Trolls were well known for their distrust of anyone who did not look as they did. And especially of those they called the tuskless. For when it came to trolls, it was all about the tusks, and anyone who didn’t spout an impressive pair was basically considered an outcast…usually.
The long, curving, ivory protrusions from each side of their mouths not only determined rank, but also stated which mates were available for the taking. The longer and thicker and pointier the tusk, the better, and the higher one could rise within the troll ranks. Oh, and the skin color. The darker the green the better. And in their women, it was not simply the tusks, but also the greasier and blacker the hair, the bigger the ass, the more attractive, and the more likely to marry well.
In other words, everything Mia was not.
And standing here in the middle of the troll village, feeling the animosity all around her, she was infinitely glad Wally, their future leader, had come along, after all.
Not that trolls were always snobs, for they had accepted Uncle Thad with open arms even though he was a pasty-white little gnome with wire-rimmed spectacles. But then Uncle Thad had been sent to Karza in his youth as part of the diplomatic core, and it was here he’d fallen desperately in love with the magistrate’s daughter, Karla, and she with him.
The door to the magistrate’s hut opened and out stepped an older male troll. “Dinner is served,” he announced.
Mia stopped her woolgathering, took a deep breath, and headed inside. God Draka, she hoped it wasn’t cat they were serving tonight. It wasn’t that she was a particularly picky eater, but she drew the line at consuming something, anything she considered a pet, and cats were pretty high on that list.
But to any upstanding troll, there was no such thing as a house cat. Cats were food, right along with whatever other warm or cold blooded creatures they managed to capture. As a matter of fact, Mia had it on good authority there were a couple of good sized cat ranches outside of Karza. And if memory hadn’t failed her, Cousin Wally had even worked as a cat header and wrangler one summer when he’d been young.
She should probably warn Talon, however. He hadn’t been raised around trolls, and there was no way he’d know about their propensity toward animal protein of the feline persuasion.
Then another thought struck her. But was she honor bound to tell him? Probably not. After all, he certainly hadn’t told her he’d meant to beat her down to the courtyard and travel with her to Vile even though he’d known good and well she hadn’t wished it.
Fuck it.
It’d serve him right. Let the blasted man eat a whole different version of pussy tonight.
****
Talon gagged for at least the hundredth time in the past two days. No matter how many times he’d rinsed his mouth, the taste and texture would not leave him. Cat! The VoT trolls had tried to poison the lot of them with a…a cat stew.
And Mia? What of his lovely, sweet, princess? She’d known exactly what kind of meat the trolls were serving. But had she so much as uttered a quick warning? No, she had not.
As a matter of fact, she’d not only not warned him, but the vindictive little chit had personally scooped the largest morsel of kitty right off his plate and had hand fed it to him.
Not that she’d eaten even one bite of friggin’ cat herself.
Oh, no, Princess Mia Hammerstrike hadn’t allowed anything to pass between her two luscious, dainty, lying, little lips except a small portion of green salad, a chunk of plain brown bread, and a sliver of cheese.
At the time, he’d simply thought her too fatigued from the trip and as such not having much of an appetite. That was no longer the case.
And she could play the innocent all day long if she wanted to, but Talon still wasn’t buying her act. She’d done what she’d done as a punishment of sorts for his disrupting her attempt to travel to Vile alone.
Mia knew without a doubt no self-respecting full grown male barbarian would ever turn down a hearty stew. VoT, he and Zander had eaten all manner of things. Once they’d sampled slimy, elephant eels off the coast of the Tambian Sea and found them quite tasty. And they’d eaten Alarian water-buffalo brains and Madra barbequed brisket of sheep innards without so much as batting an eye. They’d even once, on a dare of course, consumed deep fried beetles, grasshoppers, and cockroaches. They were surprisingly nutty.
But…but…friggin’ cat?
No barbarian worth his salt would ever sink so low as to eat someone’s friggin’ pet.
