Chapter 30

As luck would have it, Rockheim met us halfway. They'd been on the return journey to their city when word reached them of our troubles. And contrary to what we'd assumed, they were more than happy to accept anything we offered as a trade.

"The contract is written in blood, so we have to take something for the trade," the blonde dwarven woman said, her eyebrow piercing wobbling as she shuffled around the mine carts. "But you needn't have gone to all this trouble. We would have taken some moss cakes."

"Well, if you don't want the gold…" Jostein tugged on the cart, but the Rockheim leader snapped out her hand and grabbed it.

She winked. "Didn't say that. Just remember we're your friendly neighbors next time, eh? We don't want your villages to descend into eternal darkness any more than you do."

Jostein actually blushed.

We made the swap, returned home, and embedded the Everstone in an indentation Jostein indicated. Turned out, it had been hidden inside a tunnel near the melted tracks Tormund and I had found. Jostein had blocked it off over a decade ago. He'd known it was there the whole time.

I chose to let it go. His plotting had caused me a lot of grief, but it had all worked out in the end. As soon as the Everstone took its rightful place, the amber glow returned to every sunstone scattered throughout the northern villages. Almost in an instant, everything was right again.

Thank the fates for moss cakes.

Tormund led me to the watchtower and told me to wait while he vanished through the door leading to the outside world. I bounced on my toes, an anxious thrumming in my chest. I'd meant every word I'd said when I'd accepted my future and my fate. I didn't need to walk outside. I was content to never gaze at the sky or wander through fields of grass.

That didn't mean I wasn't excited now.

The door cracked open again, and light splashed onto the watchtower's stone floor. Tormund motioned me forward, delight dancing in his midnight eyes.

"Really?" I swallowed.

"Come on," he said gently. "You don't need to be nervous."

I wasn't nervous, per se, but I'd built up this moment for so long that I was scared I might walk through that door and find the world was a muted gray, like all the stones. No more color. No more life. It'd all be gone.

"It's a beautiful spring day," Tormund said, waving me forward. "You can even see Rivelin's dragons soaring through the clouds, including our friend, Hita. I can't wait for Tahir to join them soon."

That finally got my feet moving.

Tormund widened the door, revealing a world full of splendor. I stepped out into air warmer than I'd ever felt, even with the breeze rustling the bells in my hair. The sky above was an endless stretch of blue, only interrupted by a smattering of puffy white clouds and dragon wings. I dropped back my head and closed my eyes, sunlight caressing my skin.

Everything within me sighed.

Birds chirped in the distance. Wind swept across my sun-kissed cheeks. The scent of brine rushed in from the sea beyond, and there—I could hear the rush of waves. It was everything I'd dreamt of and more, and yet I did not regret my choice to stay inside the mountains.

I'd happily come out here now and again, though.

Eventually, I opened my eyes to find Tormund gazing at me with stark adoration. His lips quirked up. "Happy?"

"Very." I beamed.

He nodded toward the ground. I'd yet to look at anything other than the sky. I now saw the patchwork blanket topped with a picnic basket overflowing with food. My smile transformed from a regular one to so large my cheeks hurt.

"We get to eat out here?" I asked, jumping in place.

Tormund laughed. "We can eat and drink and dance all night. Soon, the sun will set, and colors will scrape across the sky like a painting. And then…" He winked. "We can do some other things I think you'll like."

I flushed. In the past few weeks, we'd been intimate almost every night, but I'd yet to stop blushing every time he spoke to me like that. I hoped I never would.

We settled onto the blanket. Tormund passed me a pastry I'd never tried before—something rich and salty packed with mushrooms and cheese. It was mouth-wateringly good. When I asked him about it, he said a human named Mabel had made it. I'd have to track her down and get the recipe one day.

Then we had potatoes slathered with butter, crispy carrots, and smoked fish. By the time we made our way through all that, my belly was full and my heart content. On the horizon, the sun inched lower. Streaks of orange lit up the sky, the color of sunstones.

