Page 4 of Stealing the Troll’s Heart

I decide it better to leave this area and get a new start somewhere else, hopefully farther away from Mr. Axe and Mr. Blunderbuss. Not that I wouldn’t hear them coming a mile away, but I don’t want to risk another run-in after what I just did.

After setting up my next camp, it’s time to scout for any signs of one of my leopards. But I’m so caught up in thinking about the strange trollkin, and the surprisingly intelligent eyes hiding under his heavy brows, that I don’t notice the orcs are on me until it’s too late.

Raz’jin

We’re exhausted by the time we finish for the day. We found a pile of boulders at our destination, but after some hackingaway, even blowing a charge, we couldn’t find much of anything inside.

“We have to go back, bring some others with us,” Blizzek says.

“It’s a lost cause. We should just start over somewhere else tomorrow.” What I don’t want to say is that I’m afraid of running into that little human creature again. I don’t like how she made me feel, not one bit. It’s like a sharp pain in my side that won’t stop until I pry my mind away from her.

Those feral green eyes. That pink mouth pulled back across gritted teeth. She was so angry, so ready to push that dagger through my throat. I have a bit of a hard-on just thinking about those pursed, soft lips against mine, for that split second before she made a run for it.

“Fine.” My compatriot clearly isn’t happy with me, and, perhaps, thinks me a coward. But I don’t care. Along with our failure to find anything concrete today, I’m ready for a strong drink.

As we approach the nearby trollkin town of Hargoth, there’s a loud commotion. Orcs and trolls are cheering and growling, like there’s a party going on. When we step inside the wood gates, I finally see what all the fuss is about.

Her. I’d recognize that red hair anywhere now. She’s strung up by her hands to a massive post, dangling a good five feet off the ground. But now her clothes are torn, so one of her two breasts is exposed to the air. She has pink nipples and the palest flesh I’ve ever seen. A good part of her pants are gone, too, and there are bloody cuts and bruises all over her. I can see why when someone throws a whole apple at her—but she doesn’t cry out.

“It’s her,” says Blizzek. He howls with glee. “Well, she got what was coming to her, didn’t she?”

“Sure.” But I’m stuck on her, and the way her fierce face dares anyone and everyone around her to fight. Angrily she yells something at the crowd, which only fuels their fire. There are more jeers, and someone flings a beer all over her.

I can’t watch this anymore. I head into the tavern, leaving Blizzek behind me.

“Raz, wait.” He jogs to catch up. “What, didn’t want to get one in on her? You still have a mark on your head where she kicked you.”

Right. I’d almost forgotten about that. She was the one who attackedme.

“They should just get it over with,” I say as we sit down at the bar. I shove a coin across, and the bartender hands me a beer. “Kill her, don’t torture her.”

Blizzek tilts his head. “Hmm.” He picks up his own beer and takes a long sip. “Girlie get under your skin a little, did she?”

I roll my eyes. “No.”

“That little kiss she stole, eh?” Blizzek elbows me. “That’s what does it for you, is it?”

I’ve had my fair share of trollkin women. Orcesses, trollesses, and everything in-between. They usually gravitated to Blizzek, who’s handsome as orcs come. I’m usually the friend that the less attractive women get stuck with.

And I fuck them, of course. A guy’s got needs. But I’m always careful to pull out and empty myself out on top of them or in their mouths—I never put my seed anywhere it could go to use. The last thing I need is a nasty little offspring to deal with.

I don’t fuck for keeps, is what I’m saying. I get my rocks off and move on, never interested in any one of them enough to stay for a second night.

“I don’t have a taste for humans,” I say, swishing my beer around.

Blizzek makes a disgusted face. “You’re right. Maybe they should just cut her open and be done with it.”

Something about the idea of an orc slicing her through at the throat fills me with a kind of horror.

I take another deep swig of my beer. Whatever they do with her is no concern of mine. She’s fair game, just another piece of human scum whose head somebody can hang up above their mantelpiece.

“Another beer, please,” I call out, hitting my mug on the bar.

Telise

He was here.

For a second, the way he looked at me, I had a fleeting hope that he might come and free me. The way the troll’s eyes traveled from my feet up to my breasts to my eyes, I thought he might just stride across the plaza and tear me down from the ropes holding me up.

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