Page 37 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

The off-brand gargoyle stared at us with a wonderstruck expression. At least, I thought it did. It was hard to tell with the too-large eyes and granite skin.

“Visitors,” he crooned in a gravelly voice. It took another hit of its blunt. “So long since we’ve had visitors.”

With her mouth agape, Freya took a step closer to the creature. I held out a hand to stop her, and she startled. Her jaw clenched.

“They’re trolls,” she whispered.

From the way she said it, this was supposed to be enlightening information, but it only told me they were not in fact gargoyles. I learned more about how dangerous they were from Freya’s shocked expression.

Freya rarely showed her surprise.

“Not visitors,” the one next to it corrected, “adventurers. Trespassers. Vile, wonderful beings.”

“Two worlds they come from,” another said, “but not the vessel for the new world. Remnants of the past.”

“Come into the light,” one of them with his back said and chuckled. “Let me see you as well as I smell you.”

In the last few months, I had been creeped out plenty, but never on so many levels at once.

I grabbed Freya’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

She hesitated.

“Freya,” I growled, “they’resmellingus.”

“We didn’t just stumble upon them,” she argued. “Trolls are so rare, we thought they might be extinct. Finding them here is—it’s extraordinary.”

I glanced around at the chuckling, high-as-hell monsters.Extraordinarywas not exactly how I would describe them.

“Don’t be afraid,” the troll facing us said. “Our teeth are sharp, but our tongues are clever.” A beat later, they broke into more laughter.

“I don’t want to find out about theirtongues,Freya,” I said and stared into her gaze.

“The future,” she said, “Walker, they can see the future. I think we were meant to find them to help us track the chimera.”

The trolls hissed.

“Vessel, vessel, vess…” the one with his back to us muttered.

“Prices and pennies and prizes,” another said.

“What’s your price?” Freya demanded and stepped forward. With dread swirling my stomach, I followed her.

“Come closer,” one troll crooned. The others repeated the command.

We walked until we stood only a few feet from the fire and faced the trolls. Arion paused at Freya’s heels with his hackles raised. The trolls’ skin tones and hair color varied in shades of gray and brown and green, but their eyes and teeth were the same—large and eerie.

“Your price?” I asked.

The troll—the one who smelled me—took a hit of the cigar and grinned. “Witches and wars, and wars and witches.”

“Helpful,” I muttered.

“Want to hear more?” another troll asked. “Show us the riches.”

“Freya,” I grumbled and met her wide-eyed gaze. “I’m not getting naked for trolls.”

She winced. “Surely, that’s not—”

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