Cats were furry and cute. They were friendly and playful. They purred and pranced at your feet. They even stretched themselves out on their backs and allowed belly scratching if they liked you. They even at times licked your face with their rough little tongues and brought you presents of dead mice if you’d been especially good.
And just how had Mia informed him of what he’d eaten?
Talon shuddered and gagged again.
She’d waited until he’d consumed an entire second helping and even sopped up the leftover juice with a chunk of bread and devoured it before she broke her mean, spiteful news. She’d smiled so sweetly, and for a moment, he’d thought perhaps she’d forgiven him for not still being asleep and bound in her chamber back at The Academy. But then she’d leaned in close and whispered, “I do hope your meat was well cooked but not too tough and stringy. It takes a talented chef to prepare cat well. It’s all about the age and weight of the animal, don’t you agree?”
He’d quickly excused himself and emptied the contents of his stomach upon the ground outside the magistrate’s door.
The mean, revengeful, little wretch. There was a chance it hadn’t been cat at all, and she was just trying to torture him. If that were the case, she’d pay. Oh, VoT yeah, she’d pay.
It probably hadn’t been cat. After all, the stew had tasted like, well, like chicken. But if it had been cat and she’d really allowed him to eat it out of spite, it was his own fault. He knew better than to trust a woman, any woman. But with her, he’d let his guard down and allowed her to see him for who he really was.
It had been late one evening after a particularly amorous bout of lovemaking and they had somehow gotten on the subject of childhood pets. Mia told him about her many. Over the years she’d had a virtual menagerie consisting of four dogs, three cats, a bird, a rabbit, and even a snake, a lizard, and a baby Alarian water buffalo for a while.
But not him. Talon Starkweather had only ever had one pet in his entire life, and that had been a scrawny, little kitten he’d named Snoopers because its little pink nose was always into something.
For the first time in two days, he smiled. Snoopers had been so much more than simply a pet. The black and white ball of fur had been his friend, his companion, and his confidant during a time he’d desperately needed one.
Uncle Holbrook had brought Snoopers back from one of his many excursions outside of Bane in the hopes of helping with the mouse problem in the lodge houses, but it had been the sad little boy who’d lost his father a couple of weeks before who the little kitten attached himself to.
Talon loved him as if he were the grandest cat in all of Albrath, and where one went the other followed. They were inseparable. They played together, they ate together and slept beneath the same furs. But more importantly, Snoopers listened to every single word of pain, loss, and grief Talon couldn’t say to anyone else.
They had only two good years together before his anger got the better of him and the teenaged Talon found himself in trouble and shipped off to the Madra Academy for Young Men. His cousin Jaxson hadn’t been the only thing Talon had left behind, and it hadn’t just been Jaxson he’d made promises to.
But then, close to the end of his second year in Madra, he’d received a missive from his uncle stating Snoopers was dead. It seemed the cat had gotten under someone’s feet and the barbarian had tossed him out of the lodge house and into the bitter cold of a Bane winter night. The problem was, however, no one remembered to let him back in.
He hadn’t cried
even a single tear over the loss of that cat. He hadn’t allowed himself to. After all, he’d been almost full grown, and men don’t cry. But he hadn’t returned to Bane either. And even now, he hadn’t been able to be completely truthful with Jaxson as to his reasons why.
Talon shook his head. It couldn’t be true. Mia simply must be tormenting him because she was angry. That stew was no more cat meat than it was prickly hedgehog. And he knew for a fact it wasn’t hedgehog, for he’d even tried that gross excuse for food once.
Why did he continually let the little vixen from the depths of VoT do these things to him? Yes, he loved her, but there was a limit to what he’d take. The stew couldn’t have been cat. It had to have been chicken. And before they reached Vile, he was going to make Mia Hammerstrike admit it.
Talon took a deep cleansing breath at the very moment Wally rode up beside him.
