Chapter 15

Icheck a few times a day that we're still going alongside the road, but for the most part, we stay deep in the jungle, hoping to avoid Gusak's riders. Rimi's stomach grumbles constantly. Just one big meal at dinnertime isn't enough for her small human body, which seems to need nutrients much more often, but the meat would've gone bad if we'd tried to bring it with us. That afternoon, I find some tiny red fruits high up in the trees, and climb up to knock them down for her. Rimi lets out a squeal of delight as they tumble to the ground, only a few landing in her open hands.

We take as many as we can, bundling them up in big leaves and carrying them under both arms.

Though we're tired and hungry, I'm happy as can be at her side. She counts as she hops over little ferns, and stares up into the trees with wonder when a huge, colorful bird flies overhead. I love the way she hums under her breath, usually some little ditty I don't recognize. I ask her to teach me a song, because it sounds beautiful, but that might just be because it's falling from her lips.

It's a folk song in Yusala, she says. She repeats the tune for me, and I sing it back to her with bravado. She laughs and claps her hands. You have a nice voice, Lo'zar.

Thank you. I lean down and brush over her ear with one tusk. So do you. And I plan to make you sing quite a lot later.

Her whole body shudders at my suggestion, and I'm pleased that I can do this to her. All it takes is a sweep of my hand over her hip and she's leaning into me, telling me with her body how much she wants me, and it floods my head with a giddiness I haven't felt since I fucked someone the first time.

We continue to sing the song as we march through the jungle, arms linked together while we carry our fruit along with us. She adds words and I try to repeat them, but I must be mangling it because Rimi laughs uproariously.

What does it mean? I ask. It's so strange that I can't understand her tongue, and yet I can hear her voice as clear as if she were speaking my own language.

It's about the beginning, before Riggamora. She taps her chin thoughtfully. Actually, it's a love story.

A love story?

About a woman who could wield magic and her forbidden lover.

I quirk an eyebrow. She must be yanking my chain.

The thought seems to occur to Rimi at the same moment, because her eyebrows go high up into her hair. Then she gives me a sly look. Does that make you my forbidden lover? she asks.

I would worship her body, kiss her sweet-tasting lips, and bury my cock in her every day and night if I could—but I know that's not allowed to me. This has been a fun game between us, but she's a human, and I know it can't possibly last.

I suppose I am.

But when we "rest" for the night, I can pretend, just for a while, that we are the people in the song. Like the magic woman and her lover, we can change the world to suit ourselves.

I manage to trap one of those big, loud birds for us to eat, and Rimi covers her eyes as I butcher it in front of her. She is delicate, my girl. Despite everything that's happened to her, it hasn't corrupted that kind, earnest innocence she has inside.

Thank you,Rimi says out of the blue as she licks another tiny bird bone clean.

For what? I still enjoy the fact that I can eat and talk at the same time.

For everything. She picks up another bone. You're feeding me. You saved me. You've given up... a lot for me. Her eyes fall at this. I'm sorry. Now you can't go home because of me, too.

I reach out and take her chin in my hand, urging her to look at me. Those gray eyes are sweet and as mysterious as the moon, and I wonder again who sent her to me. That was a choice I made, I tell her firmly. I did what I did because I wanted to. Because... you're worth it. More than worth it.

She makes a choked sound, and I gently take the food out of her hands so I can pull her in my arms. Rimi buries her face in my neck, leaving a wet spot there.

I don't know what I did to deserve you, she says.

I've been thinking the same thing. I'm not a good guy. I shouldn't have been given a gift like you.

Her hands tighten into fists in my shirt, and she pulls away to glare at me. You're a wonderful guy, she says, her eyebrows pulled together tight. The best one I've ever met.

By the certainty in her voice, I can almost believe her. But she doesn't know me, not really. All she knows is the troll I've shown her.

I haven't told you the kinds of things I've done. And I don't want to. I want Rimi's picture of me to be the knight in shining armor she imagines me to be.

She puts her hands on each of my tusks, pulling my face in so I have to look her right in the eyes.

It doesn't matter what you've done, she says, leaning her forehead against mine. Her hands turn soft as she strokes one tusk. It matters who you are inside, and I know that troll.

I shake my head. I've spent my life stealing, taking what isn't mine so I can survive—so I can thrive. I've killed, more than once, sometimes without hesitation or remorse. But my Rimi doesn't need to know all that.

Lo'zar. Her hands travel down my jaw to my throat, my shoulders, my sides, like she's memorizing how I feel. There's a reason we ended up in that pyramid, that we found that magic down there. She takes my hand in hers and squeezes it. The same reason it was you outside that cage. Because only you would have freed me.

Even though we're on the run now, I feel certain that Rimi has freed me, too.

I pull her in tight, wrapping her roughly in my arms, our food forgotten. I wonder what that reason is, I say. What those faces were. The human and the trollkin staring into each other's eyes... I feel that way now as I gaze at Rimi, where all I can see is her.

Maybe, she says cautiously, we aren't the only ones. She trails a finger down my cheek, looking deeply into me. What if others have found what we did down there? Or... what if they left it for us to find?

It's strange to think. For all of our history as I know it, humans and trollkin have killed one another for food, for land, simply for existing. It was a mark of victory in the village where I grew up to have a trinket from a dead human—we hung up their weapons as trophies, the pride of an enemy slain. We sang songs around the fire about the brave warriors who had fought to keep them out of our territory.

So how could there be this path between us, written thousands of years ago on an ancient stone wall? It would seem senseless if it weren't for the way everything with Rimi makes perfect sense. Her mouth on mine, her small face in my big palms... It's all just how it's supposed to be. Rimi's body relaxes against me, giving to me, and I want nothing more than to surround her, tuck her in close, and keep her safe from everything in this big wide world that might try to harm her or take her from me.

Her hands roam just as freely, ducking under my shirt, skating over my nipples and then stopping to play with the piercings there. Oh, damn, I think, and Rimi chuckles. No one's done that to me before and made it feel so good. It's like there's a ribbon stretched between us, where every one of her pleasures and mine reverberate, rising in intensity the more we touch.

I think we can agree on one thing, I tell her, enthralled that I can still talk to her while I devour her lips. I was meant to find you.

Her shirt comes off easily over her tiny body, and I lay it flat on the ground along with mine. I won't have my little Rimi all scratched up by the jungle floor. But she's upright and eager, and once we're both blissfully naked, she crawls into my lap, my cock wedged between us. Oh, does it enjoy her, already weeping at the tip as I imagine what it will feel like to be inside her again. She takes it in her small hands, and I groan as her fingers explore down beneath, where she discovers my balls. I love the way her grey eyes glitter as she massages them, earning a groan from me. Soon she's stroking in both places at the same time, watching my face intently as I jerk underneath her. This is what my dreams look like. Rimi could lead me to a cliff and I would jump off it for her.

I guess I have already.

When I'm least expecting it, she leans down and brings her mouth to the round head of my cock. Rimi? I ask with surprise.

But she doesn't answer, and takes me in her lips instead. I moan as I slip inside that wet, warm place, and her tongue goes right to dancing around me.

You did this for me, she says wickedly, and it felt lovely, so I bet it will feel good for you, too.

I chuckle. Oh, it does, princess. It does.

I'm almost over the edge again when I have the sense to stop her. She gives me a questioning look, so I draw her hands up to my face, kissing each one in turn.

If you keep that up, I tell her in a serious tone, then I won't be able to fuck you as many times as I want.

And that's a lot of times? she asks, lips twitching with mischief.

Whatever is ‘a lot,' it's even more than that.