Chapter 6 #4
A low rumble moved through the assembled trolls, the sound of large bodies breathing in at the same time.
Kara wiggled until he was forced to let her down or drop her. She laid a hand on Nick’s arm. “Easy.”
“I am being very easy,” Nick informed her. He wasn’t ripping out the king’s throat. He thought he was being quite reasonable.
Wadim muttered, “That’s debatable.”
The Troll King’s mouth twitched at one corner, the smallest movement, gone before it had fully arrived. “You have spirit, wolf.”
“I have a pregnant mate who is a gypsy healer, among other things, and everyone seems to want her because of those things. I wouldn’t call it spirit so much as a need to kill anything that might even have the whisper of a threat to her.”
“Yes.” The king tipped his great head a fraction. “That is why you are still alive.”
Nick smiled, all teeth and no warmth. “And you are still alive because my mate wishes it.”
“Okay,” Kara said quickly, sliding fully into place at Nick’s side now, her hand sliding down to lace fingers with his. “Before we turn this into a measuring contest that nobody asked to attend, let’s get to that whole resting thing, yeah?”
The Troll King looked down at her. “Agreed.”
Gavril waited until the others disappeared down the winding stone corridor before he finally turned back toward the Troll King.
Nick had carried Kara away like a male who intended to physically fight exhaustion itself if it tried touching his mate again.
Rachel walked close beside them, one hand resting lightly against Kara’s back while Zara and Wadim followed behind, their voices low and tired.
Aphid remained near the cavern entrance, silver eyes scanning every shadow with enough suspicion to insult entire bloodlines.
Good.
Someone needed to stay paranoid. Because Gavril didn’t like any of this. And wolves trusted instinct long before logic.
The Troll King watched the group disappear before his attention shifted back to Gavril. Around them, troll warriors resumed moving through the chamber, though quieter now, every eye darting nervously toward the spreading corruption beneath the stone.
“You wished to explain why you came to our realm,” the king rumbled.
Gavril nodded once. “Yeah. I think it’s time we stop dancing around it.”
The king’s dark gaze sharpened.
Gavril folded his arms across his chest, boots planted firmly against the trembling stone floor beneath him. “The human realm is falling apart.”
That got the trolls’ attention immediately.
Several warriors exchanged uneasy looks while one of the elders gripped his staff more tightly.
“There is an ancient being called Raja,” Gavril continued. “Long ago, the djinn imprisoned him inside the Nushtonia.”
“The book of the dead?” one of the elders asked sharply.
Gavril nodded. “The same one.”
The Troll King’s expression darkened. “What manner of creature requires imprisonment inside an object of such power?”
“The ruler of the realm of the dead,” Gavril answered grimly.
Uneasiness rolled through the chamber. Even the mountain itself seemed to quiet for half a heartbeat.
“He wanted more than dominion over death,” Gavril said. “He wanted access to the living realms. Power over all of them.”
“And now?” the king asked.
Gavril’s jaw tightened. “Now he’s free.”
Several trolls muttered low curses beneath their breath.
“A female named Celise weakened the bindings holding him, then one of our allies mistakenly set him free, thinking she was saving one of our own,” Gavril continued.
“We don’t know what his end goal is. What we do know is that he is extremely powerful, and there are a lot of supernatural beings that would do all kinds of things if promised some of that power. ”
The Troll King’s eyes narrowed slowly. “And your Alpha sent you here.”
“Fane doesn’t wait until disaster is standing on his doorstep before he acts.” A faint grin tugged briefly at Gavril’s mouth despite the tension hanging over the chamber. “He sent groups into different realms searching for allies before Raja’s influence spread too far.”
“And instead of allies,” the king began quietly, his gaze drifting toward the corruption beneath the floor, “you found yourselves in our cages.”
“Yeah.” Gavril’s wolf pushed uneasily against his skin again. “Well, we probably could have figured out a more diplomatic way to go about it. But, no one has been to the troll realm in a very long time.”
The Troll King fell silent.
Around them, the chamber lights flickered unevenly through the blue mineral veins embedded in the stone.
Finally, the king spoke.
“You said Raja rules death.”
Gavril nodded.
The king’s gaze shifted slowly toward the darkness of the corridor where Torvik had been carried up. “Then perhaps death has finally remembered the foundations buried beneath it.”
Well. That sounded horrifying.
Gavril rubbed a hand slowly down his beard. “You trolls always talk in cryptic riddles, or is that just a king thing?”
To his complete surprise, one corner of the Troll King’s mouth twitched.
“It is mostly a king thing.”