“Lord Kaspar has — other priorities,” Rosa said, belatedly, the words feeling thick in her mouth. “And principles, about such things.”
The noise from John’s throat was harsh and mocking, softened only by the sudden, warm touch of his hand against Rosa’s neck. “This man is cheap,” he said flatly, “and a fool. He should be far better pleased by a strong, warm, well-tended pet than one who is weak and hungry and cold. It is no wonder your work on his library’s behalf has been so foolish.”
Rosa’s mouth opened again, about to attempt some kind of well-justified protest against the entirety of these appalling statements — but John’s hand had slid up over her mouth, his claws pressing firm but gentle against her parted lips. “It shall be nightfall before we reach the mountain. You must eat.”
Rosa managed a shrug — they’d packed no food, and in the still-drizzling rain there was no way to make a fire. And she wasn’t about to eat raw meat — she wasn’t that far gone, yet — and it was too early in the year for fruit or berries, so what the hell else was she supposed to do?
The orc almost seemed to follow her thoughts, his gaze briefly casting over the wet forest around them, before settling back on hers again. And this time those eyes were flinty, determined, decisive, his mouth twitching with a clear, tight distaste.
“Very well,” he said, the words a snap from his lips. “You shall kneel, woman. And then, you must suck your fill from my prick.”
12
For what felt like the dozenth time since they’d met, Rosa was struck entirely speechless by this appalling, unfathomable orc.
“I willwhat?” she finally demanded, against those fingers, still held warm and close and fragrant against her lips. “Get down and suck you off?Here?! Also” — she glared at him, while the memory caught and flared — “don’t you recall, just yesterday, how you mocked me for offering such a thing, and claimed to be too good for my weak little mouth?”
John’s lip curled, showing a hint of a still-bloody white fang. “I claimed naught, and this is notsucking me off,” he said, forming the words with visible care, and also deep disapproval. “This is only to sustain you. I shall not bring you to my mountain cold, with an empty belly, and muddled wits. You are liable to faint in fear, or catch a deathly chill, and thus break my vow to care for you, and earn me the scorn of all my brothers.”
Rosa followed that with effort — clearly her brainwasrather muddled, at the moment — and drew in a breath. “Why,” she managed, “would your brothers scorn you? Don’t you orcs steal away helpless women all the time? Surely there’s plenty of fainting and chills and hysterics involved in that?”
John snorted, his fingers clenching slightly against Rosa’s lips. “You ought not to heed all you read in these fool books,” he snapped. “We orcs have not stolen any women for many, many moons. And we must well tend to those we have, to keep them safe and content, and gain their strength and fealty for our own. This, our wise captain has taught us.”
Their captain. The orcs’ current captain was named Grimarr, Rosa knew from her reading, and he was supposedly a coarse, vicious, cunning beast, who prior to the peace agreement was rumoured to have kidnapped and imprisoned an actual titledlady— but that highly horrifying thought was snatched away entirely, as John’s sharp, tantalizing claws trailed downwards, curving against the damp skin of Rosa’s neck.
“Kneel, woman,” he said, softer, his eyes fluttering. “Drink my good seed.”
But he was doing it again, his sweet-talking sweet-touching manipulating thing, and they were out in the open, the ground was cold and soaking wet, Rosa wasnotgiving this damned orcanything—
“Nice try, orc,” she said, her voice only slightly wavering. “But I’m afraid that sucking you off in a dripping-wet forest isverylow on my list of priorities, at the moment.”
John gazed at her for an instant too long, his eyes shuttered — but then he came a step closer, that warm hand spreading wider against her neck. “Do not play the fool with me, my silly little pet,” he said, tilting her chin up with his sharp thumb. “Orc seed is sweet and rich, as good as any meat. It is a gift, to weak frail women such as you.”
Rosa swallowed hard against that claw, and gave a furtive shake of her head. “I refuse to countenance anything of the sort,” she choked out. “It’s utterlyridiculous.”
“It is notridiculous,” John replied, those eyes narrowing on hers. “It is a truth known among orcs since the earliest tales. Not only shall our good seed fill women with our sons, but it also grows them fat and strong. It makes them into hearty, worthy mates, whole and hale enough to bear our sons.”
Wait. He trulybelievedthat, Rosa realized, blinking at his stubborn black eyes. And her own eyes unwillingly flicked down toward the package of books, which he still held carefully in his other hand, and this awful orc surely wasn’tthisstupid, was he?
“Hold these,” he said, thrusting the books toward her — and then, without warning, without hesitation, his hands snapped to the front of his trousers, and yanked out his already-hard orc-prick.
Gods. It was long and thick and straight, jutting out from the mass of coarse dark hair beneath it. And in the brighter light Rosa could see every vein and ridge, and oddly enough, more faded, unmistakable scars, laddered up the length of him, even on the smooth, rounded head.
Rosa shot him a furtive, uneasy glance, but John only stared straight back, and then slowly, deliberately, curved his big hand familiar and easy around the base of it. And then slid up, with agonizing purpose, squeezing out a thick bead of white from that dark, glistening slit.
Fuck. Rosa could only seem to stare, dumbstruck, as he did it again, almost as if mocking her, taunting her, with such an audacious, appalling sight. And it was almostworking, because Rosa’s tongue had licked at her dry lips, the heat surging hot and powerful to her groin.
John didn’t miss that, of course he didn’t, and there was a hoarse, husky noise from his throat as his hand slid up again, even slower this time. “See?” he murmured. “This shall please you, pet.”
Rosa kept staring, not breathing, as this shameless orc moved his other hand up to that deep slit, catching the bead of white just as it fell, pooling thick and viscous onto his clawed finger. Andthen, oh hell, he brought that finger up, and spread that thick whiteness, messy and slick, against Rosa’s lips.
There was a jolting instant’s shock — an orc had just wiped hisleavingson hermouth?! But then it was too late, the trap set and sprung, because Rosa’s traitorous tongue had slipped out, andtastedit.
The moan of pleasure from her throat was reflexive, guttural, utterly humiliating, and so was the way her tongue darted back out, licking desperately for the rest. Because gods, he tasted impossibly, appallingly good, almost like the sweet honey she had sneaked once at school, and had never, ever forgotten since —
Suddenly she was ravenous, her long-empty stomach audibly growling, and in return John actually laughed out loud, openly, perhaps for the very first time in their acquaintance. And though Rosa knew it was at her expense, she was brutally, bizarrely caught in the sight of it, the sound of it, deep and rich and rolling, his eyes crinkling, his lips curving up to show all those sharp teeth —
“Foolish little woman,” his voice said, still silken and warm with his laughter. “Now kneel, and suck me.”
