The Toll (19 page)

“
Drink it or I’ll gag ye
again,” he ordered, his tone brooking no argument.

“
Or I could just
not.”
I had nothing to
lose, really, and my mouth ran away with my tongue.
Truly, what was he going to do to me if I
don’t?

“
Mouthy wench,”
he muttered, chuckling at my obstinacy. There was
a hint of affection there that I rather liked, a distinct note of
fondness that hinted at the odd relationship we’d
fostered.

Smiling a little, the first real one
I’d felt since I’d left to go home, I let my eyes drop, staring
into the filmy, dirty colored, foul smelling witches’ brew. My
smile slowly fell as my fingers circled the rim of my cup. “I
thought you would have been glad I wanted to stay...” I let it
hang, the rest left unsaid.

“
Ye
couldna,”
he stressed.

Glancing up, I frowned.
“But you said I could, if I... if we... if I, uh,” cheeks burning,
heat fanning them as it ran up and across the tips of my ears, down
my neck, “if we...
you know.”

“
Twas different.” Not
elaborating, he fiddled with one of the furs on the edge of the
bed, thrusting a finger out at the cup I held, warming me up as my
clammy hands soaked up the heat steaming from it. “Drink it up now.
Aint got all day, ye know. Canna have ye dyin’ on me.” Voice
hardening, he growled softly, “Or tryin’ ta again.”

“
How was it different?” I
had a strong sense hounding me, a niggling hint that this was all
wrong. Something was off.

“
Just was. Now, drink that
shit so ye can sleep.”

“
But... different
how?”

“
Would ye just drop it, eh?
Doesna fuckin’ matter. Ye said no, it dinna happen. Bit glad it
dinna, if ye go jumpin’ off bridges at the first kick in the tits
life throws at ye.” Giving me his back, he eased down onto his
side, ending our conversation—his version of dismissing
me.

“
Why couldn’t I stay if I
didn’t... sleep with you? Why did I have to in order to stay?” I
knew I was pushing, pressing for things he’d rather not discuss
now, but my gut was riding me hard, and, if only for my own piece
of mind, I wanted to know.

“
No’ gonna let this go, eh?
Fine.” Rolling over, he glared at me, orange eyes blazing angrily.
Jerking his chin, arms crossed, lips thinning, he growled low,
“Drink yer swill an’ we’ll have this out.”

Trying to decide if it was worth the
effort, I closed my eyes, plugged my nose, and chugged it all down,
letting the cup roll to the floor once it was all finished. Gagging
dramatically, I shuddered, fanning my hands in front of my face.
“Oh! What was in that? Argh! Blech!”

Eyes still narrowed, his lip ticked in
one corner, “Guess ye could say it’s a sort of fire brew. Me own
special blend.”

“
Maybe you should rethink
the recipe,” I wheezed.

Running a hand down his gruff face, I
could have sworn he was fighting back a laugh, but then he sobered,
pointing to a small, oddly shaped pillow. “Lay down.”

Knowing I’d pass out soon enough
anyways, at his mercy, I did as instructed.

Huddling down, I cradled my cheek on
my hand and waited.

“
We made a deal, a toll was
paid. Tis done. Has ta be seen through, no two ways about
it.
Done.
Ye
see?”

Yes and no, but I nodded
anyways.

He paused for so long I thought he
wasn’t going to continue, a sneaking suspicion he’d tricked me just
so I’d drink his death broth.

But, then, if what he’d said made
sense, we’d just made a deal. So... technically, he couldn’t back
out on it, if I have this all right.

Blue eyes focusing on him, I just
stared and waited as Troll reached over, watching as he licked his
thick fingers, pinching out the flame on the single candle light
dimly illuminating the room.

“
Tired yet?” he
grumbled.

“
No, and I thought you said
a deal is a deal.”

“
Is for me, anyway,” he
muttered under his breath.

“
Is it a troll thing?” I
murmured quietly.

“
No.”

“
Oh.”

