She spoke with surprising gusto for someone who was supposed to be a lady — and when Dammarr muttered some kind of response in black-tongue, she actually chuckled, and replied something about Efterar indeed being about to spit rocks at this point. To which Thrak asked for a play-by-play of the fight’s known details, sparking an immediate and animated discussion among them, culminating in a mock punching-match between Thrak and Dammarr, while the rest of the orcs — and Jule — laughed.
Their discussion was admittedly entertaining, and Ella gave the occasional chuckle as she ate her own apple — but she also couldn’t seem to stop glancing toward Natt, who had remained notably silent beside her, his clawed hands clenched on his knees. Because that fight between Simon and Skaap would have been because of him, what he’d done in that room yesterday — but he didn’t speak of it now, or even hint at it. And here, suddenly, was the sobering understanding that Natt’s work as Speaker even separated him from his brothers, those he trusted most.
“Ach, we must go, brothers,” Natt said at the first break in the conversation, rising to his feet. “There is much we must address today.”
The other orcs accordingly stood, and Natt bent to press a kiss to Ella’s hair, and then strode to the door, with Dammarr close by his side. While Ella watched him go, and fought to ignore yet another twist of bitter jealousy in her gut. Natt wantedher. She’d honoured him by embracing her truth. They’d taken a whole night’s pleasure together. Surely he was still pleased with her. Right?
“Ready to go too, Ella?” Jule asked brightly. “I’ve been told I’m to take you to Efterar. Let’s go see if he’s decided to kill Skaap himself yet. Or perhaps Simon. Or both.”
Efterar was indeed in a black humour when they found him, this time in what appeared to be a small sickroom, with a smattering of beds and sleeping orcs scattered about. “Nattfarr again?!” he said, with a single glance toward Ella, and then a roll of his eyes heavenward. “It doesn’t look serious, at least. Over there, I’ll be a moment.”
With that, he stalked over to bark at another orc — Skaap, Ella noticed with a wince, who was lying in a bed, and indeed looking like death, with cuts and mottled bruises all over his huge ugly form. But he at least seemed well enough to argue with Efterar, snapping at him in black-tongue — to which Efterar growled something back, his clawed hand making a jabbing gesture toward Skaap’s bruised chest.
“Oh good, here’s Kesst,” Jule said, as another orc strolled into the room. Ella hadn’t met this orc yet, and he was lanky and graceful, his long black hair hanging unbound against his bare back. And as Jule and Ella watched, this Kesst orc strode over to Skaap and Efterar, grasping for a nearby water-basin on the way. And then he casually dumped out the water-basin onto Skaap’s sputtering face, and then threw a nearby large fur on top of him, hiding his now-flailing form entirely from view.
“There, now he’s gone, Eft,” Kesst said, as he turned back toward Efterar, and then drew his taut body close, rubbing his hands smoothly up and down his back. “No more looking at him, or speaking to him, unless he’s actually about to die. Now, how about a quick suck? Or a fuck? Whatever you like.”
Efterar had visibly relaxed under this orc’s ministrations, sagging into his touch, and the telling rumble in his throat suggested that he might very much like whatever was on offer — but then he gave a brief, meaningful glance over toward Jule and Ella. To which Jule only waved a hand, and took another large bite of the apple she’d still been eating.
“Oh, don’t mind us,” she said cheerfully. “We’ll wait, right Ella?”
Ella’s mouth had fallen open, her eyes truly goggling at this so-calledladybeside her, who was currently giving her a conspiratorial wink. As if watching these two orcs — dothat— was something she would quite thoroughly enjoy.
But the new orc — Kesst, his name had been — was looking at them first with surprise in his dark eyes, and then a slow, sparkling amusement. And then, after giving an audacious pat at the rather shocking bulge in front of Efterar’s trousers, he turned to stride over toward them, his gaze sliding frank and appreciative up and down Ella’s form.
“I truly thought you were Nattfarr,” he said, with a chuckle. “Gods above, you smell exactly like him. What’s he been doing, licking you all over, and bathing you in his spunk?”
Ella’s face was furiously heating, because that wasn’t a terrible summary of the previous night’s activities — but Kesst only kept grinning at her, stepping back to better survey her scantily clad, rather scratched-up body. “And just look at you,” he said, with a genuine-seeming admiration. “It’s even better than I imagined. Nattfarr is one devious, obnoxious Grisk, isn’t he, Jules? This ismarvellous.”
