At some point, I fell asleep, and the only reason I knew this was because I knew when he was there, slithering closer. His mind ran along the peripherals of mine, like he was gumming up the place with his slimy presence. Instinctively, I cringed and tried to make myself smaller. My shoulders shot up near my neck. I was dreaming but aware I was, caught in the middle. My heart began to jackhammer as I felt him growing frustrated, held off and looking for a way in.
As Segrid had said,hecouldn’t break through. This knowledge did nothing to quell my panic ashegave up on crooning to me softly for obedience and then began to slam into the barriers of my subconscious. Instinctively, I called out for my Troll.
The black abyss I’d been floating in, a great sea of nothingness, flipped and turned, until I was treading water.
Sputtering, I spun myself around and shot towards the surface.
I could feel my Troll as my face broke the surface. “He’s coming. He’s trying to get in,” I cried out helplessly, flailing.
Troll didn’t quite talk to me, but I could feel him, all around me. In my frantic panickings, I’d turned into the thing I feared he’d loathe.
Never.The thought floated to me like the water I was treading had brought it to me.
“I’m scared,” I admitted, my voice breaking on a soft sob. “I- I need you.” I’d never outright admitted to needing anybody.
The words came next, a strange language I didn’t understand, but they were words all the same. My mouth opened and I was ready to say them, I knew what needed to be done as if he’d sent me the instructions silently, but then the thought struck me: What if it was reallyhimand not my Troll? What if this was yet another elaborate plan ofhisto break me down? I’d been doing this dance for so long it had left me wary and jaded. I never knew what my living nightmare was going to pull next. The only reprieve I’d had anymore were the waking hours. Ifhewasn’t trying to take something from me,hewas stealing it away from me by whatever means necessary. It had slowly been driving me insane. Certainly, as I’d feared, eventually I would have succumbed to the madness and gone tohim, ashe’dwished. The idea of agreeing to anythinghewanted made me want to curl up and rock myself. NEVER. I’d rather die.
The waves grew choppy, until I felt tossed about. Oh god, what now?! The waves rolled, crashed, thrashed, like my thoughts. Then I really was tossing this way and that.
“Segrid!” I shouted, louder and louder until I was screaming his name. Terror engulfed me as I was forced into the dark, like the moon had been shut off, but I couldn’t clearly recall if there’d ever been a moon in this sequence to begin with. Argh, I hated the dream world.
The scene flipped and changed, forcing me along with it.
Wouldhebe in the next one? My body stiffened, stilling at the thought. I was so terrified at the idea, I burst, exploding into a million droplets. NO! A gurgled howl left me. I’d get lost amongst the sea! A burble left me instead of the scream I wanted to let out. I was trapped in my own nightmare. Calling out for Segrid, wondering if this was it, if I’d die a part of the churning water, a riptide desperate to drag me under grappling for me, I thought I really might perish in here.
Segrid!The force of my thought, shoved outward with everything I possessed, sent the walls of my mind made prison shimmering.
Water crashed violently, until I couldn’t see straight. I just couldn’t bring myself back together. It was like being stuck in a crowd, the smothering, salty waves ripping me this way and that. I was stuck in an emotional and physical storm of my own making. I had no clue how to free myself.
Again and again, I called for my Troll. I could sense him on the peripherals, just there but beyond my reach. A sense of hopelessness hit me like a jab to the gut.
Just when I felt like I was well and truly sunk, I was cupped in wide hands, drawn to the sparks coming off of that greyish skin with darker freckled patches, like a beacon.
Two large purple sparks in particular had me struggling to get my shit together and wriggle closer. Those sparks grew, until I was staring up at wide, glowing orbs. And then I was lifted up out of the water and he was there. Troll’s head cocked as he examined the melted Human goo he’d bound himself too. Leaning in, he gave me a cursory sniff, then grinned. “My sunshine,” he crooned, “will you not come together for your male?”
Lifting up, waving like I’d gone Flubber, but I was trying, two blobby like appendages reached out. Gawd, this was messed up. As if this wasn’t weird at all, he brought his cheek to those blob limbs reaching for him and let out a purr like rumble. Sparks shot off him, absorbing into me.
Thinking of what happened at his cottage, I spun around and leapt out of his hands. Tumbling to the water with a surprisingly loud splash, I didn’t realize I had limbs again or that I was trying to swim away until strong arms grabbed onto me, lifting me up and dragging me into the cradle of them to press my smaller body to his sturdier frame. I caught that hint of earth, froze, and then turned to him. Glowing, purple eyes met mine and held, his shoulders sparkling like he’d been sprinkled with moon dust against the starry night backdrop.
“You came for me” I gave in and cried, then threw myself at him. Immediately, I felt it, that first sob building as I surrendered to him. I’d been so terrified he wouldn’t come, and then I’d dispersed, and-
“He will never harm you, not anymore, my heart,” the male bound to me swore. “I will find him. Never, will he be able to harm you again.”
Blubbering in his arms, I clung to my knight of a Troll. No, my King. Warmth blossomed around us, inside me, at the thought.
Long arms banded around me, his head dipped and he leaned in. Thick lips began peppering my face with kisses, until the tremors holding me captive eased. “Never again, my Queen. Never to part, never far. Always, I will be with you. No one would dare harm my Queen.”
“This sounds totally weird and maybe too soon, but I-”
A thick finger pressed to my lips. “There is no hurry. I sense your distress, my heart. When you come to me with the words of committing, I wish you to own them, know them, never to question to it.”
“But I-”
The bossy male ate up my declaration with a panty melting kiss. I mean, if I was wearing any they’d be melting. I’d lost my clothes… I couldn’t recall if I’d had any on to begin with now. Speaking of not wearing anything…
“We’re naked,” I breathed, bobbing along as he kept us afloat. “And wet. I mean, you’re naked, too. Ah, you’re naked with me.” And I was babbling.
“Yes.” White teeth flashed and he grinned. “Is it not wonderful, my sunshine?”
