John trembled as he slowly drew his head back, his eyes dazed and blinking, his mouth stained with red.Rosa’sred, but there wasn’t even shock at that, not anymore. His seed, for her blood. The trade women made with these orcs, perhaps entirely inequitable on its face, but not feeling that way, not in this moment. Not with him.
“Are you all right, my lord?” Rosa whispered. “John-Ka?”
He blinked again, his big body jerking beneath her — and it was almost like his awareness had jerked back too, the presence snapping across his eyes. His hand lifting to his mouth, wiping at the blood — and then his eyes blinking at his hand, seized, arrested.
“Helvíti,” he breathed, still staring, almost as if compelled — and then dropping his wide eyes to Rosa’s wounded neck, and then further down. Down to the sight ofthat, Rosa’s groin spread wide and flush against his, still trapped, split open, with him buried all the way inside.
“Ach,” he said, shaking his head, squeezing his eyes shut, hiding himself away. Sinking into his own shame, of being anorc. And he couldn’t, not now, not like this. Not again. Not after that.
“You know, I should like to understand,” Rosa’s voice said, almost steady but not quite, “whether this biting you orcs seem to instinctively pursue could also provide some kind of immunological benefit in the woman’s subsequent childbirth. It could be a fascinating hypothesis, don’t you think?”
John was blinking at her again, sufficiently caught off guard for the moment at least, so Rosa kept talking, letting the words unspool as they wished. “I imagine we probably even exchanged a similar quantity of body fluids, wouldn’t you say? I mean, I don’t even feelslightlydizzy, so you couldn’t have drunk too much, right? And also” — she jabbed at his still-clothed chest, while more understanding swarmed — “were you ever going to tell me that this was something you wanted to do? I thought you were supposed to be embracing your true orc nature, John-Ka. It was part of thedeal.”
Her voice had risen with unmistakable triumph, her mouth twitching into an inexplicable smile, and John only gazed at her, still blinking, still with herbloodon his lips. And the sight was so thoroughly, powerfully breathtaking, so impossibly enthralling, that Rosa had to look away, gulp for breath.
“And here I thought,” she continued, “I’d heard all of it, with your secret pleasure-den, and all that business with the chains, and punishments, and public copulation, and such. You are such a schemingreprobate, John-Ka.”
And hewas, the calculating bastard, so why was Rosa still smiling at him, drinking up the still-dazed languor in his still-blinking eyes. “What else do you want with me, John,” she demanded. “Tell me.”
He didn’t immediately answer, but his hooded gaze had dropped, brief, to where their bodies were still joined together. To the still-impossible reality of that, his orc-prick jutted all the way inside her, and the warmth swarmed again as Rosa realized what he meant. Hehadwanted this. He’d wanted this, and, maybe, all else that came with it…
“I want all you should wish to give me, pet,” he said finally, slow, his voice all smooth liquid heat. “But I yet do not wish to truly frighten you, or bring you shame, or grief. And” — his eyes shifted — “I do not wish to further entangle you in a war against your ownkind.”
Oh.Wait. The comprehension flared, vivid and forceful, as Rosa blinked at him, absorbing the weight of those words. Had all his secrecy on this just been, perhaps, another ill-guided attempt to protect her? To keep his petsafe?
All at once the entire world felt bright, alive, and it was suddenly easy, so easy, for Rosa to roll her eyes at him, and give a haughty toss of her head. “Ilikebeing frightened in the bedroom, and you know it,” she replied primly. “And I thinkIshould get to decide how entangled I wish to be in any armed conflicts, thank you very much. As for the shame and grief” — her voice lowered — “we’ve been dealing with the shame point already, haven’t we? And so far, most of my grief about you stems from all these secrets you keep from me. Secret bonds, secret pleasure-dens, secretbloodthirstiness. Secretarmies.”
John just kept looking at her with those gorgeous blinking eyes, and Rosa drew up breath, truth. “Why do you hide all these things, John?” she whispered. “I’ve been a loyal and obedient pet to you, haven’t I? Why can’t you tell me?”
Because he didn’t trust her, was still the answer, taunting deep inside, but Rosa thrust it firmly, fiercely away. “Give me a chance,” she continued, holding her gaze to his. “Let me show you how I can be an even better pet to you. How I can please you, andhelpyou. I mean, haven’t I just made the orcling-birthing discovery of thecentury, while slaving away free of charge, locked inside your library?”
John’s gaze didn’t falter, though his throat visibly convulsed. “Mayhap,” he said, and that was an allowance, a true concession, wasn’t it? “But I thought it pleased you, to work in my library, and learn Aelakesh.”
“It does,” Rosa said fervently, putting both hands flat to his chest, feeling the powerful thuds of his heartbeat beneath it. “Iloveit, John. I just want —more.”
It was true, damnably so, spilling out so fervent and easy from Rosa’s lips. She was sitting impaled on a lying, devious orc, who’d justbittenher — and shedidstill want more, so much more. Not secrets and atrocities, but just — knowledge. Truth. To be part of not only John’s library, and his bed — but hislife.
“Iknowyou, John,” she whispered, as her hands fluttered back to his face, stroking against the familiar lines of it. So severe and forbidding at first glance, but hiding surprising warmth, unfathomable depth. “I can help you. I can please you. If you’ll let me, I can be the pet you’ve alwaysdreamedof.”
To prove her point, she wriggled upon him again, squeezing at that slightly softened heft inside her — and when it shuddered, thickened, she couldn’t help a harsh moan, a full-body shiver. Gods, it felt good, he felt good, and his eyes were watching her with almost painful intent. He was considering it. He was…
“What do you say, my lord,” she whispered. “Please? Teach me? Everything?”
She’d rocked on him again as she spoke, feeling the answering flare deep inside — but even stronger was his eyes, his truth, his soul.
“Ríddu mér,” he said, a curse, a command, a vow. “I shall try.”
26
True to his word, John promptly began Rosa’s expanded education that very evening. Not, as she might have expected, with meetings and war councils — but rather with an impromptu visit to the Ka-eshpleasure-den.
“Should you truly wish to know all the hidden longings of orcs,” John said as he led her toward it, “this is where you shall best learn, pet.”
The room was indeed just as shocking as it had been last time, full of orcs taking their pleasures together in the most astonishing of ways. But John seemed entirely unconcerned — about both the alarming goings-on, and the number of wary glances they were getting — and led Rosa over to sit on an empty bench against the opposite wall.
“Now, pet,” he murmured, as he tugged her close onto his lap. “We shall watch together, and I shall answer your questions. And if you are vexed, you shall speak.”
There was no arguing that, especially once his low, heated voice indeed began answering Rosa’s questions with easy, unashamed steadiness. Ach, yes, Marcus wishes for this. No, cane-strokes such as this, for an orc, shall wholly heal within a day. Ach, Brandr is mated to Benjamin, this is why no other touches him.
