“No, I mean, Ireallycan’t tell you.”
“Yes, I realize that. You see me as a stranger from another land who is trying to steal your prize and—”
“No, I quite literally can’t speak of it. I can dance around it, of course, but I can’t say the words directly.” She shrugged, pulled out another cake, and then waved it around. Crumbs sprayed the wall. “It’s part of the wholething.”
I sat up a little straighter. Back in my homeland, curses happened often enough that I understood the signs. The trouble was, we were not in my homeland. We were in the Isles, where this kind of thing wasn’t supposed to happen. I didn’t even know witches came here.
“You’re cursed,” I said.
She squinted at me. “How did you know that?”
I let out a hollow laugh. “This isn’t my first encounter with a cursed woman. How did it happen?”
Her gaze narrowed. “I don’t think I like that term.”
“What term? Cursed woman? I might as well say it how it is, even if you can’t.”
“It just sounds so…” She wrinkled her nose.
“Interesting? Oh yes, I agree. You have a curse, and you need the Everstone to break it. And I’m here to throw a wrench into your plans. Quite the quandary you have there. No wonder you sent me straight into the jaws of that beast.”
She folded her arms and glared at me. “You’re getting way too much amusement out of this.”
I grinned at her. But inside, my heart twisted. Truth was, I felt for the girl. Curses were nasty little things, and no telling what kind of turmoil this one caused her. No wonder she was so determined to find the Everstone. Its power was great enough to free her from whatever magical bonds were wrapped around her wrists. For a moment, I actually considered walking away from all of it.
But I couldn’t let myself think like that. Astrid looked well enough. She had a roof over her head, plenty of food, and friends to keep her company. Empathy was dangerous. It would make me hesitate when I needed to move forward with fierce determination.
“I’ve had enough. You can go now,” she said. “And don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out.”
I widened my smile to hide my thoughts. “My muscled arse, according to you.”
“You are the most insufferable man I’ve ever met. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Demon. And I appreciate the compliment. It’s the second one you’ve gifted me.”
She groaned. “Get out, Tormund. That is abound order.”
Magic seized me by the back of the neck and tugged me to my feet. And then it started dragging me toward Astrid’s open door. Before I got too far away from the table, I snatched one of those moss cakes from the basket. As disgusting as they looked, I had to show the others.
“Surprised you know how to get rid of a shadow demon,” I called out over my shoulder.
“Good. I hope you keep underestimating me. It’ll make it far more satisfying when I beat you.”
“At the competition or to the Everstone?” Magic heaved me out onto her stoop and dropped me there. Bloody bound orders. When the goddess Freya gave shadow demons this weakness, Ididn’t think she intended it to be used this way. It was supposed to keep humans safe at night from those of us who used our allure to tempt them into bed. Instead, Astrid, who was very muchnothuman and not being tempted, was doing it to make a point.
Astrid smiled serenely from her kitchen table. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
And with that, a gust of wind slammed the door in my face, and the lock tumbled shut.
5
ASTRID
“Ishouldn’t have said that to him,” I whispered into Lilia’s ear, her silver hair parting around the curved tip. “Now he’s going to expect a grand show from me during the competition, and if I don’t give it to him, he’ll be all smug and annoying about it.”
Lilia slung an arm around my shoulder and steered me toward the arena inside one of our many Great Halls, the ceiling so high that I could barely see it. My boots scuffed the cavern floor. The last thing I wanted to do right now was walk before the crowd cheering in the stands that circled the pit. All the other competitors were inside, as far as I could tell. And the dwarven cheers were loud enough to wake the bloomin’ dead.
I’d have to walk into the arena with all eyes on me, thecursed womanwho’d been entered against her will.