“I wanted to say thank yout for how yout treated my family the other day,” the half-troll, half-gnome said. “They really don’t get many visitors, and it isn’t often my mother gets to show off her cooking.”
Talon smiled at his friend. “It was my pleasure.”
Wally smiled back, and his tusks rose a good three inches. “I have to admit, at first, I was a little leery. I mean, cat can sometimes be an acquired taste, but mother makes sure she only uses the freshest, free range, tender, young kittens our platt can buy.”
Talon gagged again.
Chapter Twenty-Five
From the moment Mia passed through the portal connecting VoT to Vile, she’d begun shivering. And not sweet little ladylike shivers, either, but an out and out teeth-chattering, nose-hair-freezing, colder than Bane had ever been shivers.
Perhaps it was because they’d just traversed the very outer rim of VoT on the way to the portal, which was so blasted hot, she’d swear her panties had melted into her flesh. She itched from the thought.
But for as hot as VoT had been, Vile was a hundred times colder than cold.
Mia had to admit, Vile had been aptly named, for there was nothing good, decent, or righteous about the place she now stood.
Tall, sharp, frozen outcroppings of dark rocks dotted the landscape, and they looked like the bogeymen of her childhood nightmares. They stood waiting in the shadows, daring her to move, biding their time until they could sneak up, prance upon her, and cause her injury or pain.
How many nights had she lain awake, afraid to go to sleep in case those bogeymen might come back for her?
Mia shivered again.
And beyond the outcroppings? What was there?
She could see nothing but mile after mile of barren mountain ranges. Not one single tree or one branch or even a fallen leaf. It was obvious nothing living stayed that way for very long in this place. Only death resided in Vile, death and misery.
And she’d once thought Bane to be cold. Mia chuckled. Compared to Vile, Bane had been a warm summer retreat.
Shivers that had little to do with the intense cold skittered unchecked along her spine and landed deep in her gut. Oh, yes, Vile really was as its name implied. It was dark, unsavory, and wicked. She could feel the wrongness of the place closing in around her, and she longed for the warmth, the safety of Talon’s arms.
But without even glancing his way, she knew no comfort would be coming from that quarter. He hadn’t spoken to her since they’d left Karza. But could she blame him? Especially after what she’d done?
She’d allowed him to unknowingly eat cat, and she’d even hand fed it to him. He’d probably never forgive her, and even if he did, she wasn’t sure she could ever forgive herself.
Mia hugged her cloak closer around herself and shivered again.
How could she have done such a horrible thing? He’d trusted her with his heart and with his story about Snoopers. And how had she repaid his trust? She’d stomped all over his honesty, his dignity, his vulnerability, and his love. She’d hurt him deeply, and she hadn’t even realized how much until she’d seen the proof of her own betrayal reflected back at her from the depths of his sad gaze.
And what excuse did she have for her thoughtless actions? Plain and simple, she’d been pissed. Pissed that he’d outsmarted her. Pissed that she really did need his help with the quests. And even pissed that she loved him so much her heart hurt with the weight of it.
In other words, she’d finely and truly become the pretty, pretty princess everyone was always accusing her of being. The silly little chit who threw hissy fits when she didn’t get her way.
In her heart, Mia knew they were right. And that above all else should have pissed her off. But all it did was make her even more disgusted with herself.
She hung her head. She didn’t deserve to be Queen. A true queen put her people’s needs above her own, always. A true queen wasn’t vindictive, mean, or vengeful, even when provoked. And a true queen most definitely did not betray the trust of the man she loved, not ever, not for any reason.
Tears threatened but froze in place before they could fall.
The knowledge that she’d learned an invaluable lesson from her mistake was cold comfort. However, now wasn’t the time or place to dwell upon it. Later, when there was more of an occasion for contemplation, she’d delve deeper into the whys and why nots of her actions.
Sighing, she pulled the small leather pouch she’d been saving for this occasion from the pocket of her cloak. It took her numb fingers a moment to undo the strings, but once she had it open she sprinkled about a quarter of its contents into her hand.
