Page 14 of Stealing the Troll’s Heart

This earns an even bigger smile, and I pass the cloak back to her. So she’s here making wares to be sold. It’s a smart—and bold—idea to set up shop in Eyra Cove. That explains the smattering of Trollkin she’s learned.

“Thank you,” she says. She doesn’t put it back on, and I certainly don’t mind. I can barely keep my eyes off of her. I’m removing each of her garments in my mind, working my way down her body to her feet. They would be such petite feet, with five whole toes each. I would bring them into my mouth and suck on them if I could.

“Why you here?” she asks.

Oh. Right. My ridiculous quest for the green jewels.

A big emerald like the one I found could fetch me more than the gold did. I don’t want anyone to know I have it, because that’s how you get stabbed and robbed in your sleep. But at the same time, I want to continue this conversation with her. And I want to see how wide her green eyes get when she sees it.

I hold up a finger to my lips, gesturing for her to keep quiet. Her eyebrows draw together in confusion as I reach down into my pocket and draw it out.

The emerald. It glitters in the low light of the inn. Her mouth drops open, but before she can make a sound, she covers it with one hand. I can tell she wants to reach towards the jewel, to run her fingers over it... And I think of Blizzek saying,Don’t do anything stupid.

But I let her touch it anyway.

Not only that, I allow her to sweep it up into her smallhands. It’s large, I realize—filling up most of her palm. She keeps it hidden under the bar top as she surveys it, admires it. Her eyes are wide and filled with wonder.

Then, slowly, she slips it back to me. Her fingers linger on mine for a long time. They’re so small in comparison, I could swallow up both of her hands in just one of mine.

I’m already aching for her.

I slide the emerald back into my pocket and take a big swallow of my beer. I can feel it rising into my head, shifting my thoughts around and garbling them. My hands are burning where she touched me, and now I want nothing more than for her to touch me again.

“Very good,” she says, and I think it’s because those are the only words she has for what she really wants to say. But her eyes say it for her. “Beautiful.”

I’m not sure how much more I can take. The longer I look at her, the more blood starts to rush down to my groin, filling me up. I’m simply glad for my thick pants and the leather coil I have wrapped around my waist.

“Thank you.”

Tel-eesa pulls out a little bag and makes a gesture like she’s filling it with coins. This makes me smile. She thinks that surely it will make me rich.

I shake my head. “Some,” I say. “Not much.”

She makes a frowny face. It’s really quite cute. There’s even more blood flowing downward now, and it’s making sitting this way uncomfortable.

What am I doing right now? I’m flirting with a human woman at a bar. It’s ridiculous in so many different ways. And what’s really baffling me is how much I’m enjoying myself.

I suddenly feel like I need to escape, because if I don’t, I’m going to grab her arm and pull her against me, and then seizeher mouth in mine. I’m going to drag her upstairs with me and rip off all of her clothes, and then—

It’s almost like she can see what’s happening on my face, because with the utmost caution, she reaches out and puts her hand on my leg.

I suck in a sharp breath of air. Her fingers are nearly searing me through the leather. When I look down, her green eyes have darkened to the color of a winter forest. Her mouth is no longer smiling. There’s something else on her face, something I can’t even let myself interpret.

So I reach down and put my hand over hers.

Telise

He’s hot. Boiling hot. His fingers clasp around mine, and my hand disappears into his.

I’m worried that I’m being too forward with what I want, when I’m still not even sure I want it. But that part of me way deep down that has been hungering for who knows how long... It’s drooling now.

You’re a freak, Telise. Was Deleran right? Am I attracted to a troll?

But why not? He’s tall, and filled with muscle, and handsome to boot. Maybe it’s not a face to everyone’s taste, but it sure is mine. And the tusks that veer off to either side of his mouth? Perfect for grabbing onto. I could yank him down to my height again and kiss him just like I did the first time we met, when I had a dagger at his throat.

I’m glad he doesn’t hold that against me now.

Slowly, never taking his eyes off of me, Raz’jin starts to guide my hand up his leg. I go along with it. He pulls myfingers under the coil and there, I can feel it. He’s hard underneath, like a solid rock.

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