Chapter 39
Thirty-Nine
Rose
Rose hadn't realized she could ever be this happy, with all these people surrounding her, and all the love that she could literally feel in the air. She hadn't known life could be like this. It was a feeling that was hard to ignore.
She'd always known that love was a reality for a lot of people.
Plenty of folks talked about it, even in the labyrinth.
Many of the women there had experienced it before, although Rose couldn't say that she had. She'd been taken so young, compared to a lot of the women who’d been there. But they’d all talked about love as though it was more than just something that a person experienced.
Love was felt. It was in the air, all over their bodies. It made them do foolish and strange things that Rose would never understand, because she hadn't been able to feel it for herself before she had been stuck in that prison.
But now, she knew exactly what it felt like.
It bubbled up inside of her, effervescent and tingling through her veins as she looked up at this man who would sacrifice the world for her, even if she didn't want him to.
Gunnar had proved to her time and time again that he was going to stay.
He wasn't going to hurt her. He was just going to be here with her.
No matter how long it took her to open up.
Her shield from the world when she needed it. Her rock in a storm to clutch onto when the memories became too much. Her troll husband who would stop at nothing to make sure she was happy.
Which god had looked down at her and decided she had suffered enough? Which god had given her this moment, surrounded by the living and the dead? It was a gift she would never forget.
"Come on," Astrid called out, somewhere in that mass of people who were all turning back toward the center of Trollveggen. "The celebrations aren't over yet! The others should be done with their blood bonding by now. Now's the best part!"
Rose couldn't imagine what that better part could be. And then she realized she was allowed to say that. To explain.
So she leaned closer to Gunnar and said quietly, "I don't know what could be better than standing here, looking up at you, and knowing I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you."
His lips parted, and his face turned a dark green in a blush that spread all the way down his masculine chest. But then he shook his head at her and grinned. "Rose, I'm shirtless marrying you. What do you think I'm bringing to this marriage?"
"Everything," she replied, then grabbed his hand and followed the crowd of people out of the forest.
But there was one person in particular she was interested in speaking with. Rhydian. The elf who had guided her through so much hardship, and he walked beside her as another troll woman joined Gunnar on his side.
"Thank you," she said to Rhydian. "You've guided me through so much of my life, and I still don't understand why."
"My sister," he replied. "I suppose I can finally tell you.
She was kidnapped when she was young, just like you.
Forced to do horrible things. I was with her until the very end, where she chose to leave this realm and go to be with our ancestors.
She suffered. I did not want to see you walk the same path. "
Rose frowned. "It wasn't trolls, was it?"
He laughed. "Do you think I would have wanted you to marry him if it was? No, it was not trolls. Even the elves were cruel, dear Rose. But I did have another sister who ran off with a troll, and from my understanding, she was treated like a queen until the day she died."
Now it was time for Rose's mouth to drop open in shock as she realized King Egil's wife looked an awful lot like Rhydian.
He winked at her, as though he knew where her mind had gone. "The world is smaller than you think, dear one. She's not my sister, but she is a descendant of those who came from my line. She did me proud, just as all of my sister's offspring did."
Rose let out a little laugh, the chuckle bursting out of her before she could catch it. "Elves got around, didn't they?"
Rhydian only arched an unimpressed eyebrow at her crass language. That gave Rose a moment to listen in on the conversation Gunnar was having with the pretty troll beside him. She had looked so happy during the ceremony, and Rose knew that she was someone important to her new husband.
"Tindra," he said, and the name sparked a memory in Rose's mind. "I'm so sorry."
"You did everything you could, Gunnar. I released you from that guilt a long time ago, but you are the one who stubbornly holds onto it."
"How could I not? I was the reason you died."
"There were a lot of reasons that added up to my death, but you were not one of them.
You were fighting in a completely different war band, unaware that I was out there with another.
You did exactly as you should have. You protected Trollveggen, and you didn't let me in.
" Tindra smiled at him, her expression light and breezy.
"I'm quite happy being dead. I get to watch anyone and everyone I want to watch. Including you."
He paled, and she laughed as she headed off into the gathering of the dead that would wait at the edge of the forest. It was time for Rose and Gunnar to join the living, even though it was hard to leave the spirits behind.
As Gunnar's magic faded away from them all, she saw the moment everyone else couldn't see them. But Rose could. She could still see all their smiling, happy faces, and the waves they gave them all as they headed into the capital of Trollveggen to join with the others who were now bonded as well.
Now it was time for that happiness to swell again.
Rose could feel it building as they reached the first couple.
They were at a jeweler's bench, watching the man twist wire around stones that were so pretty they made Rose's eyes burn.
Bright sapphires, so blue they made the color seem like it shouldn't even have a name.
Then the next couple, this time at a metal smith, each of them picking out gold bands that were extremely large. But the gold was lovingly made, and they were quite pleased about it.
Rose almost asked what they were doing, but then they were interrupted by Vigdis. The gorgeous troll had a much larger troll maiden by her side, although they oddly fit together perfectly.
And then Vigdis tugged the massive troll against her side, and it all clicked into place.
"You're bonded!" Rose said, quite pleased for her friend.
Friend.
It was the first time she'd ever considered someone else her friend in a very long time.
Vigdis grinned. "And now we're picking out our piercings. But considering his brother's track record, I thought Gunnar might not have told you a single thing about what to expect."
Her troll husband at her side stiffened. "I... Uh..."
"I know about wife piercings," Rose replied. "I've lived here for a year, and I helped pick out Astrid's."
Somewhere in the group her sister choked on her own spit. "You did what?"
She wasn't going to bother explaining that one.
Bjorn had been in the market. So had she.
It wasn't like he could ask anyone else what gems would look perfect on her sister’s nipples.
