White hot anger flowed through her veins. In a quick jab, she sank her blade through the back of the troll princess’s knee. The troll gave out a surprised cry and fell to her knees. Just where Elva wanted her.
Pivoting, Elva stepped behind her equally as fast, pressed the blade against the princess’s throat, and held her still by the hair.
“Don’t move,” she growled.
“Please don’t kill me. Please, I don’t want to die.”
And Elva didn’t want to kill her. She didn’t want to kill anyone, but that decision was entirely up to the queen who stared down at them with blank eyes.
Elva met her gaze and nodded down at the daughter she held very still. “The option is yours, queen. Let the dwarf go, and I’ll let your daughter live.”
The Troll Queen shrugged. “I’ve never been particularly fond of this offspring I’ve created. There’s no need for me to keep her alive when I have a dwarf here who can give me another child. Kill her. I don’t really care.”
The troll princess choked out a cry.
What kind of mother didn’t care if their own daughter died? Then again, what kind of mother sold her only child off to an abusive king who wanted nothing more than to put her on a pedestal for all to see?
Anger at all heartless mothers made Elva see spots. “Are you really that cold?”
“What about trolls makes you think we have hearts?” The queen gestured toward her daughter. “Do you think she wouldn’t kill me given the chance? She’s tried to poison me for years, but she’s not smart enough to trick me. Any of the trolls here would overthrow us both if they had the opportunity. You are not in a kingdom of creatures who care at all about death. It’s just a way to more power.”
“This is your child.”
“And I can make more.” The Troll Queen shrugged. “It’ll take a little time. I’m sure your dwarf will make it difficult for me, but the men always break eventually.”
Elva shook her head, pressing the blade against the troll princess’s throat even harder. She was surprised to feel it slice through the bark-like texture. When a bead of blood rolled down the princess’s throat, she whimpered for her mother to help.
“One last chance,” Elva growled. “One last chance to be a good person for once in your life, to choose your daughter’s life above your own.”
“Or what?” The queen burst into laughter and opened her arms wide. “If you kill my daughter, then I will order every troll in this hall to kill you. They will destroy you, crack your head upon the stone floor, and bring me a goblet of your blood to drink. You have no other opportunity, faerie princess. Beauty will only get you so far after all.”
Elva smiled then. She smiled so brightly it lit up the hall with her happiness. “Then I guess we have to kill you first.”
“And how are you going to do that?”
“Oh, I’m not going to,” Elva replied. “I was just the distraction.”
A shadow behind the queen burst into movement. A blade, dwarven-made as only the dwarves knew how to create a sword that could cut through stone, sliced through the air. The queen’s eyes widened as the sword touched her shoulder, sliced through her torso, and exited out the other side.
She had a moment to let out a quiet sound of surprise before the top half of her body slid one way, and the other half slid the other.
The falling remains of the queen revealed the dwarf standing behind her, blade now pointed at the ground. Angus grinned at Elva. “You called?”
“I didn’t think you’d have such impeccable timing,” she replied.
“A dwarf is never late.”
Elva tensed as the trolls around her finally registered what had happened. She lifted her voice above the shouts and concerned words. “Trolls!”
The noise stilled as the others stared at her.
“I hold your last remaining royal with my blade. You will allow us to leave this place unharmed, or I will kill her.”
The troll nearest to her snorted. He wore the stone armor of the guards, but he wasn’t one she recognized. How many of these creatures were there? “We don’t care if you kill her.”
“What?” Elva let the question fall from her lips, limp and confused.
The troll princess whimpered. “Mother? Is she dead? Whatever am I going to do?”
Elva felt her chest clench in pain for the poor creature who now mourned her mother. Although she had been a bad mother, she was still the one who had given the princess life. “I’m sorry it came to this.”
The troll who had originally spoken, the one she assumed was a guard, shook his head. “She doesn’t care the queen’s dead any more than the rest of us.”
Elva shifted her grip on the princess’s hair. “She sure seems to care.”
The princess let go of the ruse and sighed when the troll guard stared at her severely. “Fine. No, I don’t care that she’s gone. The old bitch had it coming.”
Elva didn’t understand what was going on. This should have been a climactic moment where the trolls rose up in revenge for their queen. Instead, they were already exiting the great hall, murmuring about how that had been the most exciting wedding they’d seen in a while.
Slowly, Elva released the troll princess.
The creature stood, shook herself off, and then pointed at her leg. “That really hurt.”
“I’m sure it did. Care to explain what’s happening?”
“The fun’s over. Now all the trolls will go home, and I’ll figure out what I want to do next.” The troll princess limped toward the body of her mother. “First, I want to see if she was carrying anything interesting.”
“You’re—” Elva paused. “Are you looting the body of your mother?”
“Why not?”
As the troll princess rummaged through her mother’s pockets, hands quickly becoming red with blood, Elva stepped toward Donnacha. “And…do you want to force this marriage?”
“You won him fair and square.
