“I have a few last questions, Natt,” she said, her voice catching. “If you’ll speak truth to me?”
She wasn’t looking at him, she couldn’t, but she could hear his breath, coming out heavy and slow. “Ach,” he said. “From henceforth, always.”
Ella nodded, and blinked at the darkness up ahead. “Will you face any fallout from your brothers,” she said, “for so publicly — positioning me, as you have, only for me to leave you, after? Will this call any question upon you, as Speaker?”
Natt’s fingers clenched tighter on hers, and it was a moment before he spoke. “Only a few of my brothers know why you must leave me, this day,” he said. “And it has been a boon to me, that you did not smell of this man. Many Grisk have mates that do not live in the mountain, and if you truly do not mean to wed this man, as you have said to Dammarr —“
There was shock, suddenly, sparking up Ella’s spine, because she’d said that to Dammarr, yes — but had she ever said it toNatt? Had she ever actually told him that she wouldn’t marry the man who’d sought to kill him, all these years?
Her feet halted abruptly in the corridor, making the four orcs reel back behind them, but Ella only had eyes for Natt, waiting for his gaze to catch hers, and hold. Even if she couldn’t trust him, she would speak truth to him. She was.
“I willnevermarry Alfred, after this,” she said, quiet, fierce. “And you must tell the rest of your kin anything you wish about me. Anything that helps you gain your rightful place as Speaker, and prevents any doubt from falling upon you. You may tell them that I have not left you, that I shall always be faithful to you, that I shall forever wear your jewels, and await your return to me. You may even tell them I have died, perhaps in childbirth, if at any point that is — convenient, to you.”
There was a sudden stillness on Natt’s face, but also relief, flaring in his eyes. And that was the confirmation, thank the gods, that this should be enough. That under the truth-spell’s thrall, Natt should now be able to say these things about her. He should keep his position safe, after he’d sacrificed so much to attain it. The Speaker of the Grisk would again lie, to help his brothers — and as wrong as that was, in this moment, Ella truly didn’t care. Natt had given too much, for this be his downfall.
“I thank you, my lass,” he said, in a whisper. “I shall never forget your kindness toward me.”
His eyes were shifting, betraying a meaning Ella couldn’t bear to see, and she made herself turn away, and keep moving in the direction he’d been taking her. “Is there any chance,” she said, to the corridor, “that I might be pregnant?”
There was silence from Natt beside her, more silence from the listening orcs behind them. “You are not now thus,” Natt said, finally, “else I should smell this upon you. And there ought yet to be time enough, that this ought not to befall you. But if, by some whim of the gods, it does” — his voice audibly swallowed — “mayhap you shall find a way to come here again, for another visit, so that Efterar shall free you of this.”
Oh. The urge to weep surged again, almost breathtakingly powerful, and Natt’s hand twitched on hers, his throat making a sound that might have been a cough. “And should you ever wish to visit again,” he said, “you must. You shall always be welcome here.”
Ella gulped for breath, and tried to nod. “I will keep that in mind, thank you,” she managed. “But I should think you would rather claim me as dead, once you have taken another mate, and fathered your sons upon her.”
There was only more silence, stretching out too wide between them, because that should have been where Natt might have said, I would never take another mate, lass, after you. But of course he would. He was the Speaker. He needed these sons.
And even as Ella wiped irritably at her traitorous leaky eyes, she knew she wanted him to have his sons, his greatest wish, even if it was another woman who granted them to him. A woman who he wouldn’t eventhinkof betraying, perhaps, and their sons together would be beautiful, wild, laughing little beasts. And Natt would surely raise them only with kindness, and protect them from the kinds of cruelties he’d had to face.
But Natt still wasn’t speaking, and Ella took another hitching breath. “Though I shall very much regret not meeting your sons,” she whispered. “You’ll be such a good father, Natt.”
He still didn’t reply, but his hand on hers had clamped painfully tight, and why in the gods’ names was Ella saying such things, when she was already so near to weeping? “And also,” she made herself go on, fighting desperately to make her voice light, “I shall regret not seeing your lamps, and exploring your mountain with proper illumination for once. You should ask Dammarr, yesterday I nearly became quite grievously injured from merely attempting to walk down the corridor.”
There was more heavy stillness, Natt still saying nothing — but then, thank the gods, there was a snort from Dammarr behind them. “Ach, woman, you were useless,” he said, but his voice was kind, an offering. “I have never seen anything so laughable in my life.”
“Not even when Thrain drank all that berry-juice, and fell off the mountain?” came Thrak’s voice behind him. “Come to think of this, brother, you ought to scotch the berry-juice. It only seems to bring you grief and woe.”
“Ach, and the best fuck of his life,” came Dammarr’s dry reply. “Right, Varinn?”
Varinn snapped something back in black-tongue, earning a hoot of laughter from Thrak. While beside her, Ella could feel Natt slightly relaxing, and her own relief seemed to swarm deep and fervent inside. At least Natt would still have his brothers, after all this. There would still be someone by his side, someone he could trust. Even if it was Dammarr.
“The Captain and his mate are here, in the muster-room,” Natt said finally, his voice stiff, as he waved at a nearby opening in the corridor. “They wait here to escort you out to the eastern side of the mountain, where this man and his band now await you.”
Ella blinked at him — and was struck by a sudden, irrepressible flare of true, blaring fear, pelting wild through her thoughts. “I’m going to Alfred withthem?” she heard her voice say, unaccountably shrill. “Why can’tyoutake me?”
Natt’s eyes had oddly shuttered, and again, it was Dammarr who spoke. “If the idea here is to avoid a war,” he said, “Nattfarr cannot walk even withinscent-rangeof this foul man. Most of all if it is to giveyouinto his hands. This would not be safe, for either him, or you.”
Right. Of course. And Ella was being foolish, and she was doing this, she was. So she gave a shaky nod, and turned, and strode into the muster-room.
She’d only expected to see Grimarr and Jule, and they were indeed there, both fully dressed in surprising human-looking finery — but milling all around them were more orcs. There were Baldr and Drafli, and Kesst and Efterar. There were a variety of Grisk, including Ymir, and then also Olarr and Silfast and Stella, and Simon. There was even John, standing apart from the others with his arms crossed over his chest, and intently ignoring Timo, who was hovering about and eyeing him with unmistakable fascination.
“W-what’s going on?” Ella asked Jule, who had strode over to greet them, her long blue dress billowing out behind her. “Why are they all here?”
Jule flashed Ella her typical smile, though her eyes looked more tired than usual, her mouth rather grim. “Oh, you know orcs,” she said. “They can’t do anything without making a fuss. They wished to say farewell to you, of course.”
That seemed difficult to believe, but the assembled orcs did seem to be hovering closer, eyeing Ella with unmistakable intent. And this truly was goodbye, perhaps forever, so Ella nodded, and smiled at the orc nearest. It was Efterar, thankfully, but he wasn’t smiling back, and was instead frowning at Ella’s neck through the high collar of her dress, and then, oddly enough, toward her mouth.
“I truly cannot fathom,” he said toward Natt, his voice clipped, “why my presumably intelligent brothers feel this compulsion to taunt the men they seek to avoid warring with. Did you truly need tobiteher, Grisk? In multiple places? And stab anearringinto her? And what did you do,batheher in your saliva?”
