Page 48 of A Spark So Bright
"Or they would find you immediately. If you want to be part of this battle, you certainly can be. There are no shortages of war bands leaving Trollveggen to fight on our behalf." Gunnar looked him up and down, and she swore there was a challenge in his eyes. Like he wanted to fight this prince just to weigh how much of a burden he would be on this journey.
It was a bad idea. Rose's skin crawled at the thought of standing on this precipice while two men fought in front of her. It was too similar to where she had just been. Too close to the labyrinth.
If she had been able to, she would have slipped away right then and there. Disappeared into the world inside her head without having to worry about what the men were going to do. It wouldn't have mattered, anyway. They were going to do what they wanted, without her intervention.
Unless she could stop them now.
Self-preservation burned inside of her, but the words that came out of her mouth were a croaked, "Where are your tusks?"
Both men in front of her turned to look at her slowly. Neither of them wanted to stop glaring at the other, but apparently her question was just too odd to ignore.
It was the truth, though. He didn’t have any tusks, and he didn’t look like the other trolls. Up close, the prince was almost painfully pretty. His face was so well crafted that it looked like it had been carved out of marble. He had the same larger eyes that Rhydian had, and his elvish ears were long and pointed. They also moved independently of each other, twitching at every little sound. His right one was pointed directly at Gunnar. Shewouldn't be surprised if he was keeping track of everything Gunnar was doing just with the direction of that ear.
And then there was his hair. So white it reflected the moonlight. Little tufts of the same color made up his eyebrows, something Rhydian did not have. A spiraling fracture spread around his eye. Like a broken pottery piece of his face, black as night and fissuring through his skin. It was the only thing that marred his otherworldly features.
But no tusks.
His shapely mouth spread into a soft smile, and she could see that while he didn’t have normal troll teeth, he did have fangs.
"I am not like the other trolls," he replied. "My father has made me into a beast that is unlike anything you have seen before in that mountain. I can promise you that."
"Made you?"
"Birthed, made, it is all the same thing, is it not? His seed shaped me in a womb that was most unwelcoming." A flash of those fangs one more time made her shiver. "I killed her on the way out. His beloved wife and queen, the perfect almost full-blooded elven woman who would deign to cast herself into the shadows and never see her precious sun again, all for the love of a troll. It's quite the story. I might tell it to you someday."
Those teeth made Rose nervous. His words almost felt like a threat, and she took a single step away from him.
Toward the cliffside.
For all his blathering that he would convince her not to jump, the prince only widened his eyes in shock as she felt the world start to slip away from her. It was Gunnar who let out a curse that made birds leap from the trees behind him. He was the one who caught her arm, just like always. He saved her from certain death, as he had done countless times. But this time he reeled her into his chest and just... held her.
It was only a few seconds. Long enough for her to feel the bands of his arms around her back, the wide breadth of his chest inhaling beneath her, and the stir of his exhalation moving her hair.
Long enough for her to realize with sudden surprise that she didn't mind it. She hated being touched by anyone and everyone, but the tight grip he wrapped her in made her feel safe. Just for a moment. She didn't mind that the bare skin of his arms pressed against her back, or that he could do whatever he wanted with her, because she trusted that he wouldn't do anything bad to her. Gunnar had saved her life. Again.
And then he stepped back at least three paces, giving her a good amount of time to breathe as he glared at the prince behind her. "Don't threaten the woman."
"Why do you have a woman with you anyway?" the prince asked. Then again, he flashed her a sharp mouthed smile. "I don't mean to scare you. I'm harmless."
She shuddered. "You don't look harmless."
"Am I not pretty to you? I'm pretty to most people."
She looked him over one more time. From the gash along his features, bisecting his eyebrows and down over his left eye, to the soul that was hidden inside him. Trying to peer through the facade to the person beneath it.
Both trolls seemed to wait with bated breath to hear what she would say.
"I have met someone like you before," she replied quietly. "He told me he was harmless, too. But I saw the sharpness of his teeth and the bitter edge to his words. He lied for me for years before revealing a truth that unsettled me to my core. I do not believe, in any sense of the term, that you are harmless."
The prince tilted his head back and laughed. The sound echoed around them, and she knew without a doubt that this man valued honesty more than he did blind faith.
"Oh, I like her!" he said on the tail end of her laughter. "Do you know how few people will tell me the truth? Most would simper at my feet and tell me they'd do anything for an ounce of my approval. You know that?"
He reached for her hand, pausing when he saw how she pulled it back. Then he did the same thing his father did. He stared into her eyes in a way that made her feel flayed alive.
Perhaps she revealed something, however. Because he dropped his hand and nodded at her instead. "My name is Magnus, my lady. What is yours?"
"I don't share my name with elves," she said. "I learned that a long time ago."
