Chapter 19
The forest was cool and pleasant. Being outdoors was helping to clear Victoria’s mind. She felt greater clarity; she felt refreshed. This was the freedom she had been longing for. The breeze ruffled the treetops, and sunshine peeked through the branches, warming her skin. It wasn’t much like being on the open sea, but it was something to enjoy. And while she didn’t want her mind to travel to Elias, she couldn’t help it.
Some of her thoughts were angry and uncharitable. She soaked in the beauty of the forest and took note of the lack of dangerous magical creatures and events—something Elias insisted would be abundant. It seemed to her now that he was only trying to keep her from enjoying the landscape and blessed solitude. This was obviously because he was a jerk.
But another side of her, the more reasonable side, began to wonder. There must be some sense behind Elias’s behavior—some answer for the unkindness he showed her. Pausing to admire a fern-filled valley, she considered this. She remembered that first kiss they shared. He was so passionate, so filled with need and desire. And he was jealous too, when he saw her and Lord Reginald together. Though there was no need nor call for jealousy. But didn’t that mean he cared about her? Couldn’t she sense the strength of his feelings? Elias must have some reason for pushing her away. But what?
She went back and forth on this for many miles. Sometimes offering the young man the benefit of the doubt, sometimes lamenting she ever met him. But she always came back to the feeling in her heart—because that feeling was undeniable. Elias was her heart’s desire. She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything else. She wanted him even more than a return to the sea.
Last night, in his room, she’d let her imagination run free. In the space between their kiss and his bed, she’d stopped being engaged to Lord Reginald. Elias would propose. Her life would start anew here at Edenbridge Hall. It would not be the purgatory she had initially thought it would be—something to endure. It was to be an adventure—a shared adventure. Elias had a wild spirit, a heart like her very own. They would do as they pleased, Winstonshire and the knitting circle be damned. Together, they would be together. Happily ever after.
Victoria didn’t want to give that up. She was working out how to talk sense into the man when she stumbled upon something so startling that she didn’t know what to do with herself—a state that she had been unfamiliar with prior to coming to Winstonshire.
At first, her mind told her there was a boulder just ahead. She stopped dead in her tracks when she realized that the boulder was breathing. Her eyes shot to the bent-over form, and she struggled to process what her eyes saw plainly.
It was a man. But it wasn’t. It was too big to be a man—and Victoria had known some large men in her time on the sea. But this creature was ungodly in size. His flesh was like nothing she’d ever seen before. It was mottled—greens and browns like the earth. The ears on the beast came to pointed tips. He wore clothes, but they were tattered and dirty—stretched tightly across rounded green muscles. Could this truly be…a troll?
He”d been on his knees, forehead to the ground, back heaving with heavy breaths. But now, he struggled to rise. Victoria took a great step back. Underfoot, a branch snapped. The beast’s attention shot like an arrow in her direction. The creature’s fanged mouth snarled. Without a moment’s hesitation, she went for her knife.
He dove for her. As big as he was, the beast was quick. Victoria found herself pinned against a tree, a strong hand holding her wrist immobile. She gripped the knife with all her might, refusing to let it go. Despite herself, a laugh escaped her.
“I was told there were trolls in these woods,” she said, more to herself than to the beast, for she didn’t think such a creature had the capacity for language. His lip curled and his eyes narrowed in anger. Something about his eyes sparked recognition in her, but her mind and heart were racing too intensely to make sense of it.
“Listen, beast,” she ventured. “You might think you have the upper hand, but you don’t know me. I’m no damsel in distress. If you’re used to preying upon whimpering, helpless women, you will find something else entirely with me.”
He bared his fangs at Victoria and released a bellowing roar that she felt reverberate in her bones. She knew she would be forced to do something extreme and so, she did exactly what she was taught. If one is in trouble, go for the eyes or throat. If that fails, or if you can’t quite reach, go for the balls.
Her free hand gripped the creature where she knew she could hurt him most, and she yanked so hard she thought that skin might rip. He wailed, releasing her and falling backward onto the ground. He cupped his manhood, trying desperately to find his footing. Victoria held her knife at the ready. Could she run? Would he catch her? Her eyes made quick work of assessing the situation, skating rapidly over the beast’s scarred neck and back. Again, something in the recesses of her mind clicked in recognition. Angry eyes met hers and she sneered at him before turning on her heel and bolting for Edenbridge Hall.
By the Gods, she thought as she ran, these woods do hold magic. Such a realization would have frightened most, but Victoria was intrigued.