The Toll (46 page)

“
Or me bite,” Troll
muttered, running his tongue along his teeth as he eyed my neck
surreptitiously.

“
Cursed is thee who gives
too free. Doubly cursed are ye who too freely take, yet never
give.
Cursed in love,” my head bobbed
along as I spoke, rubbing at my nape absently, “it makes sense.
Give yourself too freely, physically,” Troll growled when I
muttered,
“—sex—
yet never freely take. Holding yourself back? Giving without
giving? Taking too freely, without any meaning...” I’d started
pacing back and forth, a strip of wet earth smooshing under my
feet, the bit of leaves and grass mixed in squishing wetly with
every chaotic step I took. “Help me out here, Ornthren. Feel free
to nudge me in the right direction.” Lips pursing every time I
looked to him, he had a different emotion drifting across his
rather cross mug.

“
No, nugget, but maybe, an’
yet maybe not right. Dunno, an’ dinna matter, either way. Ye canna
break the curse, any more than the next.”

“
Hm? What?” Stopping dead
in my tracks, I felt more lost than ever. “But doesn’t it? Can’t it
be... I mean...” Jaw tightening at what I took as him playing
games, I snapped, “Explain.”

“
Guess ye could be sayin’
the meanin’ slips, an’ ye canna break it unless ye plan on breakin’
me.” At my blank look he sighed. “Open ta interpretation, as it
were, eh? What it be meanin’ fer me, willna mean fer ye, an’
something else fer such an’ such, but it be bollocks, either
way.”

“
Wind said curses could be
broken,” I argued.

“
Wind is an eejit. Cursed,
ye bear it, wear it. Isna fixable. Nugget,” he snorted, arms
stretched out wide. “
I be the
curse,
ye see? It ends, fer me, when me
body lies cold an’ dead, an’ the last of me kind croak out. Least,
that’s how I be figurin’ it. An’, speakin’ ‘o’ curses, an’ riddles,
an’ such, ye wasna exactly virginal, if we was ta go by what ye be
thinkin’, when I met ye, hmm?” Satisfied with his crack pot answer,
he nodded, waiting for me to...?
Pat him
on the back?

Hah
. I wanted to sock him, right in his boxy-jawed, hairless
kisser.

Throwing my arms up in exasperation, I
growled, “You were my first.”

Flashing a teeth baring smile that was
more of a snarl, he hissed, “An’ I’ll be yer last.”

Eyes flashing electric blue, I shucked
off his stupidity. “But what I said makes perfect sense, and what
you say makes no sense. It needs meaning.”

“
Tis a curse, nugget.
Rubbish, either way. Was it supposed ta?”

“
Yes!”

“
No’ always how it
works.”

“
It should,” I groused,
still bent on deciphering it.

“
Says you.”

“
You aren’t helping
any.”

Troll’s massive shoulders shrugged and
his arms fell limply to his sides. “That’s life, then ye die. No
use trippin’ over yerself over it, tits over arse, tryin’ ta figure
it out.” Glancing around at our surroundings, he let out a slow
breath and closed his eyes.

“
But wouldn’t that, I don’t
know... fix this all somehow?”

“
If I’d’ve known that,
would I be bonded to a carrot-topped wench with too big a mouth,
an’ not enough sense to suit her? Hmph.”

He was being mean again,
intentionally. One second I’m his—he’ll be my last, the next I’m
the biggest regret—poor, him, stuck with a whiny human
twit.

And here we are again,
‘round and ‘round. “So... you
are
going to kill us, then?”
Over my dead body!

Oh, lord.
My hand slapped over my mouth as I growled, as if
I’d said the words aloud.

Letting out a loud, annoyed huff,
Troll didn’t bother opening his eyes, fingers playing in the
calming waves. “Never said nothin’ bout killin’ ye, ye dramatic
harlot.” Jaw jutting forward more than humanly possible, a grinding
noise issuing from his tightly sealed lips, he grumbled, “Now, get
in here, right quick. Wasted enough fuckin’ time as it is, an’
ye’re makin’ this all harder than it needs ta be.”

