Page 81 of Sky and the Grumpy Troll

I unwrapped the package and tilted my head as I looked down at the charm in my hand. It was small: a piece of dark, polished horn, banded in bright silver, new from the maker’s hand, warm, warmer than any pocket could account for. I turned it over in my fingers, feeling a strange rush that I realized after a beat was magic.

“It’s beautiful, but what is it?”

He swallowed. “Trolls have a ritual called a horn-binding, something deeper than a wedding, more connected, where trolls choose to accept the trolgar bond. It’s rare these days because of the intensity of the bond it creates.”

“The thing Bryndala didn’t want.”

“Yes. But the ritual requires both individuals to have horns.”

“I see.” My heart did a strange little skip as I turned the pendant over in my fingers.

“The thing is, I’ve felt you for weeks, your fear, your joy, that bright ridiculous engine you run on, and during sex. I mean, it’s just incredible. But something has been missing.”

“Missing?”

“For you, I mean. Since you aren’t able to feel it the way I am. So I asked Thessaly if there was something we could do. This pendant is part of me, a slice of my horn, and she has found a way to use her magic to open the door both ways. Only while it’s touching your skin. If you choose to wear it. But I want you to be able to feel the true nature of my love for you, my devotion. With this, I cannot tell any more lies, or obscure the truth.”

I smiled a little, turning the horn over in my hand. “Did it hurt to remove the horn tip?” I looked up at him and saw it now, the cut mark on his horn.

“No, it’s like cutting hair, or a fingernail,” he said, chuckling. “There are no nerves. Some trolls file their horns into points. And Thessaly needed an organic object, so…”

“You gave me a piece of you.” I met his eyes, and he smiled and nodded. I felt pressure behind my eyes, and blinked back tears, throwing myself into his arms. “It’s beautiful, baby. I love you so much. How does the ritual work?”

“It’s simple,” he said. “Skin to skin, bone to bone, pledging ourselves to each other forevermore.”

I settled back to face him, and he reached out and touched my hand, and all at once I felt him, his nerves, his warmth and love.

“Oh,” I whispered. “That’s… Is it just when you touch me?”

“As the bond forms and seals, it becomes more. Your mind will reach for me when I’m not around, and if you’re wearing the pendant, it’ll find me. That’s how I knew you were alive with the dragon. Even without it, I could still find you. With this, you’ll be able to find me too.”

I crawled into his lap and wrapped myself around him, clutching the pendant in my hand, kissing him slow and tender, letting myself feel everything he felt when we kissed. I reached up and brushed a thumb over his trolgar point, and sensation exploded in my mind, as if he was alive inside me, and me inside him.

“Holy shit.”

He smiled as I pulled back. “So you like it? Do you want to put it on?”

“I fucking love it. Love you. Thank you. It’s the most precious thing anyone has ever given me. But open yours first. We can put them on together.” I reached for the package. “Mine, I suppose, is a bit of a ritual thing, too. In BDSM, in the kink community, when a submissive truly becomes the property of a dom, we use this to mark them.”

I laid it in his hand, no longer nervous about offering him a collar, because I could feel his rush of excitement as he turned the package over, enjoying its weight. He opened it carefully, gasping softly as he saw what I’d picked, a sturdy chain with a lock that clasped it closed.

“I didn’t want it to be anything that put your kinks too much on display, because I know that’s not you. This is meant to be worn under your shirt collar, where you can feel it, feel my ownership at all times.”

He turned the chain over in his fingers, his cheeks going blue once again. “So if I wear this, I am agreeing to be yours? What’s the second chain?”

I picked up the slimmer chain and showed it to him. “I wear the key.” I slipped the horn pendant onto the chain with the key and held it up. “Perfect together, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said, blushing as I clasped it around my neck.

I reached for his collar. “May I?” He nodded, and I looped it around his neck, reaching out and touching the lock, giving it a little tug.

“I promise to take care of you. To always be open to new ideas, and to meet every single one of your kinky needs,” I whispered.

“I’m so fucking hard right now,” he whispered, and I laughed, hugging him tight.

“You should know that a horn-binding doesn’t only join the trolgar. It joins the life-well, gives you the strength of my magic. The lifespan of a troll.” His gray eyes were wet and fierce and terrified. “I have a few centuries left in me, give or take. Trolls run long. And if we initiate this bond, we’ll go the whole distance together, and out the far end of it together, hopefully, and I would not have to—” He stopped and pressed his mouth shut, and for once, I felt the swirling, complex emotions inside him, the thing I suspected was there, grief and hope and love all wrapped up in a mess.

“Moerrven,” I whispered, wiping away a tear as it tracked down his cheek.