There was no change on Grimarr’s harsh face, but he nodded. “We thank you, brother. You must go see Efterar, after this.”
Natt gave a stiff nod, but didn’t reply, almost as though he were waiting — and Grimarr spoke again, his voice slow, deliberate. “I wish you to account to me, Nattfarr,” he said, “for why we have a band of Lord Tovey’s men camped outside our mountain. Men who claim you havestolenLord Tovey’s betrothed.”
Shit. Themen. And hadn’t Natt said, earlier, that they had beenaddressed?! Surely that meant they weren’t stillhere?
“After you entered the mountain last night, these men called for a hearing with us,” continued Grimarr’s deep voice, his eyes steady on Natt. “They asked that we return their master’s betrothed to them at once. When we refused this, they swore to ride after Lord Tovey at once. To proclaim to him, and his allies, of how we have broken our treaty, and given them just cause for war.”
Ella winced, and beside her Natt had briefly closed his eyes, and opened them again. “Ach,” he said, toward Grimarr. “But Varinn told me, last night, that you countered this.”
“We did,” Grimarr replied flatly, his gaze angling toward Jule beside him. “My mate wisely spoke, and swore to these men that she had asked your woman to stay with us for a spell, to help build our new peace. She also bade them wait while she went and wrote letters to Lord Tovey and his kin, Lord and Lady Culthen, asking them to join us here also, and visit as our guests. She also invited the lords of Preia and Dunburg, who have of late allied themselves with Lord Culthen against us.”
Ella winced again — she could not imagine a world in which Alfred, or his father, or their titled allies, would welcome such an invitation to Orc Mountain, let alone accept it — and across the table she caught Jule wincing, too. “It was the best we could come up with, in the moment,” Jule said. “But it seemed to set Alfred’s men back a little, at least. It becomes far more difficult to accuse us of kidnapping a lord’s betrothed, when the lord himself — and his parents and allies — have also been officially invited to visit.”
She flashed a rueful smile toward Ella across the table, and for a moment Ella could only seem to blink back. Dear gods, they truly had courted another full-onwarlast night, and how could she have possibly been so foolish?!
“And what did the men do, after that?” Ella heard her strained voice ask. “Are they all still here?”
“Three of them yet camp here, but two of them rode out with this letter, last night,” came the reply, from Grimarr this time. “Last I have heard from my chief scout Joarr, they are sure to catch Lord Tovey tomorrow in Baryn. Mayhap even tonight.”
Something was shouting in Ella’s head, so loud she had to put her hands to her temples, squeeze her eyes shut. They would catch Lord Tovey tomorrow in Baryn. Only three days’ ride away. And then what?
“Do you expect Alfred will turn around and come for me at once?” Ella heard her choked voice ask, through the noise still blaring in her skull. “Or do you think he’ll go on to Tlaxca, and Preia and Dunburg, and then come back with —“
With more men, she’d been about to say, with anarmy— but surely Alfred wouldn’t go that far, would he? Between Ella’s tale of her injured employee, and then this official invitation to visit? Surely Alfred wouldn’t throw all that away, and immediately launch straight into war, without at least coming to investigate first?
“We cannot know this man’s path until he chooses it,” Grimarr replied, slow. “But I ken he shall soon return, most of all if he knows Nattfarr is tangled in this. But” — Grimarr’s gaze on Ella’s seemed to sharpen — “it shall help us, woman, to learn how you mean to face your betrothed, upon his return to you. What shall you tell him about your time here? Do you yet wish to wed him, after this?”
Ella’s thoughts were again screeching wild through her head, and she cast another furtive glance toward Natt’s blank, distant face. “Ihaveto marry Alfred, to keep my inheritance, and myhome,” she said, though she felt her mouth twisting as she spoke, her eyes darting uneasily toward Jule, a real lady, who’d perhaps given up all those things, for her life in Orc Mountain. “But I shall tell Alfred just what you’ve written. Natt was grievously injured, and I wanted to escort him here safely — and once I arrived, you invited me to stay. Which was most kind of you, indeed. The invitation, and also your generosity, in so cleverly helping us.”
