Dark Heart of Magic (Black Blade #2)(4)

Dark chocolate, and lots of it.

“C’mon,” I crooned. “You know you want it. I’m just paying the toll for climbing your tree and invading your personal space—”

The troll scrambled down, snatched the chocolate bar out of my hand, and returned to its previous branch, its lightning-quick movements almost too fast for me to follow.

Zip-zip-zip.

Its black claws made quick work of the wrapper, and the troll sank its needle-sharp teeth into the chocolate. More little cheep-cheeps sounded, but this time they were squeaks of pleasure.

I waited until the troll had downed another bite before starting my spiel, such as it was. “Listen, little furry dude. I’m not here to make trouble. But you know how it is. If you start acting out and throwing stuff at tourists, then the Sinclairs are going to make you move on. You know that. So what’s got you so upset?”

The troll chomped down on another piece of chocolate, staring at me all the while, his green eyes locked with mine. Once again, his anger and worry rippled through my body, mixed in with a bit of warm happiness brought on by eating the chocolate. Nothing strange there. Chocolate made me happy too.

But the longer I stared at the troll, the brighter and greener its eyes became, until they were practically glowing like stars in its furry face. It almost seemed as if the creature had the same soulsight that I did and was peering into me the same way I was into him—judging whether or not I was trustworthy. So I focused on remaining calm and trying to look as nonthreatening as possible.

Maybe it was a trick of the sunlight streaming down through the leaves, but I swear that I felt something . . . shift inside me. It was as if I was somehow calming down the troll just by staring at it and thinking good thoughts. Despite the hot summer day, a chill swept over me, cold enough to raise goose bumps on my arms.

I shivered and blinked, breaking the strange spell. The troll was just a troll again, and everything was normal. No glowing eyes, no odd emotions in my chest, no more cold chills. Weird—even for me.

The troll cheeped again, then reached up and pushed back a branch beside its head, revealing a large nest.

Twigs, leaves, and grasses had been braided together in a crook of the tree, along with several candy bar wrappers. Looked like this troll really loved his chocolate. I scooted up higher on my branch so that my head was level with the nest. A moment later, another tree troll—a female given her dark gray fur—popped her head up out of the nest, along with a much smaller, fuzzier head. A pair of tiny, innocent green eyes stared back at me. The male tree troll handed the rest of the candy bar to the female, and she and the baby vanished back down into the bottom of the nest, out of my line of sight.

So the monster was watching out for his family, which was the reason for all the fruit bombs. No doubt the creature saw everyone who approached the tree as a potential threat. Well, I couldn’t blame him for that. I might be a thief, but I knew what it was like to try to protect your Family—mob and otherwise.

And to fail miserably.

The old, familiar, soul-crushing grief stabbed my chest, but I shoved the emotion deep down into the bottom of my heart where it belonged.

“All right,” I said. “You can stay here until your baby is big enough to travel. If you’re looking for someplace a little quieter, there are some nice, tall trees over by the lochness bridge. You should scout them out.”

The tree troll cheeped at me again. I hoped that meant he understood me.

I pointed at him. “But no more throwing fruit at people, okay? You leave them alone, and they’ll leave you alone. Capisce?”

The troll cheeped at me a final time, which I was going to take for a yes.

I unhooked my legs from around the branch and started climbing down. The troll watched me all the while, jumping from one branch to the next and following me all the way down the tree, but he didn’t throw any more blood persimmons. More progress. Maybe I really was a monster whisperer after all. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

When I was about ten feet off the ground, I sat down on a branch, flipped over, and let go. I plummeted through the air, letting out a happy laugh at the rush of the wind through my hair, before landing in a low crouch. I made a gallant flourish with my hand to add to my dramatic dismount, then got to my feet.

Felix grinned. “Show-off.”

I grinned back. “Absolutely.”

Devon craned his neck back, trying to see the troll. “So what did he do?”

“He’s got his family up there, so he’s not going anywhere,” I said. “I told him to stop throwing fruit at people, and it seemed like he agreed to it. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Devon nodded. “Thanks, Lila. Good job.”

His face crinkled into a smile. I looked away from him before my soulsight kicked in, but the dizzying rush in my heart had nothing to do with my magic. It was just Devon being Devon, and how hopelessly into him I was, despite my need to keep my distance.

Devon sensed my mood swing, and his grin dropped from his face. I felt like I’d reached up and snuffed out the sun with my bare fingers, and more than a little guilt curled up in my stomach. He really was a good guy, and I kept pushing him away, hurting him without even meaning to.

But I’d been hurt too—horribly so—and I didn’t want my heart to be broken again. Not even for someone as all-around hot, charming, and wonderful as Devon Sinclair.