Page 14 of Sky and the Grumpy Troll

“She would want that too, and don’t you dare argue with me, because she was my sister. And I know she feared the trolgar. I just didn’t realize how much your books showed your yearning for it until now.”

“You, my good friend, have been reading far too many of my books.”

Tedaar sighed. “Anyway, the turnips are good this season. Don’t let them sit too long.”

Moerrven said something, then Tedaar. The front door opened and closed. I sat in the cooling water and stared at the stone ceiling.

This wasn’t about sex. Moerrven’s so-called ancient tradition was all made up. He’d told his entire community that I was his soulmate, that he’d met me a week ago and fallen in love. I considered confronting him. I could get dressed, walk out there, and tell him I’d heard everything and clear the air.

That was the correct thing to do.

But I didn’t want to do the correct thing, because letting him have his secret gave me leverage over him. And I was going to milk this until I’d found Pip and a portal home.

He was using me, so I might as well use him right back.

Decision made, I got out of the bath and dried off, pulling on a clean set of the elven clothes. I walked out into the living room, where he sat in a big chair, staring off into the middle distance, petting his cat.

“Hey,” I said, leaning against the doorframe.

He looked up, and now I could see the depth of the sadness in his stormy gray eyes. “Good bath?”

“Good bath. Amazing bath. Best bath of my life, honestly, and I once stayed at a spa in Palm Springs that had seventeen different kinds of—” I stopped myself. “Anyway. I was thinking.”

“About?”

“About the portal and Highmark.” I sat down across from him and helped myself to a piece of bread from the board that was still on the table. “I was thinking maybe you could take me there. I know it’s a break from the trollish tradition of hospitality. But we could still have those long talks by firelight, and I could find my friend and find my way home. A compromise.”

He raised an eyebrow, then nodded. “Of course.”

“Really? That was easy.” I was already half out of my chair. “When do we leave? Tomorrow? Please say tomorrow.”

“We will need a couple of days to prepare first.”

“Days? Prepare what? You have a wagon, and everything I own fits in a pocket. We’re basically packed.”

“The wagon axles need checking before a mountain road. One of Clover’s halters wants mending. My repairs on the Mill Creek bridge must be finished before we go. There is food to lay in, water skins, bedrolls, feed.” He counted it all off on his fingers, unhurried. “And a proper supply of snacks, given the way you eat. Three days, I think.”

“THREE DAYS? I don’t even know who Clover is, and I already know she can’t need three days of halter repair.”

“Three days,” he said, in the tone of a bridge stating its load limit, and picked up the bread board and carried it to the kitchen, and that, apparently, was that.

Chapter 5

Sky

“Poppy. Poppy, come here. Poppy, we need to go!”

Moerrven was on his knees behind the woodpile, his thickly muscled arm wedged into a gap between two logs, and I watched, because how could I not. With Moerrven positioned like this, his pants were stretched tight across his ass, and oh my. What an ass it was.

I was supposed to be angry with him. I had been diligently angry for three days. The anger took one look at those trousers and requested a personal day.

I could dine out on this story for years. I was standing in his front garden holding a wicker basket lined with a blanket, watching a seven-foot troll novelist beg his cat to come out from behind the firewood. He looked my way, and I noticed that the bruise under his eye had already faded to almost nothing, to my relief. Trolls apparently healed fast. One less thing to feel guilty about.

“Can I help?” I asked.

“She does this every time. She knows we’re traveling. She disapproves.”

“Every time? How often do you travel?”