He’d reached a clawed hand to flick at the emerald dangling in Ella’s ear, and shot a swift, amused look toward Jule beside her. “Ol’ Grim must have been furious that he didn’t think of it,” he said to her. “I’m surprised he didn’t immediately bust out some jewels to deck you out in, and claim they were from his great-great-grandfather’s long-lost Ash-Kai hoard.”
Jule laughed, and gave a wry shake of her head, and another bite of her apple. “Oh, I’m quite sure he wanted to,” she said, as she chewed, in a shocking repudiation of all genteel table-manners. “But he also couldn’t bear to give Nattfarr the satisfaction.”
Ella’s confusion had been rapidly increasing throughout this little exchange, finally enough that she just took a breath, and spoke. “What are you talking about? What do my clothes have to do with anything?”
Jule flashed her an apologetic smile around her full mouth of apple, and nodded toward Kesst, whose head had tilted, his mouth slightly pursed. “In truth, more than you might think,” he said. “The Grisk have good noses, and long memories. They care more than the rest of us about the past, about fidelity, about family. About stability — and about the rules and laws to support that stability.”
That made sense, based on what Ella had seen so far, and she nodded, and waited for him to continue. “And when the Grisk’s favoured son openly starts in on all that against the Captain,” he said, slower now, “and then shows up arm in arm with a woman who’s scent-bound to him, and dressed like the loyal mothers in the old tales, and wearing the ancient Grisk jewels —and, oh so coincidentally, she’s rich, and betrothed to one of the men the Captain’s currently desperate to quash” — Kesst shrugged, his smile gone rather wry — “well, Nattfarr might as well have pissed on Grim in public. And then laughed. And did it again.”
Oh. Ohhhh. Ella’s thoughts were suddenly clambering over each other all at once, rising shouting screaming, because Natt — Natt had brought her here onpurpose? To make some kind of —statementto his brothers, to his Captain?
But no, no, Ella had wanted to escort Natt here, she’d been the one who’d wanted to stay — but then, Natt had been the one to put all those terms on it. You shall reek all over of my scent. You shall please me, and obey me, and seek to honour me before my brothers.
It shall be pure joy to walk my home by your side, and flaunt such a rare prize…
And dear gods, Natt had even told her, hadn’t he? He’d wanted to use Ella to make a statement before his brothers, and she had known that, and agreed to it. So why did she feel so ill, suddenly, like this whole room had gone dark and close and cold?
Both Kesst and Jule were watching her closely, Jule with a crease between her eyes, and Kesst with a new grimness on his mouth. As if the words he’d just said, seemingly with such careless ease, hadn’t been careless at all.
“Well,” Ella made herself say, with a desperate attempt to hold herself still, to keep the calmness in her eyes. “It’s rather ridiculous that Natt needs to go to such lengths at all, isn’t it? It’s entirely unfair that your Captain has refused to help him, or recognize him as Speaker, only because it is more convenient for him to have Natt out of the way!”
Her voice was loud and angry, her indignation far too clear — and too late she caught the meaningful glance between Jule and Kesst. And shit, Jule wasmatedto that awful Captain, and had she ever said what clan this Kesst was from, and would they go tell this to Grimarr, who would then just make all of this worse?
But Jule’s gaze had darted meaningfully toward Skaap, who’d thrust off the fur Kesst had thrown on him, and was glaring at the ceiling while Efterar hovered a hand over his belly. And with a sigh, Kesst spun on his heel and strode over to stand behind Efterar, murmuring something in his ear as he slid a wandering hand around his front — and then he strode for the door, giving a meaningful jerk of his head toward Jule and Ella.
Jule promptly grasped for the lamp and followed, tugging Ella along behind her. “This way,” she said, as she led Ella down a narrow, uneven corridor Ella couldn’t remember seeing before. “We can talk more freely in John’s library.”
John’slibrary? Ella blinked at that, but after following Jule and Kesst through a tricky little set of connecting passages, she indeed found herself tumbling into — a library. A tall, cavernous, rounded room, lined with smooth circular shelves that appeared to be carved straight from the stone — but oddly enough, most of the shelves were empty, with only a smattering of books and scrolls neatly placed within them.
