Far too late Ella wrenched her body away from Natt, from theorc, and all but threw herself across the room. What the hell. What in damnation. What in all the gods’ holy creation waswrongwith her.
“You can’t,” she gasped, whirling back around to where his form was still standing, still by the door. “You can’t just — show up in a hunting cottage and — andhelp yourselfto other people’smaidenheads, and make them bear yourchildren!”
Natt didn’t move, but just looked across the room at her, his dark head tilting. “You shall not be with child, should we do this, this night,” he said. “I have missed your seed by naught a day. You shall now have more than a week of leave, before your bleeding begins. And it is not until after this that you shall make a new seed, to meet mine.”
Ella gaped at him, entirely dumbfounded, while her shouting thoughts distantly calculated that, frantically counting out days in her head. “H-how,” she said, her voice audibly wavering, “can you know such things? Or evenspeakof such things, I cannot even countenance —”
She had to press her hot hands to her hot face, wildly shaking her head, but Natt only kept looking at her, his forehead furrowing. “I can smell this upon you,” he said. “And why ought I not to speak of this? It is only truth, that your body has spoken to me. And this truth has much weight, should you wish to keep your pledge to me this night, without sparking my son inside you.”
His son,insideher? Dear gods in heaven, first her shameful monthly courses, and now talk of conceiving his actualson?! — and Ella forcibly thrust both those appalling thoughts aside, and clung to the one truth she could speak, in this moment. “That p-pledge,” she sputtered, “wasyearsago, Natt. And you can’t possibly expect me to keep some ridiculous ancientpledgeto you when I haven’t even set eyes on you in adecade!”
Her voice had gone cracked and high-pitched as she spoke, and at the sound of it, Natt’s head tilted further. Perhaps reading far too much into her tone, into those words, and it didn’t matter, itdidn’t, why the hell was Ella letting on that it ever had…
“You wished for me to return to you,” Natt said, slowly, quietly. “You longed for me.”
Gods, that was ridiculous, there was no way Ella had missed roaming about the forest with an orc. Climbing trees, catching game, watching him kill and eat. He’d rarely bothered cooking anything, and had always eaten the bones, too, and had grinned at Ella when she’d cringed, and loudly proclaimed orcs the most shocking creatures imaginable.
And theywere, hewas, and why wasn’t Ella saying that. Why was she standing here, in the middle of her hunting cottage, on the night of herengagement-party, and blinking back an inexplicable prickling wetness behind her eyes.
“I am about to be alady,” she said, with as much composure as she could muster. “I am one of the wealthiest women in the realm. I am a busy, beautiful, popular, and highly desiredheiress, and I have had many other important matters with which to occupy myself these past years.”
Like parties. Like petty, empty friendships. Like making the proper impression, pleasing the proper people, moving in the proper circles. Spending less and less time on the grounds, in the forest, because that wasn’t something a proper lady would do.Especially, dear gods, if she was doing it with anorc.
But said orc was here, and coming a step closer, his black orc eyes seeing far too much, like they always had. “All this means naught,” he said, soft. “I also did not forget you, lass. I have longed for you.”
Something seemed to clench tight around Ella’s chest, and she drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “Have you really,” she heard herself say. “And has that preventedyoufrom having other women all this time, Nattfarr?Forcingother women?”
There was a low, rumbling growl from Natt’s mouth, his shadowed form lurching a sharp step closer. “These are but the tales your men tell,” he said. “Orcs do notforcewomen. Wegive.”
Ella’s mouth let out a strangled gasp, and she shook her head, took another step backwards. “That’s a lie,” she said, and thankfully here was the anger, edging out that still-powerful scent of him in the air. “Everyone knows what you orcs really do. Youtrapwomen, youmakethem lie with you, you make thempregnant, and then you make them hand over theirchildren!”
Natt’s head tilted again, and gave a slow, deliberate shake. “I cannot speak for all my brothers,” he said, “but we Grisk do not do this. We do not need to. Womenwishto lie with us. Just as you wish for me now.”
What? That was ridiculous, preposterous, Ella wasn’t wishing for anything — and most certainly notthat, and especially nottonight. And had other women wanted that, withhim, surely it was impossible — but then she made the grave mistake of glancing down at his muscled bare chest, and then lower, to the front of his trousers.
And there was — well. Rather more than she’d expected, jutting out strong and clearly visible against the fabric. Thick and smooth and hard, and was that a stain of poolingwetnessat the head…
Natt could see her looking, of course he could, and then — Ella almost choked — that big clawed hand actually moved over to grip at it, through the trousers. Brazenly showing her its considerable length and heft, all too obvious through the tight fabric, and suddenly Ella found it impossible to stop staring, or keep herself from letting out a harsh, breathless gasp.
“Do you wish to see?” his voice murmured, his other hand already coming up to unfasten his low-slung belt. “This shall please you, I ken.”
Good gods. Ella belatedly squeezed her eyes shut, and took another stumbling step backwards. “No,” she gasped. “Gods, no.”
There was athunkas she spoke, the sound of his sword hitting the floor, but when Ella risked a brief, darting glance toward him the trousers were still safely in place, thank the gods. “Then speak this, lass,” his low voice said. “For what do you wish, this night.”
Ella had to search for thoughts, for coherent words, and found that she didn’t seem to have any. Whatdidshe wish? To run away? To return to her party? To walk back in and smile at Alfred and pretend as though nothing had changed?
And, worse, to bid farewell to this thoroughly shocking orc, to Natt, perhapsforever? When he’d finally come back, after so long?
“Do you wish me to leave you?” that low voice asked, almost as though he’d read her thoughts. “I shall, lass. You shall never set eyes upon me again, if that is your wish.”
The thought was strangely, surprisingly unsettling, and Ella’s head gave a hard, jolting shake. “N-no,” she heard herself say, too quickly. “Not yet.”
That big body had stilled, and she could feel those eyes studying her, searing far too deep. And when he came a step closer, that head still thoughtfully tilted, she didn’t back away this time. Just let him come closer, and closer, until that smell of him was almost overpowering again, hot and musky in her breath.
“You gave this foul man leave to touch you, and taste you,” he murmured. “Why should you not grant me leave to do the same.”
What? Ella’s shocked eyes were trapped on his, gaping at where he was coming another slow, silent step closer. “If you truly do not wish me to kill this man,” he continued, even lower, “mayhap you shall instead grant me this vengeance upon him, on your behalf.”
