The Toll (45 page)

What? What is he
saying?
Jackknifing up, I took a few
tentative steps towards him, aching to soothe him, take away the
pain.
Mine.
We
were alike, in a way, both broken beyond repair, both seeking love
and reassurance, companionship.

“
And what of you? Who will
fix you?” As I slowly waded into the water, his tumultuous gaze
stuck on me, piercing orange eyes easily heating my skin with their
intensity, as if I could feel it like a caress, they burned so
bright. Troll shook his head and thrust a hand out when the
bubbling, warm liquid surrounding me reached my waist.

“
No one. I dinna want
it.”

I stopped at that but started forward
again. “And I do?”

“
Yes.”

Arms slowly folding over my chest, my
lips pursed mulishly, water up to my elbows swirling around me.
“Oh? And what are you, the judge of all things? Or just me,
hmm?”

“
Nugget.”
Grinding his jaw tight, his eyes flashed and his
skin sparked.

Faltering slightly, I squared my
shoulders, took a deep breath, and trudged on.

“
Dinna come any closer.”
Growling warningly, low in his throat, shooting blue sparks
crackled over the lake’s choppy surface. The water was as restless
as he, splashing and slapping around churlishly, as if reacting to
him directly.

“
Are you doing this?” I
murmured, squinting as a wet slap splattered across my face.
Running a hand slowly down my sprinkled chin and cheeks, another
wet splash slamming my ear, I missed Troll’s answer.

“
Not like ye be thinkin’,”
I heard him mutter on a growl before he closed the distance between
us, hefting me up and out of the worst of it as I choked and gasped
on my own spit.

“
Why?” I managed to croak
out as I sputtered, incredulous.

“
Canna control it.” Tucking
me tight into his side with one arm, he nuzzled my neck, grunting
when everything slowly calmed. Dipping his hand down as I watched,
he swirled his free finger into the settling waves. “Bearer is an
Elemental an’ all that. Water, ye know. Comes with the territory,
eh?”

“
Bearer?”

“
Bearer,” he grunted,
terse. “Wench that gave me life. If ye wish ta call it
that.”

Sensing the waves roiling to a boil
again, my fingers tightened around him, and I left it at
that.

Eyeing the crystal clear liquid
curiously, I reached forward, fingers tracing small patterns in the
water. Staring down into the clear, shimmering depths as my fingers
traced the same swirling path his had, I frowned disappointedly
when nothing happened.

Picking up on my frustration, Troll
reached a hand forward, covering mine gently, and closed his
eyes.

His runes slowly started glowing
dimly, and water swirled around our fingertips, dancing up and over
us, sliding over our skin softly, calmly, in a cool caress, before
it plopped back down, shot up and over, then popped right back up
to do it all over again.

“
Can... can I do that
too?”

Leaning in closer, Troll inhaled
deeply at my neck, nuzzling his way up my hair. “Mm. No. Dinna
think so, but, then, considerin’, yer guess is as good as
mine.”

“
What were you thinking
about?”

“
Hmm.” Humming softly in
the back of his throat, he paused. “When?”

“
Just now.” Pulling my hand
back, I gestured towards the spot. “With the water. That is what’s
controlling it, right?” Tipping his head slightly in answer, I
continued, “What were you thinking about, when you made it do
that?”

“
Mm. No. I’ll not be
sayin’, I think. Now, come,” he shook my shoulders a little, thick
hands warm as they rubbed up and down my arms, “wake up. Tis
time.”

My eyes shot straight to his and my
thighs tightened, wrapped around his thick waist. “But I’m not done
yet, and you can’t just shut me out like that.”

“
Just did,” he
grunted.

“
Yes, like that.” I pointed
right at his nose accusingly, flicking the end when he almost went
cross eyed trying to glare at it.

Shoving my hand away, he growled, “An’
here’s me doin’ it again.”

“
But... no. And, hey, we
haven’t talked yet. I-”

“
No. No sense in prolongin’
it. Sooner the better. Makes it easier all ‘round.” Gruff, his
snappish orders rubbed me wrong. More than wrong.