Leaning down, she placed the bright red grains of Aunt Lark’s gift—a combination of Uncle Sarco’s private stock of dragon’s breath combined with Aunt Lark’s spiritmaster magic—upon the ground and backed up three steps. And after clearing her throat, Mia began to chant.
“I banish you wind. I banish you cold. Be gone from this place with a fire that is bold.”
The pebbly grains suddenly popped, sizzled, and exploded as glorious heat rose upward. Within moments, a roaring fire was blazing, and this time when Mia sighed, it was with relief. She wished she could simply stand still a while and bask in its warmth, but there was a tent to erect around it and food to prepare upon it. So move she did.
For in Vile, there was no place for pretty, pretty princesses, even reformed ones.
****
If the blasted woman shivered one more time, Talon was going to lose his mind.
Not that he hadn’t been watching her do precisely that since the moment they’d stepped through the portal and into Vile. It was just that she was even doing it in her sleep.
It shouldn’t matter.
He shouldn’t care.
And after all, she didn’t need his assistance to stay warm. They had a magical roaring fire going nonstop right in the middle of the tent. Surely, that would be enough.
But even through his nice thick fur, the cold slowly seeped into his own not so dainty backside, so he had no doubt it was chilling Mia’s small frame to the bone. The fire was certainly sufficient to ward off the extreme nippiness while one was standing or walking about, but nothing, not even magic could penetrate the cold of the permafrost beneath them and the shock of the hard frozen ground. Even the thickest of furs was a piss-poor, lonely excuse for a bed in Vile.
She’d probably get sick. He should move her closer to the fire. No, he shouldn’t. He should let the stubborn, mean-ass little chit freeze to death where she lay.
So then why was he up and moving before he’d even completely formed the thought?
He was half way across the tent before he realized a new sound was reaching his ears, even above the snores of Wally, Pierced, Alistair, and Pearl. It was the chattering of Mia’s teeth. He quickened his step. That was one sound he couldn’t abide or ignore, especially when it came from her.
How many times when he’d been a child in Bane had the communal lodge fire gone out and he’d awaken in that self-same state? Cold and alone? He couldn’t begin to count. But then he’d had his father to rescue him,
and Mia had no one right this moment except for his sorry excuse for an ass.
Oh, yes, the man Talon wished he could’ve been more like had always been there for him. And he had gathered him up and tucked him in snugly, right in the warmest spot, in the middle, between both his parents. He’d been safe, he’d been loved, and the world had once more been made right. That was, of course, until they both were no longer there. After they were gone, Snoopers had been the only warmth he could consistently count on.
His wool gathering wasn’t helping Mia, though, and he knew it, but still, he stood there another moment, still hesitated. He watched her fitfully sleeping.
Perhaps she was angry with him for good reason, and perhaps he was still a little miffed with her. But whether she liked it or not, he was going to have to pick up the little chit, for her own good, of course, and take her to his fur. He’d lose his mind if he didn’t.
Silently, he made the last few steps between them and lifted the princess into his arms, furs and all. She didn’t even open her eyes as he carried her across the tent. And she didn’t seem to notice anything was amiss as he laid himself down upon his pallet, hugged her body close against his and covered them both with furs.
She snuggled right into his embrace, as if she really, truly belonged to him, and she sighed as warmth once more began filling her chilled limbs. He held his breath and closed his eyes as he relegated to memory this one perfect moment of contentment. Soon she’d wake. Soon her third and final quest would begin in earnest. Perhaps he couldn’t hold back time, but for this single moment, this one night, he could keep her close and keep her safe.
A bone deep ache resonated through his very pores. Soon, much too soon he’d be forced to let her go.
In her sleep, Mia rubbed her body along the plane of his, kissed him on the cheek, and snuggled in even deeper. His cock roared to life.
“Down boy,” he growled. “Now is not the time.”
Tested by the Night Page 27
