Simon’s snort was bitter, deep, and he scraped the stone harder against his blade. “Skai orcs neverbuymate or son,” he said, glowering down toward it. “Wenevertrade or sell for this. We track. Wehunt. We seek worthy mate, one who is ripe and lusty and strong. When we gain her” — he raised his hand with the stone, jabbing a sharp finger toward her — “we claim her before all our kin, andthenkeep her.Thenspark son upon her.”
Something churned in Maria’s belly, thick and nauseating, and she gave a wild shake of her head, clutched her knees closer in the hot water. “And you think that’s somehowbetterthan this?!” her mouth spat at him, before she could clamp the words away. “You pick out a woman like a piece of meat, and thenhunther? And after that, what, youmakeher have your son? That’s — barbaric. It’sdisgusting.”
Simon blinked at her, once — and then he huffed a harsh laugh, scraping just as loud as the stone on his dagger. “But it is nodisgusting,” he said, his voice heavy on the word, “to break own vow tohusband? To claim orc, and birth orcson, only because you ken this shalldisgusthusband, and thus gain you greater vengeance against him?”
Maria’s stomach churned again, and she had to bite her lip, search for words that were safe, true. “This isn’t just about vengeance,” she countered. “It’s about gaining my ownlifeback. Myfreedom.”
“Ach, yourfreedom,” Simon sneered at her. “And for this, you grow and birth son, and nextsellhim? You run away withfreedom, withcoin, and forever forget ownson? You leave father to raise himalone? This” — his stone scraped louder, sharper — “nodisgustyou, woman, butIdo?”
The words clanged against Maria’s ears, ringing deep into her throbbing skull, and it was only the sheerunfairnessof it all that kept her head up, her eyes pinned to his. “I made you anoffer,” she hissed back. “I was honest and upfront with you about what I wanted, and what I was able to give you. And if my offer was that damned loathsome to you, you should have behaved like a rational human being, and just saidno!”
Simon’s growl was almost a bark, his eyes blazing, his huge claws audibly scraping on the stone clutched in his hand. “I am nohuman being,”he snarled. “I amorc. And in thisoffer, you swear tohonourme. You swear toobeyme. You swear youwishfor me. You swear you wish for my claim, and my scent, and myfuck.”
Shit.Shit. The panic had begun simmering again, bubbling up with the hammer of Maria’s heartbeat — but Simon was still speaking, forceful and inexorable and dreadful. “And yet, youscornme,” he hissed, his lip curling. “You tremble and hide, as if you areafraid. As if youlie. You claimshamewhen I seek to honour you, and make you my own. You say I amappalling. I amdisgusting. I live indump.”
There were no words, no possible answers to this — and with a swift, furious jerk of movement, he yanked back his arm, and hurled the stone in his hand straight across toward the opposite wall. Where it smashed with a vicious, deafeningcrack, and then shattered into dust.
Maria cringed into the water, her eyes wide and suddenly terrified, her wet hands pressed tight against her ears — but Simon’s huge, threatening form had risen from the bench, his hand gripping his newly sharpened dagger, his eyes on fire, his rage a living, breathingbeast.
“I warn you, woman,” he growled, his voice ringing through Maria’s fingers, reverberating deep inside. “I play no humangamewith you. You wish to stay, youobey. Youlearn. When I honour you, youthank. You bear no more fear, no more shame. Younevercower when I speak. I am Enforcer of Orc Mountain, and you aremineto use and judge and fuck as Iwish!”
He was looming over her, bellowing at her,condemningher — and Mariawascowering beneath him, fighting for air, the panic shuddering, flailing, finally breaking its way out. Becoming the chaos, the hysteria, her wet fingers scrubbing and clawing at her face, he was only an orc she wasn’t supposed to care this was revenge her freedomeverything—
“I-I’m s-sorry,” she gasped, though the gulping breaths. “I’m sorry. Please. I-I’ll try harder. I just —”
But the gasps were swallowing her voice, swallowing everything. Ruining everything, because this enraged orc didn’t want her to cower or be afraid and she was still doing it, all of it, couldn’t stop, couldn’t find words airanything—
She could feel him looming silent and still above her, watching, mocking,judging— and without warning, his huge bodylunged. Sinking down before her, close and horrifying and deadly, and Maria choked out a yelp, whipped her head harder, dragged her fingers deeper against the burning skin of her cheeks. She couldn’tbreathe, this couldn’t be happening, not here, not before an orc, revenge, breathe,hysteria. He was going to condemn her,quellher, send her away, everything wasruined—
Until two warm, powerful hands snapped around her wrists, and drew them away from her face. The movement careful, restrained, maybe even... gentle.
“Maria,” came his deep voice, and somehow her wide, terrified eyes blinked up — and found his face. And when had he come so close, he was kneeling directly beside the wash-basin, his hands now submerged in the water with hers. And his forehead was creased, his mouth thin, and Maria couldn’t at all read that look in his eyes, perhaps mockery or derision or revulsion, and next he would laugh, send for a snide physician, call her unstable or hysterical or…
“Peace, woman,” he said, still so painfully quiet, and Maria’s spiralling, spattering thoughts somehow registered the sudden… weariness in his eyes. The regret. The…defeat.
“Ach, this was ill thought, no?” he said, his voice a worn, heavy exhale. “I no wish for lies and games, and you no wish for wrathful orc who lives indump. Even promise of son — evenfreedom— shall no alter this, for us.”
Oh. Maria kept blinking at him, not following, not thinking. And that twist on his lips might have been a smile, if not for the bitter darkness in his eyes, the slight clench of those solid fingers against her wrist.
“So we shall now wash away this vow in ink,” he said, “and you shall run, as you truly wish. Go further west, mayhap. Seek other way. Find othervengeance. Ach?”
He abruptly stood up, releasing her wrists, but not before Maria again caught that — thatdefeatin his eyes, the telltale grimace on that damning wordvengeance. And he was striding toward his shelf, so smoothly, and his huge wet hand had plucked up the contract from the top of the pile, the ink already streaking under his touch —
“I shall ask my brothers for new ink,” he continued as he turned to stride back toward her, his voice wooden. “They shall grant safety as you run, and fair terms.”
He thrust the contract down toward her, his hand very steady, his eyes dark, distant,defeated. Waiting, waiting for her to take it, to finish it, to end this before it had even truly begun. And flashing in Maria’s thoughts was a sudden, incongruous vision of her husband, sitting smug and seething in his bed.Shall I set you out upon a plain, wife, and wait for an orc to come and ravage you…
But this confounding orc wasn’t ravaging anymore. He wasn’t even moving, or blinking. He was offering Maria safety, escape,fair terms. He was abandoning his son, the son he must have wanted very much, and instead conceding defeat. For her freedom.
He kept holding out the contract, kept waiting, looking at her like that — and something was swelling in Maria’s chest, knocking against her ribs. And without thinking, without at all knowing why, she lurched to her feet, naked and streaming water — and put her hand to his heart.
His big body froze against the touch, but his heart thundered back against her fingers, beating fast and loud and sure. And somehow Maria was breathing again, gulping air heavy and deep, and this was all that mattered, so steady, so safe...
“I don’t want to go,” she said, holding his eyes, her every word a ringing, terrifying truth. “I want to stay. And” — she tried to smile at him, courage,courage— “I want you to kiss me.”
9
Simon’s stillness felt like motion, like the room twirling and twisting away. Like the only thing left was that look in his eyes, shocked and sharp and… hungry.
