This — vengeance? Natt’s mouth was smiling again, showing all those sharp teeth, and his hand had gone down to grip, uselessly, at where his sword-hilt had been. “This vengeance,” he breathed, “of a hungry orc’s tongue, tasting the woman this fool man falsely claims as his own, on the night of thisparty. I shall cover his scent with my own, and bring you the joy he ought to have granted you this night.”
Oh.Oh. And Ella wasn’t actually considering this, she wasn’t — but her eyes were caught on Natt’s face, his mouth. On where that long black tongue had again come out, and licked slow, sinuous, meaningful, against his lips.
Damn. Ella gave a brief, unwilling gasp, and in reply Natt grinned again, even as a low, husky growl hissed from his throat. “I shall bring you deep joy in his stead, lass,” he whispered. “I shall give you all that you have longed for.”
Ella couldn’t move, couldn’t think, and now he was near enough to touch again, his gold-ringed finger coming back to brush once more against her cheek. His claw was out this time, sharp and black and deadly, and Ella shivered as she felt it trail lightly, gently, down her skin.
“You shall be safe, with me,” he said, the words at strange, thrilling odds with that single claw, now tracing deliberately down her neck. “And I shall never hold you against your will. Should you wish to run, I shall not stop you.”
Those black eyes were intent on hers as he spoke, and curse her, but Ellabelievedhim. She believed he’d let her go. She believed he wouldn’t hurt her. And she even believed — she hauled in another shaky, trembly breath — that he would give herjoy.
And somewhere, somehow, a stilted, shameful part of her was actually considering it. Actually considering allowing anorc— allowingNatt— to touch her, and taste her, like that. And what would itfeellike, to have a tongue like that exploring in one’s most secret places, lapping warm and slick against one’s skin, while that dark head, that huge muscular orc body, nestled between one’s thighs…
“I’mengaged,” Ella heard her strained voice say, because perhaps that was the last truth left, the last refuge against the heat now pooling hard in her groin. “And I don’t approve of infidelity.”
Her eyes had darted down toward the diamond engagement-ring on her left hand, and she belatedly shoved her hand behind her, away. But Natt had seen, Nattknew, and his clawed finger had hesitated on her collarbone, while his other hand came up to grip gentle, warm, against her chin, making her look at him.
“You are not this foolish, woman,” he said, his voice hard. “You witnessed this man with another. This man who swore fealty to you. Ach?”
Gods, Ella couldn’tthink, and she swallowed, felt her tongue come out brief to her lips. “Well,” she managed, “I mean, they weren’t inflagrante, not really, Alfred just had his hand up her skirt, that’s all.”
Natt’s heavy eyebrows snapped up, and there was a sound almost like a laugh, rumbling from his throat. “That is all, is it? His hand up her skirt?”
And without warning, that clawed hand dropped from Ella’s chin, and — ohgods— reached down, and grasped a generous handful of her own skirts. Not drawing them up, but just holding them there, waiting.
“Shall we thus begin our vengeance with this, lass?” he purred. “Since this is such a trifle, to you? And after this, should you wish, I shall next show you the many joys to be found upon an orc’s tongue?”
That tongue had again come out, licking his lips with slow, purposeful intent, but his body had remained otherwise still, waiting for Ella’s answer. And surely there was no answer to this, no conceivable response — but suddenly, somehow, Ella desperately needed toknow. Needed to know where those words led, what this audacious orc would do next. What it wouldfeellike, to take her own secret vengeance against Alfred, for so callously ruining what was supposed to have been a perfect, beautiful night.
And then, afterwards, Ella could still go back to her party. She could still belong. She could hold her head high, and smile at Alfred, andknow.
“And you promise to keep it secret, Natt?” she whispered, without at all meaning to. “And afterwards, you’ll let me go?”
There was another instant’s stillness, his gaze gone briefly shuttered — but then his head nodded, slow, purposeful, his eyes on hers sure and quiet and true.
“Ach, my lass,” he said. “I shall not speak of whatever joys we take, this night. And once I have wreaked my vengeance upon this man, you shall return to this party, as you wish.”
It sounded almost like a promise, another pledge, spoken dark and quiet and true, crackling with hidden, secret power. With justice, with vengeance, withlife.
And standing here, looking into those solemn black orc eyes, Ella could only seem to swallow, and raise her head, and —nod.
“Then yes, Natt,” she whispered. “I will. Show me.”
5
Show me.
It almost felt like the words were someone else’s, spoken from someone else’s lips. But no, it had been Ella, because before her Natt’s mouth had broadened into a smile that was equal parts breathtaking and terrifying.
“Good lass,” he said, those black eyes suddenly brazen, challenging, as that hand still gripping her skirts slowly, finally began to move up. Drawing the damp fabric higher and higher, cool air pooling against Ella’s bare legs, until — she gave a choked, desperate gasp — that huge, warm orc hand touched light against herbarethigh.
Ella hadn’t worn stockings or smallclothes under her dress tonight, for reasons that now seemed abominably foolish — and that meant there was nothing between her and Natt’s hand, not even a single scrap of fabric. And that huge hand had already curved fully against her skin, and was now sliding slowly, deliberately, dangerously upwards.
But Ella was doing this, and Natt wasn’t stopping, he couldn’t dare stop, not now — not even when his hand reached the join of her thigh against her groin. And then — Ella’s mouth betrayed a harsh, guttural gasp — there was the desperate, thrilling, impossible feeling of a warm orcfinger, brushing light but purposeful between her legs. Touchingthere, where Ella’s body already felt hot and strangely swollen, and humiliatingly slick against that slow, sliding warmth.
“Speak this, lass,” Natt murmured, his glinting eyes held to hers, his white tooth sharp against his lip. “Is it but a small thing for a woman, to have a hungry hand up her skirts?”
Oh gods, Ella wasnotanswering that, even as that finger kept exploring, tracing against her. It felt blunt and smooth, no sign of sharpness whatsoever, and she gave another desperate, breathless gasp at the feel of it nudging upwards, toward the quivering, dripping core of her.
