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“Which you look like now. You look completely different than what you were before them.”
“I am not different just because I wear something other than the rags that were always falling off me.” I still believe the cheap bastards used the mourning period excuse to get me to wear Wruk’s used clothing.
“Don’t you mean those sacred rags?” Gnark asks, mocking. “How dare you forget that you sacrificed our clan’s king. You took his life.”
“Aye,” Shodun adds. “Ye were s’posed to wear his rags for three full moons, but how quickly we forget when we’re living in the lap of luxury with the enemy.”
“I guess she thinks she’s better than her own people since her own males sit in cages while she’s dressed like a West Mountain whore,” Grilud says.
“Are you spreading your legs for them?” Stug hisses, his voice no longer mocking but filled with hatred instead.
“And if I was?” I hiss back, hurt that they know me so well, they’re aware it’s true. I am spreading my legs for one, despite being mated to Stug.
Every woman, human and orc alike, know that orc males fall hard in love. When they love, they love for life. ‘Twould shatter a male for his mate to be with another. But God’s fire, shouldn’t they have cared for me better? Why is it a stranger took care of me more than they ever did? Besides, Stug never once said he loved me. He has never even acted like it.
Not like Bakog.
“Everyone calm the fuck down,” Doparth says easily, but gives a glare to Stug. “No one thinks that of you, Jogug. Your mate’s just jealous. You’ve changed and it’s not a good thing.” He eyes my clothing, from my shoes to my hair.
I take a deep breath, even as shame envelops me. I have changed. Of course, my captured clan feels out of sorts with me. They’re tired, hungry, possibly hurt. I, of all people, know how that feels. I see the five males exchange uneasy looks among them.
“Have you come across him? Your father?” Doparth asks, his voice more conciliatory.
“N-nay,” I admit. “Not yet. But I will. When they least expect it.”
“There she is,” Stug grins and I see another gap on the side of his mouth where a tooth has gone missing. “Our king slayer.”
And there’s a sly look in Stug’s eye as he drops to one knee. “Hail, our king slayer.”
“Jogug, king slayer,” Gnark says, dropping to a knee also, and pulling down Grilud with him.
Surely my clan has never been so supportive before.
“Have ye met yer muther?” Shodun asks slyly. “Does she look like ye? Is that why ye’ve changed yer clothing? To be like her?”
“Aye, I met her,” I scoff, not wanting them to connect her to me, to know I enjoy her. So, I have to deny how sweet she is. How beautiful. “I thought you said she was dead.”
Stug shrugs. “’Tis what you told us. What is she like then?”
“She’s an idiot. Pregnant with another mixed breed and has two more brats at home. Thinks she loves the fool,” I jeer.
“We tol’ ye the Mountain orcs were tricky,” Shodun says, and his voice shames me.
They may not know, but I have been tricked, craving Bakog the way I do. I dropped my guard and was well on the way to where my mother stands now, ready to bear his brats forevermore.
And yet part of me still asks: is that really a bad thing? My mother seems happy. Hisa seems happy. I was happy for these scant few days.
I was never happy before meeting the West Mountain orcs. Not once.
“Aye. You need to seek out the king and give him the same treatment you gave to Wruk,” Stug says. “They’ll never expect it. And before you announce that you claim his throne, you’ll come free us.”
“Yes, release us first,” Gnark says. “In case they’re not honorable and follow true orc ways.”
Wait a minute. How is it that when I killed Wruk, my mate got to claim his throne? And when I kill the West Mountain king, I’ll be the one to claim it? Something doesn’t add up.
“So you can run off and leave me at their mercy?” I snap. “The way you left me without a horse and holding a prisoner of theirs with their entire royal guard approaching? You had no idea how many males were coming.”
“We knew you could handle yourself,” Stug snarls. “We’re the ones that knew you before your memory loss, not you. You’re standing here and you’re just fine, aren’t you?”
