She forcibly halted that line of thought, breathing in thick through her nose. No. She’d done exactly what had needed to be done. It hadn’t been hysteria. Ithadn’t.
No, it wasrevenge, and it was unfolding even better than she could have planned. Even if the orcs and their mountain hadn’t been at all what she’d expected, she’d still managed to keep it together, and gain her main objectives. She had a contract. She had an orc. She was attempting to bear said orc a son, and thereby heaping shame upon her husband’s head, and seeking her damned freedom.
And surely, even when —if— it reached that particular final point, surely it would be manageable. Surely any son of Simon’s wouldn’t be innocent or wide-eyed or sneezy in the least. He’d be hulking and deadly and aggressive, lashing about his claws like a feral little beast, and surely there would be no further need for Maria’s involvement whatsoever.
The thought was surprisingly reassuring, enough that Maria blinked her eyes back open, and turned over. Seeing first the single flickering candle, still sitting atop the shelf, and then the already-familiar mess of a room, only lacking the wash-basin from the night before.
And there on the bench, again, was Simon. Still fully naked, but this time he was balancing a large, smooth rock upon his knee, and methodically scraping what appeared to be a carving-knife against it.
His gaze hadn’t lifted from his work, but somehow Maria could feel his awareness, his knowledge that she was awake and watching. Almost as though he were waiting for her to speak, or…
“Good morning!” cut in a cheerful voice. Anewvoice. Prompting Maria’s body to skitter upright in the bed, her head whipping around, her hands yanking the fur up to her chin.
It was — a woman. One of the pregnant women from the meeting the day before, in fact. She was small and blonde and pert-looking, she was clutching a stack of papers against her far-too-short loose tunic, and she grinned at Maria as she picked her way across the mess of the room.
“Hi, I’m Rosa,” she said brightly. “And you’re Maria, right? It’s solovelyto have you here. I think having a woman around will benefit Simonenormously, don’t you? He’s anotoriousgrump, if you haven’t already noticed.”
She accompanied these astonishing words with a teasing wink at Simon, and Maria couldn’t help noticing that Simon’s frown back toward this pretty, delicate Rosa wasn’t quite genuine — and also, that he wasstill naked. A fact which didn’t seem to disturb either of them in the least, and as Maria blinked at Simon — and particularly at that beast at his groin, dangling thick and shameless toward the floor — something flared in her gut that felt dangerously close tojealousy.
“Simon’s cleverer than he looks, though,” Rosa continued, with another teasing smile. “You should have heard his common-tongue even six months ago, Maria, it was trulyatrocious.Ach, Simon?”
Simon actually replied this time, but it was in the deep tangled black-tongue, rumbling low from his throat — and whatever it was, it prompted a peal of laughter from Rosa, and another inexplicable, unpleasant flare in Maria’s belly. It didn’t matter, surely it didn’t, he was just an orc, and…
“I imagine you’re still getting settled in, Maria,” Rosa continued blithely, “but I wanted to introduce myself, and bring you some reading material. A welcome package, of sorts.”
She’d halted beside the bed, and with an excited little flourish, she thrust out the stack of papers she’d been holding. Leaving Maria to hurriedly wipe off her still-sticky hand, and then awkwardly reach out from behind her fur to take them.
“Um, thank you,” she said, glancing down at the clump of papers now clutched in her fingers. On which the topmost sheet boasted a vivid, block-printed image of an orc, and above it, a title printed in large, neat gothic letters.
An Alternate Account of the Orc-Human War, it read.From the League of Informed Inferiors.
Oh. This was — the orcs’propaganda?
Maria’s thoughts abruptly twisted backwards, catching on the vision of her husband, sitting in his silk sheets. Complaining about the orcs’ propaganda, and claiming it had targeted his advisors, and even his own son. Claiming they’d been…compromised.
And as Maria stared down at the vivid printed orc clutched in her fingers, it distantly occurred to her that she hadn’t actuallybelievedthat claim. That she hadn’t, perhaps, thought the orcs capable of campaigns, or cleverness, or even communication. A feral passel of monkeys beneath the fucking sea…
She felt herself wince, her eyes darting reflexively at Simon — and he was frowning back at her, his heavy brows pulled close together. Almost as if, once again, he’d seen straight into Maria’s soul, and found it deserving only of his contempt, and his mockery, and hisjudgement.
And suddenly, there was the inexplicable, almost overwhelming urge to prove him wrong. To show this temperamental, judgemental orc that she could keep her damned word, and honour him, and whatever the hell else this was.
“Um, this indeed looks highly informative,” Maria made herself say, forcing her gaze back to Rosa’s expectant, eager face. “I, uh, look forward to reading it. Did you, um, produce these pamphlets? Here?”
It was the right question to ask, thankfully, because Rosa instantly launched into an extensive monologue about how accurate, readily available public information about orcs was critically lacking, and about how she and the Ka-esh clan had worked with someveryhelpful contacts in Dusbury to arrange for printing and distribution throughout Sakkin Province, and how they were currently looking for distribution channels in Preia. And how soon, they would celebrate their one hundred thousandth copy by hand-dropping it at the door of the realm’s ruling Citadel.
“Of course, it will only infuriate those horrid lords, who can’t bear the thought of losing awhitof theirentirelyunearned power and influence,” Rosa continued, without seeming to have once paused for breath. “But it’s the common people we need to reach with this information campaign. The people who are suffering under that Council’s completely incompetent administration. The people struggling with poverty, and disease, andinjustice.”
She finally paused there, her expression deeply disgruntled — and blinking back toward her, Maria couldn’t seem to collect her thoughts, or find a single coherent word to say in return. And there were somany, things like,I couldn’t agree more, I wish you all success, and by the way, my husband is in charge of that Council, I hate him just as much as you do, I should dearly love to see his face when you drop this upon his doorstep…
“Rosa-Ka,” interrupted another new voice, this one low and smooth, and again coming from the door. Making Maria startle in place, her head whipping around to find — anotherorc. Another orc she vaguely recognized from the meeting the day before, in fact, and he was surprisingly handsome, his face strong and symmetrical and unmarked by scars.
And in another world, one with less befuddlement clogging her brain, Maria might have almost been gratified by the way this orc was standing stiffly in the doorway, his arms folded over his grey tunic, while his dark eyes glanced about at the room’s chaos with unmistakable, visceral distaste. Perhaps, even, withjudgement.
“John-Ka!” Rosa crowed, and she instantly trotted over toward him, slipping her delicate form easily under his arm. “I was just saying hello to Maria, and bringing her something to read. Maria, this is my mate John, of Clan Ka-esh. He’s the Priest of Orc Mountain, which means he manages allsortsof intriguing projects, especially down in the Ka-esh wing. You ought to come over, we’ll happily give you a tour, won’t we, John?”
This John twitched a silent nod toward Maria, and she managed a faint smile in return — at least, until Simon gave a deep, heavy grunt from across the room. “No Ka-esh wing,” he said, voice flat. “Notour. Maria shall stay here, with Skai, until she earns this right.”
Wait. That was new, wasn’t it? And wait, did Simon mean — did he mean he was keeping Maria prisoner?Here? In this disaster of a room?
