Honestly?
Rude.
The mountain pulsed again.
Harder this time.
A deep groan rolled through the stone beneath them, low and ancient and wrong enough that every hair along Kara’s arms lifted at once.The mineral lanterns dimmed, their warm gold light guttering down to something closer to candlelight before slowly climbing back.Dust drifted down from the carved arches in slow, lazy spirals.
Then her daughter moved sharply beneath her ribs.Kara didn’t feel fear from the child.It felt like certainty.The way someone shifted their weight to brace against a coming blow.
Nick’s hand splayed instantly across Kara’s stomach, his palm broad and grounding through the layers of fabric.At this point he might as well just keep it there for the duration of her pregnancy because bless him, he didn’t seem to know what to do when their daughter did something in reaction to the mountain.
Verna and the Troll King exchanged a look that Kara did not love.
The elder female’s gaze settled on Kara’s stomach for a long, weighted moment, then lifted to meet her eyes.
“She’s ready,” Verna said quietly.“Even if we are not.”
The mineral lanterns steadied overhead.The mountain seemed to hold its breath along with everyone in the room.Except Kara, “No offense, Verna, I feel like we’ve gotten off on a decent foot, and you seem way wiser than I am, but could you elaborate on what you mean when you say, ‘she’s’ ready, even if we’re not?”
The elder troll female’s eyes filled with warmth as she glanced around at the troll children and then back to Kara.There was so much wisdom and love shining from her amber eyes that Kara swore she could feel it in her own chest.Then Verna spoke, her voice soothing and calm.“Children born close to the foundations hear things we have forgotten.Your daughter has not yet learned fear.She reacts as creation intended before age, grief, and pride teach us otherwise.”Her brow furrowed a bit as she paused and held Kara’s gaze.“If you do not believe me, then at least believe the one who showed you the blessing that came from darkness.And remember what she told you.”
Kara felt her heart speed up as she remembered the night the Great Luna visited her and Nick.Tears pricked her eyes as she whispered the words that she still held deep in her heart.“A blessing, a reminder that there is no evil that I cannot turn for good.Your daughter will be a living example for others who suffer as you have suffered.A sign that there is life after death, no matter what kind of death it might be.Love her with the love you never had as a child.Protect her as the precious gift that she is.And know that she means more to me than your finite mind can ever grasp.All of you do.”
Tears spilled down Verna’s eyes, down her aged face as her lips tipped up in a small smile.“What darkness means for evil, our Creator can use for good.Hold onto that, renowned warrior.”
CHAPTER17
“Every terrible decision in history probably started with someone saying, ‘We should go deeper underground.’”~Kara
The tunnelsbeneath the mountain were older than the rest of the Troll Realm.Kara realized it almost immediately.
The upper caverns where the trolls lived felt carved and lived in, shaped by generations of hands and voices and lives layered on top of one another over centuries.These tunnels did not.These felt discovered.
The walls narrowed as the group descended behind the Troll King and Verna, the glowing mineral veins slowly thinning until the only remaining light came from massive crystal lanterns carried by the troll warriors surrounding them.Shadows stretched long and uneven across the stone floor, swallowing entire sections of the corridor before reappearing again farther ahead.
Kara hated it instantly.
Not because it was ugly.Because it felt too alive.Probably a weird thing to hate, but shadows shouldn’t feel alive.They were like ghosts leading them.“To our deaths,”she thought morbidly.
“What happened to thinking happy things, like darkness loses and light wins?”Nick asked her through the bond.
“It died when the shadow ghosts started leading this expedition.”
She felt his humor.“Shadow ghosts aren’t a thing.”
“They are now.Just wait.There will be a reality show about them.”
“What will it be called?”
“Shadow Ghost Hunters, duh.”Was it an original title, no, but as Jen probably would have done, Kara blamed it on the baby hormones.And possibly the lack of oxygen as they went lower and lower into the earth.
The mountain pulsed beneath her feet every few minutes now, the vibrations subtle but constant, like something enormous shifting in its sleep far below them.
Nick stayed so close beside her that their arms brushed with nearly every step.Not hovering.Guarding.There was a difference.Though honestly, the distinction felt increasingly academic.
“You doing okay, little shadow hunter?”he murmured quietly as the tunnel sloped downward again.