There was a waiting, hanging stillness, in which Jule’s mouth twitched into another one of those understanding, reassuring smiles. “It’s our pleasure, of course,” she said. “And just to be clear, Ella — youwillpublicly make it known, again and again, to anyone who asks — including any number of lords and magistrates, andespeciallymy cousin Otto — that Nattfarr hasnotkidnapped you, or brought you here against your will, in clear violation of our peace treaty? Will you pledge this to us?”
Another pledge. And beside Ella, Natt’s face was still an entirely unreadable mask, staring straight ahead — but Ella was fervently nodding, for reasons she didn’t want to examine too closely. “Of course I promise this,” she said firmly. “And of course Natt didn’t kidnap me, or force me to come here. I wanted to see his home. We’refriends.”
The relief in the room was almost palpable, except for Natt, who beside Ella felt even stiffer than before. “Does this answer you,Captain?” he said, his voice brittle. “Do you have yet more to ask of me, or myfriend?”
Grimarr’s gaze hadn’t faltered, but a visible furrow deepened on his brow. “You have answered naught that I have asked today, Nattfarr,” he said finally, his voice deceptively mild. “Nor have you thanked me, nor my mate, for all we have done to help you. It is only your woman’s brave voice, and her thanks, that I have heard.”
Ella felt herself grimace, her eyes casting a chagrined glance toward Natt, but he only gave a mocking snort, a hard shake of his head. “Do youwishto hear my voice on this, Grimarr of Clan Ash-Kai?” he said, just as cool. “All my truth, spoken here, for all to learn? Now?”
Grimarr’s eyes were unflinching on Natt’s, but Ella could see something passing between them, some kind of shared understanding. “I am content,” Grimarr said finally. “You may go.”
But Natt actually laughed, the sound harsh, almost angry. “Ach, rid yourself of me, before I risk this upon you,” he said. “Mayhap I do not wish to go. Mayhap” — he raised his eyebrows, and crossed his arms over his chest — “if you wish me to keep my silence, you shall look me in the eyes, and break yours.”
It was undoubtedly some kind of challenge, thrown out with purpose before all these watching orcs, and while Ella still wasn’t following, she didn’t miss how again something had changed, how every eye in the room was looking at Grimarr, and waiting. At how Grimarr wasn’t speaking, and how something had moved in his scarred throat.
“And of what,” Grimarr finally said, very slowly, “should you wish me to speak.”
Ella blinked at him, and then at Natt — and there was the sudden, surprising understanding that even the orcs’ powerfulCaptainwas afraid of Natt. Because as Speaker, Natt could make him speak truth, perhaps publicly, before all the other orcs. And even if Grimarr were to refuse, that would be its own kind of truth, a mark against his bravery or his leadership.
And — wait. Wasthis, perhaps, why Natt had been left to be hunted alone, all these years? Because that waseasier, for the orcs in charge, with no one to hold them to account?
“My lass wishes to know the tale of my father’s death, and how I came to be hunted,” Natt said, voice clipped. “She wishes to know why you have done naught to help me, nor heard my voice, nor made me Speaker. She also wishes to know more of this foul man who seeks to take both my life, and her hand, and why he seeks these things.”
The room had gone very silent, every eye still fixed upon Grimarr, and Ella could almost see him weighing it, weighing Natt, weighing her. And then Jule leaned toward his big body, her hand spreading close and familiar against his arm, to whisper something in his ear. Something Grimarr intently listened to, his head tilting, and when he drew back, Jule’s eyes had settled on Ella’s with a warm, firm determination. As if to say, Don’t worry. I’m with you.
Beside her, Grimarr’s huge form had shifted, his eyes intent on Natt across the table. “As you wish, brother,” he said. “I shall speak.”
For a moment, the entire room went still. Natt’s body beside Ella had frozen, Baldr’s mouth had fallen open, John looked mildly confused, and Drafli’s clawed hand had dropped to grip at his sword-hilt. Only Jule looked unperturbed, beaming first up toward Grimarr, and then across the table at Ella.