‘
Do to ye as does to thee,
never harm and never flee.
Feel it ill,
sicken still.
The body lives, the mind
divides.
Heed the warning, claiming
Ornthren.
Distance weakens, minds do forth
rend
.’

“
No. We can’t. You
know
we can’t,” I
whispered it aloud, horror etched onto my face. “Have you lost
yourself completely? We’ll go crazy if you separate us.”

Troll cracked an eye open, studying me
curiously. “Says who?”

He’d just confirmed it.
He’s going to separate us somehow. “You!” My finger thrust out at
him. “You told me it would make us mad if we were apart for too
long, and, you know,” my mind went back to the dream and the
jail-type magical cell he’d been held in, “well, you remember, you
could have.”
Sort of did, more than you
already are, you daft male.

My hands were wringing anxiously
again, the need to run and hide, as if somehow that could delay
whatever he had planned for us a little longer, riding me
hard.

Whatever he’d devised, my
gut said it wouldn’t be good.
Run. Run.
Hide.

“
Only if ye gave it
back.”

Staring down at him, I froze, pinned
in place. “Gave what back?”

“
Ye know.”

My hands went to my chest, pressing
between my breasts.

My heart.

I couldn’t take mine back any more
than I could convince him to willingly hand over his. “You already
know the answer to that.”

“
Oh, be knowin’ what ye
said.” Eyeing me speculatively, his tone called me the
liar.

‘
Take the organ, keep it
safe
.
Ignore the
missive, reap the fate
.
No toll will save a bonded break’.

I caught it almost too late as I
prepared to rush him and wrap my hands around his too-thick neck,
attempting to strangle his obstinate Ornthren behind. “You’re just
trying to rile me up so I’ll storm over there.”

Cocking his head, he raised a
condescending brow. “I am, eh? It workin’?”

“
No, just like whatever you
think you’re going to do won’t work.” I’d already accepted my
plight,
our
plight. My lot in life has already been set. There’s nothing
to do about it now, except to accept it.

Don’t want to leave
him
, the little voice in the back of my
mind whispered.
Mine.

Grunting, he muttered, “Ye’ll be
leavin’ that ta me.”

“
I don’t,” I mumbled, in my
own little world.
I don’t want him to
leave.

“
What now?” Troll
grumbled.

Dropping my hand from where it was
picking at my lower lip, I marched toward the edge of the water, a
foot shy of the end.

Shoulders back, spine stiff, chin held
high, I announced defiantly, “I think not.”

Moving slowly closer, Troll
murmured low, a dangerous purr to his voice that set my teeth on
edge, “Ye think not wha’
?” So, now he
wants to play ignorant? Alright.

“
This is all you being a
coward again,” I accused.

“
Not a coward, ye wench.
Even a dafty coulda figured it out by now.”

“
Enlighten me.”

“
Maybe I dinna wanna be
saddled with the likes of ye. Ever figure that one,
nugget?”

Lies!
“Bull.”

“
Oh? Thinkin’ highly of
ourselves now, is we?”

“
Bull shit!”

Snorting, Troll smiled slowly, a shit
eating grinning spreading across his dark lipped mug. It was mean
and condescending. “As ye like, luv.”

Crouching down, I bent forward on my
hands and knees, fisting the grass, leaning towards him when he
shot across the distance, his lips pulled back in a teeth baring
snarl as we bumped noses.

“
Oh, yeah?”

“
Yes,” he hissed, eyes
flashing black.

My runes lit up, blue eyes lit, and I
nipped at the tip of his flat nose. “You want me.”

“
I be thinkin’
not.”

“
You love me.”

“
Love yer pussy.” Smirking,
he tilted his head slightly. “Big difference. Love it wrapped
‘round me hard cock as I pound inta ye, grippin’ me tight, nothin’
more.”

“
No, y-you
said-”

A deep, mean chuckle leaving him, he
muttered, “Maybe I be better at lyin’ than ye think.”