Such a sensitive question was best posed to someone else who had likely seen said nipples and wasn't going to be a threat to his bond.
Anyway, she wasn't going to dwell on that right now. Because she had wondered about earning her own troll wife piercings. She’d already had her ears pierced once in her life, but she was curious to know if there were others.
After all, there were so many types of piercings here in this realm.
Trolls were practically covered in them.
Gunnar squeezed her hand, and she glanced up to see him already looking down at her. "I had an idea for that, but only if you're willing."
"What is your idea?"
He scratched the back of his neck with his free hand.
"It's uh... Well, they are a lot more painful than a regular piercing.
But we only give them to those who have suffered greatly and returned to Trollveggen victorious.
The last person I saw get them had been tortured at the hands of King James for years. "
She liked the idea of that. Wearing not just a badge of a troll bride, but also one for what she had survived. "All right. I'll do that."
"You haven't heard me explain what they are."
"I don't need to know. I don't believe there is much pain in this world that is as bad as what I have survived.
" Facing those memories was still hard, but she knew deep in her gut that her body was ready to tell him that it did not fear pain.
"I might not remember everything, but my body does.
It has memories from countless years, and it is ready to face those with a little pain to be able to look in the mirror every day and see what I have overcome. "
Vigdis looked between the two of them and jumped in the moment Rose finished. "There's only one person here I would trust doing that kind of piercing."
Gunnar nodded, but then he was dragging her through the crowd. Not toward any jeweler or blacksmith, like she had thought, but toward the barracks. She couldn't even hazard a guess why he would bring her here, of all places.
"Why are we going to the barracks?" she asked, a little confused.
"Because Torbin is the only person who still knows how to do these piercings." Gunnar paused. "I should probably go get Ragnar, too. He'll be helpful for this."
"A healer? They're just piercings."
"They heal better if they're helped with magic. You... Go find Torbin, tell him you've decided on the piercings and he'll know what I mean." Gunnar pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I'll be right back. Don't get started without me. I want to be there for this."
Amused, she watched him rush back into the crowd, likely soon to shout for his brother because Gunnar was not a patient man.
At least, not when it came to his brother.
He was a little harsh with Ragnar, but then Ragnar was just as harsh with him, so she supposed she shouldn't question their relationship.
Meandering into the barracks, she found Torbin waiting for her in the mess hall. He had a small box next to him, and a tray of food that he tucked into as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks. And was that a… book?
"Are you reading?" she asked, sitting down on the bench next to him. "Something interesting?"
"A romance novel," he muttered. "Apparently women like these, and I'm confused why anyone would."
"What are your thoughts now that you've been reading it?" She peered over his shoulder, trying to sneak a peek at what scene he was on. It appeared to be mostly mooning over each other, which used to be her favorite parts of romance novels.
"Seems like a lot of drawing out the inevitable. If they fucked and got it over with, though, I suppose there would be no story." He snapped it shut and turned to face her. "You're going through with the piercings, then?"
"I like the idea of them. No one's told me what they are yet, though."
He handed her the box wordlessly.
Rose opened it, gasping at the tray of tiny diamonds that glittered in the light. There were so many of them. Countless glittering diamonds, each one cut to perfection with a small foot attached in metal. They weren't big. They weren't obvious. But they were gorgeous.
The foot was something she'd never seen before, though.
"What do you do with these?"
Torbin shrugged. "Tiny incision, slide the foot underneath your skin. I assume Gunnar is looking for Ragnar? He'll help them heal over and then you won't have to go through the itching stage."
"Where do you put them?"
Gunnar appeared behind her, breathless with his chest heaving as both he and Ragnar entered the room. "Everywhere," he replied. But then he reached out a hand and traced it along her collarbone, "But I thought here, for now. I want to cover you in stars, Rose."
She would have endured any pain to hear him say that again. She'd like to be covered in stars, she thought. Maybe that was exactly how she was meant to be.
So Rose sat down at the table in front of everyone. Torbin waved aside her fear of infection, nodding toward Ragnar while making a face at her. And then he drew out the smallest knife she'd ever seen, a scalpel with a blade that was so sharp she didn't even feel it cutting her skin.
He wasn't kidding when he said it was a small incision. And he was fast. Rose barely even had time to feel a bead of warm blood sliding down her skin before he'd already set the foot underneath her skin and then had Ragnar heal it closed.
Over and over again they did it, and every single one she played a memory in her mind as they put it there.
The first man who had touched her without permission.
The first man she'd killed.
The last man to ever touch her without permission.
But then she didn't want them all to be bad memories, so she thought of the first time she'd met Gunnar.
How he'd carried her through the forest so carefully when she had a broken leg, so sure of himself that he wouldn't hurt her anymore.
The first time she'd stepped into Trollveggen, breathing in the fresh air and knowing that she was free. Even if she’d been terrified about what that meant for her.
At least twelve memories were set into her skin, decorating her with starlight as Gunnar held her hand and watched intently.
He was there for every single gemstone. Every single piece that marked her as strong, capable, powerful, all the things that she had known she was, but now, they were laid bare on her skin for all to see.
Reaching out, she cupped his jaw in her hand and turned him to look at her. "Maybe I'll get tattoos like you trolls have next. What do you think about that?"
He looked fierce as he met her gaze. "You've earned your fair share of those as well, my love. If you want tattoos, we'll get them for you."
She'd never felt more understood or more loved. Their gazes never wavered until Torbin leaned back, surveyed his work, and nodded. "That'll do. They're pretty."
Rose looked down at all of them, all twenty, ten on each side of her collarbone and breathed in a long, happy breath. She could feel the chains of her memories and her past falling away as she looked at them.
"They are pretty," she replied, and then grinned at Gunnar. "What do you think?"
"Stunning," he replied. But he wasn't looking at the piercings.
He was looking at her.