Page 35 of Stealing the Troll’s Heart

Settlements thin out the farther we get from the capital, and the invasion has forced out any humans who might have remained. We stop in multiple abandoned homes to pick up supplies, and Telise cleans and re-dresses my wound. Then we continue on again.

We spend nights curled up in what furs we could find and carry with us, looking up at the stars. I can’t get proper medical attention on my leg, so I can already tell it’s healing wrong, butthere’s nothing we can do about it in the meantime. At least it’s clean and not infected.

There’s nowhere we can go, a troll and a human. Soon the human lands give way to the hilly, brush-covered plains. The horses are tired after days and days of walking, and so are we. Eventually we find a river flowing with clean, cool water, both sides rimmed by tall trees. I can almost put weight on my leg again, so we take off our clothes and bathe. Well, bathing is one of the things we do. The horses give us odd looks as I take Telise against one of the riverbanks, lapping her up with my mouth before I slide into her from behind. She bends over, moaning my name, and I wait until she’s good and ready to burst before I empty myself inside her. I shove it as deep as I can, wondering if maybe this time, if I just try a little bit harder, I can fill her up with one of my whelps.

One afternoon, we’re spotted by a group of three humans. They see Telise first and ride towards us, calling out pleasantries—until they see me riding beside her, and start to pull out their weapons. But Telise is moving already. She leaps off her horse, one arrow flying. It takes out the first human in the chest, and then she unleashes another. As both arrows land in their targets, she vaults off the ground and takes out the last human with a dagger to the throat.

I watch all of this happen, of course, from the safety of my horse. She’s fast and deadly, and I’m just glad that she’s on my side. If it hadn’t been for Blizzek and his blunderbuss that day, I would be dead.

She also just murdered three of her kinsmen to make sure they wouldn’t hurt me, and that touches me more deeply than anything.

I would kill anyone for my Telise, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever have the chance again.

Telise

Soon the plains give way to the hilly lands of the Sandteeth. How strange that everything comes full circle.

We’re out of food now, so it’s up to me to hunt when I can. But Raz’jin is no slouch at skinning and butchering, and we take a few days to give the horses a rest and dry out some extra meat. We’ve been walking for weeks now, avoiding travelers who might be on the main road.

But our luck can’t hold out forever. We need a plan, somewhere to go, away from the war.

We still have the emerald with us, so when we reach the nearest trollkin-controlled port, Raz’jin goes looking for someone who would be willing to carry us safely—and privately—to the Frattern Islands.

It’s the best place I can think of for a human woman and her injured troll lover to go, where there will be no human guards to call me deserter and try to chop off my head.

Raz’jin is able to secure passage with a fellow troll merchant. He must have warned his countryman about me, because once we’re aboard the ship, Raz takes my hood off.

“Damn,” the other troll says, shaking his head. “Never seen anything like this, I’ll tell ya that.”

But one whole emerald was enough to shut him up, for now and for good. He treats us like first class passengers the entire three-week passage, even when he has to listen to us fucking late into the night.

Raz’jin and I both know that his leg will never quite recover, but at least he can walk now on his own, albeit with a limp.

“Go on, you strange kids,” the merchant says when we finally make land at Eyra Cove. “Go do whatever it is you do.”

Without the emerald, neither of us has much in the way of coin, but Sden’s old shop is empty and has a nice room up above it.

“Can you stay here alone?” I ask one night, as we eat some of the last food we can afford to buy.

“I’m not an invalid,” Raz says, getting up to his feet as if to prove his point.

“Invalid?” I ask. He explains the word to me. “Ah. I didn’t think you were. But I’m going to leave for a long time.”

He frowns deeply. “Where? Why?”

“Hunting.” I need some way to make a living, and I only know of one way to do it. I also have gear and supplies hidden away in Culberra. As soon as the war is over, I’m going to make my way back there and retrieve it.

Raz spits into the fire. “I should be going with you.” I know it hurts his self-esteem to sit here and wait helplessly for me to come back, and there’s nothing I can say that will help. Even if he didn’t have a busted leg, he would be too loud for what I need to do.

“Wait for me,” I say, kissing his head. He pulls me down into his lap and bundles me up in his arms, encircling me completely.

“Always.”

Raz’jin

It’s a terrible thing to be without your other half, especially when that other half is putting her life on the line so you mightsurvive.

But I know my human will return safely, because if anyone can take care of herself, it’s Telise.

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