Page 34 of A Spark So Bright
That meant nothing, though. She was his ward. He was her guard. The vow he had made to her burned between them, nothing more and nothing less.
He would have fought the young man. He needed to put a fist into his face and hear the sound of his nose crunching. Then they would see how pretty the young man really was. Already Gunnar could see the blood dripping down his lips and the shocked expression he would wear after realizing Gunnar was not the person to joke with about Rose.
But then he heard the sound of his king's voice, and they all stood to attention.
In a rare appearance outside of the castle, King Egil stood on a dais at the end of the clearing. His massive wings were draped behind him like the impressive tail of a cloak, only made of membrane and veins. Still tall and broad, even in his advanced age, he looked over all of them with pride in his gaze.
"Welcome to the bridal games!" their king shouted, and all the voices of the surrounding trolls lifted in excitement.
It took a long time for the clearing to quiet down after the ringing echoes of glee from all the trolls who were here. But once they did, the king spoke again.
“We've all seen an impressive show from most of the trolls competing." Gunnar felt the king's eyes on him before Egil continued. "Now, I want to remind you all that there is no requirement of a choice at the end of this. These games are merely for all of us to remember that there is a beating heart at the center of our mountain. And that heart is you."
A breath filled Gunnar's chest, along with all the other trolls around him. He could feel it. There was a power in all of them, and the mountain gifted them with it. Her love was what gave them life, and he could feel every tendril of that magic reaching into his body.
Egil reached his arms up, gesturing at the glowing fauna all around them. "We honor her with these games. The mother who shields us. The land that gives us food and water. The ancestors who watch over us. The bridal games are all in remembrance of what we have. Now, these competitors have given us a show. If there are any trolls or humans who are interested in one of our warriors, please make your way down to the clearing."
Gunnar nearly rolled his eyes after that. Yes, there was an honor that filled him knowing that he was competing in this, but he didn't want any of these women. They knew it. He knew it. He was only here to appease his king, who seemed to think that Gunnar owed him something.
Ridiculous. He shouldn't even be here. There were so many other things he could be doing. Ragnar wasn't required to be here, although he already had a mate, but still. His brother was in the healing dens, already doing what he could to help their people. Gunnar should be doing the same thing right now.
He was elbowed in the side, clearly not putting on a face of interest enough for the rest of them to believe.
Grunting, he turned his attention to all the people who were lining up in front of them. He pretended to actually look at those who wanted to find a mate. A partner. Someone to walk through life with them.
He'd almost be sentimental if the idea didn't terrify him. He didn't want or need a partner like that. His life was already complicated enough as it was.
A flash of blonde hair caught his attention. He hadn't realized there were new humans who had joined them in Trollveggen. Astrid and Rose were two of the few with hair that color, and the hair of the woman slinking to the end of the line was certainly similar to his Rose, whose hair was nearly white. Stress, one of the healers in their den had claimed. Stress could do that to a person's hair.
The more he stared at the woman, though, the more he realized that wasn't a new woman at all. Rose had stepped down out of the stands and was at the very end of the line of people interested in a troll here.
Gunnar's world turned red.
Fourteen
Rose
What was she doing? Honestly, Rose had no idea.
Her mind was still reeling from the information she'd just received. Rhydian was dead. What did that even mean? He was a ghost she had been talking to for countless years now? She had no idea what conclusion that could bring her to, other than she really was just as mad as everyone thought she was. She'd been working so hard for so many years, learning and growing, and now she had no idea if that had even been real.
He was a dead man.
Dead.
A ghost.
Her mind still couldn't quite wrap around it. Because he had been so real to her. And all the while, everyone was shouting and jeering around her. Not at her, but around her. So she was unable to focus on the thoughts in her own head.
The woman to her right was shouting loud enough that she had nearly turned into a banshee. Astrid was trying to get Rose’s attention, continually asking if something was wrong and tryingto grab onto her arm. The two women and a man in front of her were waving their arms to get the attention of so many of the people that were in the clearing around them, and all she could think about was that she was angry.
She hadn't been angry in years. Rose had given up that emotion because it didn't serve her. Anger at her situation only made her more frustrated, and there hadn't been anything she could do to fix it. Anger at the people who had been harming her hadn't worked because there wasn't any way for her to stop them, no matter how hard she tried.
Rose had let that emotion drift into the void with all the other difficult things that she hadn't wanted to face. She'd allowed herself not to feel it, and to wander through life without that ugly, crimson feeling burning through her veins.
But now she was angry. She could feel it boiling underneath her skin for far too many reasons. She’d had a life stolen from her. All those men, all those people who thought they could control her had done so effortlessly and they shouldn't have been able to. And now? Now her safe place wasn't safe anymore either.
Rhydian had been lying to her. For years. Or maybe not lying, but he certainly hadn't been telling her the whole truth, and wasn't that the same thing?
