The Hunchback's Reluctant Bride ✔

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He hadn't meant to, but she noticed.

"What is it?"

"I—I don't think I can do this. Can't we find another solution to the spell that won't have me sweet talking a blasted troll?"

The once pleasant face shifted. The white eyes darkened to black. The round mouth widened, and the troll showed its teeth and snapped, "Well, what's the damn alternative!"

Watching it react to her emotions was unreal. Still, Wyrn took the shaky steps needed to reach her body. When he sat at her side, he helped guide her hand away from the creature.

He rubbed her palms with his thumbs and faced her.

"You can hear me, and I can't hear you and it's not ideal but it's not a complex fix. We'll return to the temple and ask The Living Goddess to undo it. We have livestock we can trade. Or—or I can hunt and catch something. I may not look it, but I can take down even a moose. That's the better solution, so let's end this nonsense before we get stuck like this permanently."

The resistance in her gaze disappointed him. And then he realized his words and he hung his head to hide his shame. She was a fairy, one so powerful that she did not fear the Fae's natural predator, a troll.

Birds came to her rescue. Wood nymphs did her bidding.

He'd never seen anything like it. Nor did he want to.

And if she had the power to actually transform him, then he wasn't sure it was wise to anger her, but he was honest when he looked into her eyes.

"Being this way fixes my back, but you don't understand what it means to me to be a giant."

Her softened expression meant he was making headway.

He was sure to kiss each of her hands before rubbing them yet again.

"I want to stay with you, princess. I'd wanted you with me. But not like this. Not if it means I never see my family again." Thoughts of his back came and went till now, but he took no pleasure in knowing she'd transformed him against his wishes in an effort to make him into something she favored more. "Do you love me?" he asked, taking a chance. The big nod he received made his heart heavy, "Then what does it matter if I'm a hunchback?"

She opened her mouth to protest but calmed in time.

He should have given her back her voice, let her argue it, but there was no point; he wanted to go home. He wanted to go back to his people, and this wasn't up for debate.

"The way I treated you as a fairy was wrong; it was more than wrong, and I have no excuses. I want your forgiveness for that but—"

Her fingers touched his lips, and he obeyed and remained silent.

The moment she eased up and kissed his mouth, he felt defeated.

She was hesitant but reached out and touched the troll once Wyrn gave no indication to the negative.

"What is it you want to do, Husband, and we'll do it."

Oh, how he longed to hear the words from her lips and not a troll's. The solution was simple; every fairy knew it. Return to The Living Goddess and pay to have the spell dissolved. The fact that she made no suggestion toward that told him all he needed to know, she wouldn't—or couldn't get it done.

Rather than spend the rest of his days a little fairy talking to his wife through the means of a troll, he made a decision he could live with.

"Take me to my family. They'll know how to fix this. And I don't hold it against you."