Turning, I tried to pull away from
him, but he kept firm. Soon I was squirming against him, my back
squashed to his front, thick arm banded around my waist.

“
Why do you keep talking
like that? Prolonging what? Time for what? Easier how? You sound
like we’ll never see each other again.” My voice faltered, and he
softened slightly. Pressing my feet to his thighs, I shoved,
launching forward as he barked while I shot across.

He would have snatched me back, but I
flung an arm out, too late realizing I’d shot blue sparks at him as
I threw him off, whirling around to stare at him, heart lurching,
eyes wide.

Then it hit me.

“
That’s it, isn’t it?
You’re going to break the bond somehow? You’re trying to ditch me?
You can’t! We’ll die!”

Tugging me back, despite my best
efforts at punching, hitting, kicking, and a few nicely placed
bites, he still managed to reel me back in. Everything in me
screamed to run.

“
Calm down, woman! Ye’ll
not be kickin’ any buckets anytime soon, if I have
any-
Hey!
Damn it!
Fuckin’- Quit bitin’! Bleedin’ vampiress!” Squeezing me so tight I
thought I might faint, I gave.

Instantly going lax in his arms, I
unlocked my jaw, carefully disengaging my teeth from his shoulder.
Cursing under his breath, he relaxed too.

Teeth still attached to his arm,
though no longer actually biting down, I mumbled against his dented
skin as I peeked up at him, “Are they real?”

“
Are what real, ye daft
wench?” he grumbled, grunting when I pressed my teeth back into his
fresh bite marks warningly. “Release me.”

“
Vampires.” Voice muffled
against his thick flesh, my eyes never left his, narrowing slightly
when he took too long in answering. Clamping down a little, my
tongue darted out for a second to run across his heated
flesh.

A full body shivered wracked his thick
frame and he hissed, shaking his arm to throw me off. Not one to be
deterred, I latched on harder, tightening my grip, arms hugging his
forearm.

Snorting, a ghost of a smile coasted
over his face and his hands ran over my hair slowly, fingers
running through it soothingly as he started humming in the back of
his throat.

It was an odd feeling, as he studied
me, his look rapturous yet distant, almost sad.

Swirling orange eyes intent, he took
in the laugh lines around my mouth, his thick, calloused fingers
tracing them gently. Then he mapped all the little crow’s feet at
the corners of my eyes, followed by the small, faded scar by my
right temple from that time I fell off Pa’s old horse, and then the
full pout of my lips and the curve at the end of my
nose.

So absorbed in familiarizing himself
with me, as if to put my face to memory, he wasn’t aware I was
watching him just as interestedly.

“
Dinna be ridiculous,”
Troll muttered when he’d finished his perusal, burly hand slowly
falling to his side to release me, quietly slipping back into the
water.

My brows winged upward and I scoffed,
“Elementals, Fates, trolls-”

“
Ornthren,” he cut in,
brows beetling, much as they usually do with him, but I waved him
off and kept going, talking right over him.

“
Magic out the bum, curses
and enchantments, bonding, mates, but vampires are ridiculous? Is
it really that far a stretch to wonder?” Giving him a dark look as
I pulled back, he tugged me close and hoisted me up his chest,
hands automatically pawing my ass to steady me as my arms wove
around his neck.

“
Suppose not, but it isna
true. Vampires are a load of shite.” Smirking, he leaned in, almost
nose to nose with me as his eyes swirled, burnt orange flames
bathed in bright, citrusy orange, licking across his irises to melt
with teeny tiny flecks of blue towards the pupil. “Something the
little people made up to scare all their young. Scarin’ little
orange haired bits ‘o’ nothin’, frightenin’ their little nuggets
into not goin’ out at night an’ all that.”

Biting the inside of my cheek as I
glanced between us, I closed the distance, my mouth just a hair’s
breadth away from making contact. “Mmm. That so?”

“
Yup,” he grumbled,
inhaling my scent deeply, a deep rumble following, “be sayin’ it’s
so.”

