“That’s a mental image I could have done without,” he said, his laughter tense. Then his laughter died. “Wait a moment.”
“What is it?” Frowning, I peered over the side of the hole, but I could see nothing but darkness.
“Forget about saving me. You need to come down here and see this,” he said, his voice now sounding a little further away.
“You want me to jump in there with you? Have you lost your bloomin’ mind? We’ll never get out of here if I do that.”
He chuckled. “No jumping. Just climb down the rope. You’re lighter than me. I’m sure the stone will hold your weight. And if it doesn’t, I’ll catch you.”
I squinted down into the darkness. “This sounds like a terrible idea.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
He laughed, the sound echoing all around me. A smile quirked my lips, and I shook my head. “Only you’d find this funny. You do know these tunnels are so far from the mines that it’ll be a long time before anyone comes through here.”
“Just come down, Astrid. I promise you’ll be happy you did,” he said in a deep voice that seemed to curl around me and beckon me toward the hole.
“Did you just use your shadow demon powers on me?” I asked, tossing my end of the rope around the stone and tying a dwarven knot.
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“No, I’m only doing this because my curiosity won’t let me do anything else. I want to see what’s gotten you so excited.”
“There’s quite a few things in these tunnels that’s gotten me excited.”
I shook my head, finished tying the knot, and threw him alook. I might not be able to see him, but I knew he could see me. “Are you just constantly waiting for someone to say something that you can turn around and make a suggestive joke about?”
“No.” A pause. “But I do look for any opportunity to make you smile.”
Heat burned my chest, right around my heart. I knew it was probably just another one of his jokes—a way to keep us both distracted from the fact we were stuck here without any help coming our way. And I would just have to keep joking right back.
“Well, I hate to disappoint you, but your remarks aren’t particularly funny,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him.
“Could have fooled me,” he said, his voice growing quiet. “Your eyes do this thing when you smile—genuinely smile. I wish you could see how happy you are when you’re not focused on trying to escape the mountain.”
My hands fell to my sides. “I know I’m happy here. This is my home.”
“Then why are you trying so hard to leave?”
“I…” My thoughts evaded me. I shook my head, trying to recall the reasons I’d repeated in my head all these years. I wanted to see the sun and the grass and the trees. There was so much life outside the mountain. But there was so much inside it, too. “I don’t know. I just want to see what’s out there.”
“I can tell you what’s out there. A big, beautiful world,” he said.
“All right.” My brow furrowed. “I’m not sure what your point is, Tormund. You tell me I’m happy in Steingard and you don’t understand why I want to leave, but then you say how beautiful the world is.”
“That’s because it is. The whole bloomin’ thing, as you’d say. It’s also a big old place with lands far, far from these shores. One could spend her whole life exploring, and she’d never see itall. Not every corner, every person, every creature. There would always be something just out of reach.”
I pressed my lips together. I saw where he was going with this now.
“You’re already trying to back out of our deal,” I said flatly.
“No, I’m not. It’s just…” He sighed.
“Just what?” I demanded.
“You won’t like it.”
