Page 80 of Sky and the Grumpy Troll

Sky beamed at me, and then he was off across the grass, coming back with a long straight pole, the weathered handle of somebody’s lost rake. He weighed it in both hands and gave it an experimental spin.

The staff blurred. It whistled over his head, snapped flat along his spine, and wheeled around his body in figures that turned the air into something he was carving. He drove through it low and fast, the handle cracking against the ground on the turns, and finished with the pole tucked under one arm, both feet planted, breathing hard and grinning at all of us.

The meadow erupted. Pip was on his feet, screaming. Aeldryc had stopped chewing. Oallian applauded, and sparks leapt off his palms with every clap.

“Teach me that one,” the dragon said.

“Breathing first,” Sky said, tossing the rake handle into the grass. “Then staffs.”

He was going to end up in one of my novels exactly like this: a dancer from another world, banking a dragon’s fire with his grandfather’s slowest art, then setting the meadow alight with the fastest.

Chapter 27

Sky

I flopped back onto Moerrven’s thigh and smiled. “With Aeldryc and Pip riding back to the palace to report, it’s just like old times. You, me, a wagon, and a cat.”

Moerrven frowned down at me. “Wrong horse, though. I prefer Clover.”

“Yes, but Clover is headed home with your sisters, because she would not enjoy a sea passage. And this hired horse is kind of cool.” This was a lie. The hired horse was an asshole, and I missed Clover, too.

We had several days of this ahead of us, the slow road to the port at Reach. Pip and Aeldryc would ride to the palace, report to the Queen, and still reach the coast before we did, because Aeldryc had no patience for troll pace and the two of them made this kind of journey in half the time. I couldn’t bring myself to be sorry about it. After weeks of rescues and royals and other people, I had Moerrven all to myself again, and I intended to be disgustingly cozy about every minute of it.

We rounded a bend, and a town came into view, and I sat up, grinning at Moerrven. “You know what tonight is.”

“Only if the inn in The Hollows has a lock on the door and a good bed.”

“Yeah, not like the bed you broke in Norloch.”

His cheeks went bright blue, and I giggled as I remembered him trying to explain THAT to the innkeeper as he forked over an apologetic pile of coins.

I moved to my knees on the bench beside him, and kissed his cheek, then nipped his ear. “Tonight is your punishment,” I whispered. “The one you asked for. To make you mine, once and for all.”

He was fully blushing as he pulled up in front of the inn, and didn’t stop as he stabled the hired horse, talked to the innkeeper, and secured our room. I washed up first, quickly rinsing off the road dust and prepping myself, wanting to do everything right. While he was in the bathroom taking his turn, I laid out my full array of torture implements, minus one cord that he’d ruined the night he’d ruined that bed, plus a length of good rope liberated from Moerrven’s abandoned climbing kit.

“You’ve been thinking about this,” he said, eyeing the bed as he walked out, nude, toweling his hair.

“Extensively,” I said. “You gonna put this in your new book? I know how dirty your mind is.” The blue came up his throat like a sunrise, which was answer enough.

I walked over and kissed him. “You ready for your punishment?”

He swallowed, hard enough that I could see his throat move. “I did ask for it.”

“There are consequences, Moerrven. There’s a whole system which those who are fully owned must obey. Would you like to be owned, sweetheart?”

“Oh yes,” he breathed, going even bluer. “Really. A lot.”

“I have a gift for you,” I said, reaching for a parcel.

He glanced to the side, suddenly shy. “I have something for you, too. I’ve been carrying it for a few days.” He pulled a small item, wrapped in rough paper, from the pocket of his jacket where it hung by the door.

“I do love surprises,” I said, taking his hand and guiding him to sit on the bed.

We sat cross-legged on the bed, facing each other, and he turned his package nervously in his hand. “Can I go first? I’ve been really excited to give you this.”

“Sure, why not.”

He bit his lip and set the package in my hand, closely watching my reaction.