“
Good. And since I’m not
afraid of the dark, you, or an impeding rogue vampire attack, it
won’t matter if I do this.” Giving him a decent look of my own, I
pulled back just enough to flick the end of his nose, twist the end
of his ear, then slap his rather round grey rump, hard, ready for
it when he barked out a surprised shout, went to grab all three
offended appendages at once, and dropped me right into the
water.

Kicking my legs furiously, I spun and
swam for shore hard, arms pumping with all my might as I tried to
reach it before he caught up. Just on the bank, I scrambled up,
choosing to climb over the mud caked lip, which was quite faster,
as opposed to the spot a bit farther out that tapered into a flat,
sandy area.

“
Demon wench!” Troll
bellowed. “Get back here, now!”

Rolling over as I flopped out, I
ignored all the muck I was mired in, tripping over my own bare feet
as I stumbled to get up. Once finally upright, hands on hips, I
faced him.

“
Something doesn’t feel
right,” I said finally, ignoring his murderous glare, ignoring the
heat of his eyes roaming over me. There was possession there,
clearly, and my insides, as well as certain other, more prominent
parts of my anatomy, warmed at the thought.
Mine,
those pesky instincts shouted.
“I-I feel...” Trying to figure out exactly what it was I was
feeling, how to put it to words, my lips pulled down into a moue of
distaste, brows dragging down, and my fingers rapt on my naked
hips, tapping away steadily as I attempted to sort myself
out.

“
An’ what would ye be
feelin’, nugget? Me pain? Hmph. Evil woman.” Rolling his shoulders,
muscles bunching and flexing with the motion, he growled, “Now,
quit her blatherin’ an’ get back in here. Gettin’ this over wit’
now.” Troll, equally as displeased, if for an entirely different
reason, was still rubbing his ear, waist deep in water, glaring up
at me. Waving his hands in front of the water, he stared down at it
for what felt like forever before his eyes shot back up. “Afore I
canna,” I thought I heard him mutter, grimacing before he cleared
his throat really loud.

Face slowly lifting, my
eyes widened. I’d been thinking about everything since it all
happened, one crazy event after another, and then-“You wanted her
to fix us, as in... sever the bond? Not something else, like be
able to be apart for an extended period of time. You want to cut
ties completely.” Instantly, I was hurt and then appalled at the
thought, shock mixing in there for good measure. “But you know that
isn’t possible...” A huge, dread filled knot filled my stomach.
“What are you planning on doing?” Swallowing hard, a huge lump
formed in my throat. “You know we can’t... I can’t... It would kill
us!” When Troll just stared up at me, bare arms folded over his
massive chest, muscles wet and gleaming with water, flexing in the
muted sun, expression implacable, I went on. “The way you’re
talking... You’re going to try and ‘fix’ this somehow,”
fix us,
I thought
silently, bothered by the thought inexplicably, “but you already
know there’s no real fix...”

Troll’s face tightened and he growled,
motioning for me to go to him. “Come, nugget, an’ I’ll be
explainin’, just like ye wanted, yes? Alright? We’ll even have that
wee talk ye’re blabbin’ ‘bout.”

Stumbling back, my expression
tightened too, a short, sharp stab of pain making me wince. “No,” I
shook my head, “you’re lying.” His words, I knew immediately, were
false. As he spoke and I stared down at him, perplexed, my worry
rising by the minute, heart pounding as adrenaline pumped through
me, I knew he wasn’t telling me the truth. My sense was kicking
into high gear, every false word that spilled from his lips
pricking me like poisoned darts, aimed right for the middle of my
chest.

‘
Gift of the bonded, submit
within
.
Take the
source, claim it wise.
Repercussions never
bias.’
I don’t know why the words came to
me, sang to me softly in my head, spilling from my lips, but as I
whispered them and a wash of dizziness enveloped me, everything
started to slowly unravel.

“
The heart.” Troll’s eyes
met mine evenly as my bright blues bore into his. “The heart.
They’re talking about the heart, and love, aren’t they? ‘Gift of
the bonded, submit within’.” Wringing my hands, I clenched them
together to hold back the trembling. “You would give your heart to
the one whom you loved, and typically, one’s self—your
virginity—which would represent the blood sacrifice.”