it took, you were... there.
For me. Endlessly and without question."
He squeezed her hands and leaned forward to whisper, "I know nothing about human weddings. Is this all we do?"
Bjorn snorted and then cleared his throat.
"Since my friend is an idiot, I thought I would give you wishes.
All of us here. What I hope for you as your love continues is that you support each other.
Not just blindly, but with the helping hands that only love can give.
My wish is that you build a life together, stone by stone, that you are proud of. "
Astrid wiped a tear from her eye and gave a watery smile to her sister. "I wish for you to be happy. Because happiness in our life has been fleeting, and I know you deserve a life free from all that. From now on, I hope it's only happiness moving forward."
He hadn't expected them to plan all this. But then he looked at Ragnar when his brother shifted, and he knew that he was about to get emotional just like Rose was getting.
Ragnar took a deep breath and said, "We haven't had it easy in our lives.
I thought our purpose was labor and to give to others.
Now I have learned that my purpose was finding my wife, because she gives me more than any job or role ever did in this kingdom.
So what I wish for you, my brother, is a steady hand and a calm heart.
Because I don't think either of us knew what that calm felt like until we found them. "
He nodded, trying hard not to let the tears burning in his eyes spill over.
But then Maia said very quietly, "My wish for you is that your love grows like the plants here. I've seen it take root over the past year, but now I want to see it flourish. Just like Rose has opened her petals, my wish for you is to bloom."
Then Rose squeezed his hands, and he looked down at the love of his life with happiness near to bursting in his chest.
"Use your magic," she said quietly. "Think big."
He didn't even hesitate. He tugged hard on their bond and then realized they were surrounded.
Not only by his living family, but by countless other trolls.
His father, his mother, the queen herself, and countless other trolls who all stood around them.
Witnessing this bonding. Witnessing their love.
And then, behind Rose's shoulder, he saw Tindra. She had happy tears rolling down her cheeks as she met his gaze and said, "Well done."
Gunnar hadn't cried since he was a child. But he cried then and there, as trolls and humans, both living and dead, surrounded them and embraced them with love.