"Thank you," Rose said. "Thank you both for being here."
The two women smiled at her. Perhaps the tears in their eyes were still from laughing so hard.
But perhaps not.
Thirty-Five
Rose
Rose stood with the other potential brides, staring at all the men and women in front of them who were putting their own egos on the line. This was the first time she'd seen the competitors so nervous. They all looked at each other, glanced around, and tried their best not to let anyone think that they were uncomfortable with what might be coming next.
How could they not be?
Soon enough, they would all know how the object of their desires felt. It wasn't actually choosing anything, but it was at the same time. A game of passion. A test to see if they were physically compatible with each other, and if they weren't... well, then she supposed someone might choose another person.
But all the trolls and humans that were standing with her seemed excited. She doubted there was anything that could happen that would make them not choose the person they were going to leave here with tonight. Everyone had seemingly made up their minds.
There was a beauty to it. But the more she looked at how uncomfortable Gunnar was, the more she realized he wasn't nervous that she wouldn't choose him. He was just nervous.
Her sweet, kind man, who had explored more with her than she had ever dreamt, didn't want to do it this way. He kept glancing at her, making sure she was comfortable with the proceedings, as each person chose, one by one, who they were leaving with.
Groans of disappointment came every single time someone chose, and then the others ribbed the person who was chosen.
"Don't mess this up!"
"Make sure you remember where the clit is!"
Silly things that she knew were meant to lighten the mood and to tell the winner that no one was holding it against them.
This was, after all, supposed to be fun. They were supposed to know that at the end of the day, this wasn't going to ruin relationships. It was about building them.
Rose was in the middle of the lineup this time. A few people waited while holding their breath as she made her choice. She knew there were a lot of troll women who were hoping that she wouldn't choose Magnus. Even though Rose had never truly been a threat to the prince's heart.
"Gunnar," she called out, her voice stronger than ever.
She wanted him to be as excited as all the other men had been, but apparently that only made him even more nervous. She'd never seen him blanch that much, and he shifted back and forth on his feet, staring at her with wide eyes.
Was he going to pass out? He couldn't do that. She was about to run across the clearing to hold him up, but Magnus beat her to it. The prince threw an arm around his shoulders, looking like he was just joking around but holding Gunnar up all the same. Murmured words, and then Gunnar was coming toward her.
He still looked like he might throw up, but he reached for her instead. She tucked herself underneath his arm, and then led him away from the clearing. Rose knew exactly where she wanted to go. It was a hidden place in this mountain, and had been shown to her by the glowing lights of magic inside of Trollveggen.
As they headed that direction, perhaps moving a little too fast for decorum's sake, she let out a little laugh.
The sound was still rusty, but it was obviously a laugh.
He glanced down at her. "Are you losing your head again at the thought of this?"
"No, I'm just thinking that all the magic I thought I was seeing in Trollveggen was likely just spirits underground. I think I see pools of magic where people have died, or where they are buried." She mulled it over a little as they picked their way through the trees. "It makes sense that I've just been staring at graves this whole time, thinking that they were pools of power that were deep in the very bedrock of this place. I guess they sort of are."
Gunnar kept looking at her for a little while longer before shaking his head. "That's what you're thinking about right now. Of course it is."
Finally they reached the place where she had wanted to go. Here, the river filtered into a series of massive pools. Each one was about ten breaststrokes long, if she was swimming in it. So not very big, but enough to slow the water down so bright green algae glowed within. The water went from purple to emerald, meandering past pretty alcoves in the roots of the trees that surrounded it. She'd fallen in love with this place the first time she found it.
Apparently, so did he. Gunnar let out a little grunt of surprise, meandering through the space himself.
Or maybe he was giving her space. That seemed more likely.
The farther away from her he got, the stiffer he became. She watched his shoulders bunching up, and his entire body growing more and more tense with every passing minute. Until he blew out a very long breath and turned to look at her.