At the confusion suffusing that one
little word, he snarled, “I’m no’ a troll, no’ really. Just a
fuckin’ human word to explain us, but I’m no gettin’ inta
that.”

Scratching at my scalp, trying to work
that one out, I started to feel the first sign of the effects of
the swill kicking in.

“
The deal I made after,
woulda let ye stay,” Troll said slowly, as if measuring out each
word carefully.

“
So you were helping me...
by offering to sleep with me?” Completely inappropriate at the
moment, but a small, hysterical giggle tickled my throat, bubbling
up and out as it burst from my lips.

Grunting, troll nudged me when I
rolled a little, clutching my stomach as I broke out into full,
belly aching laughter.

“
You can’t be serious?” I
guffawed. “And you expect me to believe that?”

The sound of his jaw grinding, teeth
gritted as he hissed, orange eyes lighting up in the dark, told me
he was mad at me, if I hadn’t already guessed, but I was feeling
blissfully numb at the moment, and couldn’t have cared
less.

“
I said ta warm me bed” he
ground out. “Dinna necessarily say fuckin was a requirement,
nugget.”

Laughter slowly tapering
off, I snorted. “It was implied, which is just the same. You meant
for me to
sleep
with you. You know this as well as I do.”

Chest vibrating with a
harsh growl as he punched his pillow a few times, maybe imagining
it was my giggling mouth, he grunted something under his breath and
rolled away. “Fuckin’. No’ sleep, Fuck. That’s the word. Say it,
Nugget.
Fuck.”
Bluntly stated but aptly put.

I wasn’t about to answer. Still
shaking, limbs trembling uncontrollably as I shivered, I gave him
my back as well, rolling closer to the edge as I hugged my sheet
tight.

“
Willna say I dinna want ta
fuck. Been a while.”

Yawning loudly, I blurted, “How
long?”

“
Long while.”

Hesitating slightly, I ventured to ask
another question, “How many winters are you?”

“
Hell of a lot more than ye
think.”

“
You’re being evasive.”
Sighing as my lids drifted closed, I tucked my hands underneath my
arms, searching out a bit of nonexistent warmth. The heat pouring
off of him, drifting towards me, was rather nice, but I wasn’t
going to do anything about it. He’s just fine where he is, thank
you.

“
Like the way ye
smell.

Eyes popping back open, widening, I
stared sightlessly into the dark room.

“
I smell?”

Barking out a sharp but short laugh,
he snorted. “Go ta sleep, wench. An’ no more dyin’ bullshit. The
world is fucked, but there’s shit worth livin’ for, just haveta
find it.”

His words echoed in my head as his
medicinal drink took full effect, lulling me right to
sleep.

A Reason

Waking up warm, blanketed in heat,
wasn’t how I’d imagined emerging from my death broth slumber, nor
was I prepared for the large frame hunched over me. The feel of a
thick, strong thigh over my hip, groin pressing into my lower back,
his foot twitching in sleep, arm thrown haphazardly over my waist
as he snored quietly into a mound of my thick, frizzed about hair,
had me frozen in place. While uninvited, I couldn’t say the feeling
of another cuddling me in such a way wasn’t completely
unwelcome.

Blushing furiously, I
winced at the small thump that beat hard in my chest at the
thought, the picture we must make. Lovers entwined. At that
thought, coupled with memories of Trystan’s beginner’s lessons on
the marital bed, I quickly flew into a startled panic.
If I can’t do that with a man, a human man, why
am I entertaining such wicked thoughts of doing acts of that nature
with a troll?

Squeaking out loud enough to startle
Troll awake, I threw a leg out, the room still too dark to see
clearly, just knowing I needed to get away.

“
Hm? Whuh?” Troll shot up,
rolling me over until he had me squashed beneath him, snarling
towards the entryway to his sleeping quarters. “Who be
there?”

“
No one. No one! It was
just- Oomph. Me. Now let me up!”