"Beautiful," I murmured.

"It'll get even better than that," he promised, digging around in the picnic basket. A moment later, he extracted a smaller basket of moss cakes.

I giggled and slapped my hand against my mouth. "I can't believe you brought those. You hate moss cakes."

"I could never hate the thing that brought us together and saved Steingard," he said solemnly.

"Can I ask you something? And you have to be honest." After hearing how that sounded out loud, I added, "It's nothing bad."

He squinted at me, clearly dubious. "Go on then."

I pinched the sides of a moss cake and held it in the air. "Have you actually tried one of these things?"

He opened his mouth, snapped it shut, then found something interesting in the picnic basket. "Why would you ask me that?"

"Ha! I knew it." I waved the moss cake in front of his face. "You have to try it now, Tormund."

He grimaced. "It's a very odd color."

"What in fate's name is wrong with it?"

"It's the color of, well, moss. Have you ever eaten moss? It's not very good. Very grassy."

"No, I've never eaten moss by itself. Or grass. Have you?"

"Well, yeah, of course. When I was a little demon growing up, my friends and I dared each other to eat moss. And grass. And dirt."

I snorted. "You ate dirt?"

"I ate all manner of things. As a child," he said grimly, then pointed at the moss cake. "Which is why I will not partake in that."

"If you loved me, you'd try it," I said in a singsong.

"Astrid Balstad," he said, inching closer to tickle my stomach. "That is thoroughly unfair."

His fingers slid beneath my tunic, and he mercilessly tickled me. I laughed, flailing against the blanket while the sky transformed into a sea of scarlet, pinks, and ambers. Purple streaked through it, like someone had flung colors in random patterns. It made for the most beautiful sight of my life.

I stilled beneath Tormund, gazing up at it in pure awe. With this loving demon beside me, a belly full of delicious food, and a good, happy life, I wondered if my curse had ever truly been a curse. Because right now, I felt truly blessed.

And even if this was the last time I ever saw outside, it was enough. It was more than enough.

"I'll try your cake," he murmured, gazing down at me, "if it'll keep you smiling like that all night."

I reached to my side, patted the blanket, and curled my fingers around a fluffy cake. Then I held it in front of his lips so he couldn't back out of his promise.

"If you don't like it, I'll…"

"Yes?" He arched a brow.

"Do whatever you want in the bedroom," I said with a grin.

"Hmm. You're not making a good case for the cake. I already dislike it. Very, very much. And I am determined to continue to do so if that means I can hear you scream my name in pleasure."

"Good point," I admitted. "How about you just try it and tell me what you think?"

He sank his teeth into the green cake. I held my breath, waiting for a reaction, but none came. Tormund chewed it slowly, cocking his head as if considering the flavor. Impatiently, I tapped my fingers against the blanket, wondering what was taking him so long. The immediate hit of beet sugar should have been enough to get him reaching for another one.

Eventually, he stopped chewing. And yet he remained mum.

"Well?" I asked. "Do you like it?"

"Do I like what?" He grinned wickedly.

I swatted his arm. "Do you like the bloomin' moss cake?"

"It's one of the strangest things I've ever eaten," he said.

I sighed. "All right. Well, I suppose you had to have one flaw."

"It's strange because it looks absolutely disgusting, but it might just be the best cake I've ever had."

I sat up straight, my jingling bells going wild. "You liked it!"

He laughed. "I suppose I did."

Giggling, I laid back down on the blanket and watched the ember colors flare to gold. "This is one of the best days ever."

"You don't think it could get any better?" Tormund asked.

"Right now, I can't see how."

"Then I suppose you wouldn't want to share this chocolate bar…" He leaned down with a square of chocolate pinched between his teeth. And when he brushed it across my lips, I took it eagerly, just as the wings of dragons flared across a golden sky.