Flinching, I ignored the jab and the
swift pain that followed. “You’re bluffing.”

“
Ye’re
stallin’.”

By this point I was ready to scream.
“Prove it!”

Fast, Troll gripped my shoulders and
dragged me in, ignoring my shriek and shouted out expletives as I
slammed into him. As he clasped me to him in a bone crushing hug,
his lips dove at mine.

Arms pinned to my sides, I could do
nothing to retaliate, his mouth taking mine voraciously, ardently,
until I finally folded, swallowed up in him, the mounting urgency
riding him, and kissed him back. Bodies heated, skin to skin, the
reaction was instantaneous—we ignited. Our teeth clashed, tongues
tasting, lips devouring, as we both went at each other
hungrily.

Just when it was all getting to be too
much, building to the point where I thought I might burst from
wanting, Troll trailed biting kisses down my neck, nuzzling his
mark on my shoulder.

“
I’m no’ a coward, nugget,”
his deep voice murmured, low and husky. Working his way back up to
my lips, he kissed me hard one last time before pulling back to
stare deeply into my eyes. “Nothin’ cowardly ‘bout it.”

“
Say it,” I called softly,
brushing my cheek with his sweetly as I closed my eyes. “Say it and
mean it, and I’m yours.”

Lids squeezing shut tight, he stilled,
holding me just like that, breathing hard against my skin, warm
breath fanning my sensitive nape.

Opening his mouth slowly, lips parted,
I’d thought he was about to do just that as he breathed in slowly.
Holding his breath, chest puffed out, he cupped my head, tucking it
into his chest, fingers tightening.

“
Troll?”

“
Hold yer breath,” he
muttered, voice thick and low.

“
What?”

Jumping up high in the water, he shot
up, my body tight to his, then dove down, deep, deep down, until we
settled at the bottom.

When it was apparent he wasn’t going
to let me go or resurface any time soon, the lake bottom and all of
its plant life wading around us, my mouth opened in a panicked
shout.

As my heart started pounding
frantically, beating wildly against my chest, his eyes flashed and
his runes lit up, the water responding in kind.

No! NO!
He
is
going
to kill us!

“
Liar! Traitor!” I roared,
bubbles rushing out of my mouth as it opened wide, clawing at him
as I tried to wrench free.

Troll mouthed something I couldn’t
make out, arms holding me bruisingly, eyes sad and solemn. The
water swirled around us fast, knocking us angrily from side to
side, spinning and spinning in some kind of crazy, whirling pool as
it kicked up around us, eventually swallowing us whole.

The center opened, a wall of
cylindrical water, churning mercilessly, from all sides,
effectively trapping us.

When the current was strong enough,
Troll humming quietly in the center, muttering strange words as his
body vibrated, closing his eyes, he hummed lower, changing the
tune.

Closing in on us slowly, the violent
waves spinning around us shrinking, and that’s when I felt it
beating at my flesh. Terrified, I cried out, hissing, and that’s
when Troll let go, the swirling water sucking me right into its
vortex. Reaching out for him, my hands slid over his, digging into
his shoulder as I tried to hold on for all I was worth.

“
No!” I shouted, never to
be heard. “Don’t do this!” I mouthed, begging, feeling my nails
raking down his arm as my grip slipped.

He did nothing, just watched me go,
fisting his hands on his thighs as I clawed and scratched at him,
screaming his name. Tortured orange eyes meeting mine, he mouthed
something I couldn’t make out.

“
I loved you!” I bellowed,
glaring into his gaze, my own runes lighting up.

Closing his eyes shut tight, shutting
me out, I sucked in a mouthful of water as his runes lit up,
glowing bright, a sharp, zapping sting shocking me as I tried to
clutch at him, sending me flying back.

The raw pain on his face as his eyes
popped back open, wide, and the ache in my chest as I flew back,
tossed closer to the surface, was the last thing I’d remember of
him as I was sucked in, tumbling end over end, up and up, and then
out.