Waiting a moment longer, shaking his
head hard a few times, he slowly eased back down to his side, but
not completely off of me. Thigh and arm still pinning me down,
thick body molding to mine, only separated by my sheet, a thick
lump, long and obvious, poking at one of my rounded cheeks, was
rather telling.

“
You’re naked!” I screeched
indelicately.

“
Ye felt like ice. Got sick
of ye shakin’ the bed,” he muttered groggily, in way of
explanation. “Waited ‘til ye passed out first ta strip. Dinna
usually sleep wit’ clothes on anyways. Too bloody hot.”

“
And you thought to warm
me?”

“
Yes.”

“
Well, I’m, uh, plenty warm
now.” I was, wriggling against him doing things to me I’d never
dare voice aloud, if ever.

Teeth clacking, as if he was snapping
his jaws at me, he tucked me right back where I’d squirmed away.
“Dinna fight me,” he warned, right before he yanked me to his chest
and pinned me down. “Too bleedin’ cold still.”

“
No! No! I didn’t... I
don’t want to...” His proposed ‘deal’ ran through my head and I
started fighting in earnest, kicking up a real fuss. “I didn’t
agree to anything!” I shouted, refusing to go down without a
fight.

“
I’m not,” he grunted,
easily subduing me, growling as if he was mad, but I sensed there
was no real heat behind it.

“
You…” That gave me pause,
but I was worried it might be a trick. “No?” Shifting slightly, I
peered up at him blindly through the darkness.

“
No.” With a hard grunt, he
adjusted his arm around me and let out a long, deep
breath.

After a long pause, nothing happened,
and I willed myself to relax a tiny bit, but not much.

“
Promise?” I whispered, my
voice cracking as I started to sniffle.

“
I said I wasna, dinna I?”
he snapped.

Shrinking back a little, I nodded,
feeling my sheet slide down my chest from all the wriggling and
wrestling around I’d been doing.

Hand shooting out, I started feeling
around desperately, fingers grazing the soft furs mixed up with the
thin, soft material. Licking my lips, I swallowed hard, reaching
out as far as I dared towards my bed partner without actually
making contact. This went on for a while, and I frowned as my hands
continuously came up empty.

“
Uh, Troll?” I mumbled,
trying to find the end of the sheet so I could tuck it back around
myself.

I assumed he might be laying on it at
this point, since most of it seemed to magically vanish from my
respective side, but I couldn’t be too sure.

“
Troll,”
I scoffed and snorted, “here I am—here we
are—
naked,
lying
in your bed, and I don’t even know your damned name,” I muttered
into the darkness.

Fumbling around in the pitch black,
sitting up a bit, Troll was oddly silent as my hands ventured
perilously closer to his person, searching fruitlessly for that
darned wayward bit of material. As he shifted and I lifted myself
up slightly, an odd groan grumbled out of him. I had a funny
feeling he might not have quite the disadvantage I did with the
lack of light.

Eyes widening alarmingly,
my hands slid up my torso slowly to cup my breasts. “Troll?”
Another funny noise from the usually snarky, surly troll. It almost
sounded pained.
What is he doing over
there?

“
Gersthart.”

“
What?” My skin pricked as
he murmured to me, dangerously close, his voice gone low and
disturbingly husky, beyond its normal gravel deep, as if he was
speaking around a mouth full of rocks. Skin tingling at his
proximity, he was much closer than I’d first thought as his breath
coasted over my nape, ghosting along it in a soft
caress.

“
Gersthart,” he repeated,
his hand tentatively reaching up to run through a hank of my long,
slightly damp hair.

Skin prickling, I shivered, the feel
of my cold, wet locks a drastic contrast with his warm,
furnace-like fingers, sending goose bump like tendrils along my
spine. He didn’t touch me, just my hair, not at first, but I didn’t
stop him or protest either.

Thick knuckles whispering across my
face, he gently placed a hank of orange behind my ear, his fingers
having sifted through the frizzy mass, marveling at the strands.
Humming deep in his throat, his notable bulk shifted closer, until
he was pressed up right behind me.