So Maria forcibly bit her lip, and swallowed hard, and crossed her arms tight over her chest. Waiting, stiff and still, while Simon finished tying up his trousers, his eyes on hers almost intent enough to be a touch. And perhaps he was waiting too, for the inevitable argument or hysterics, for another opportunity to wield his damnedjudgement.
But Maria only stood there in silence, staring at the floor, the tension jangling in her ears — until finally she felt Simon’s hand on her chin, tilting it up, making her look at him.
“It pleases me, that you welcomed this rite from me,” he said, quiet. “It pleases Skai-kesh also. I am glad I brought you before him.”
Oh. Well. Maria jerked a shrug, her eyes darting reflexively, darkly, toward this Skai-kesh, and then toward where that strange orc had beenwatchingthem — and again Simon lifted her chin, snapping her gaze back to his.
“This orc was Joarr, the chief scout of this mountain,” Simon explained, to Maria’s vague surprise. “When Joarr no wish to be seen, he shall no be seen, ach? But he is mayhap the nearest I have to blood kin, and he has granted me a great kindness of late. It was right that he, of all orcs, should first witness this.”
Firstwitness this. Suggesting, all too clearly, that there would be more in the future — but before Maria could fully digest this thoroughly alarming thought, Simon had slid a broad hand down to spread against her back. “Now come,” he said firmly. “For this, you have earned your next reward.”
Her next reward. The rebellion again flared through Maria’s belly, thick and powerful, but she somehow choked back her waiting retort, and walked through the twisty corridor beside him. He was just an orc. She would take what she could get. Gain her damned freedom. And that wasall.
Simon seemed to be leading her back the way they’d come, and Maria recognized the door to his bedroom — but instead of stopping there, he led her into another room just beyond it. This one again appeared empty, at first sight, but in the back there turned out to be another hidden crevice, which housed a little…latrine?
“Your reward, woman,” Simon announced, with a grand flourish of his hand. “You may now come here, and use this, when you need.”
Maria once again felt struck to stillness, gaping around at the little room in the lamplight. It was small and stark, but seemed mercifully clean — and there was even a little stack of rags, and what looked like proper drainage, to gods knew where. But. But…
“You’re really giving mepotty privileges,” Maria heard her incredulous voice say, “as a reward forconvertingto yourreligion?!”
And curse her, but something new was lurching in her throat. Something that surely should have been outrage at the sheer audacity of this orc… but which instead felt like a rising, almost irrepressible urge tolaugh.
“Ach, I am,” came Simon’s reply, his eyebrow raised, his voice impossibly cool. “You no wish for this reward? You wish to instead have little pail to piddle in, mayhap?”
And in spite of all Maria’s most heroic efforts, the bubbling laugh finally escaped her mouth, far too loud in this cramped room. “Youasshole,” she managed. “If you make me use a pail, Iwilldump it on you while you sleep, I swear to the gods.”
Something moved in Simon’s eyes, and Maria belatedly braced herself for his retaliation, his certain deadly anger — but wait, his mouth had actually twitched up too, sparking something quick and hot in her belly.
“I should like to see you try this, woman,” he purred. “Now use your new latrine for me, before I choose to instead fuck you raw upon it.”
Maria’s face swarmed with heat, and she couldn’t seem to muster a coherent retort, or even demand he leave the room. And once she’d finished, that was surely again approval in his eyes, in the easy brush of his hand against her back as he led her out into the corridor again.
“And for your next reward,” Simon continued, his voice sounding almost chipper, “I have gained you Baldr. He has agreed to stay beside us for a time, to help guard you whilst I am away.”
There was only more bewilderment at this, swarming Maria’s flustered brain — where was Simon going, and she neededguarding? — but he had already halted at the door to the room just beside his, waving Maria toward it. And when she tentatively stepped inside, there, indeed, was Baldr. Kneeling next to a big wooden box, and unloading its contents — furs, clothing, more weapons — into a neat set of piles around him.
“Greetings, Maria,” he said with a grin, as he rose to his feet. “We shall now be neighbours, ach?”
Maria couldn’t deny an inexplicable relief at this announcement, but she also felt her forehead furrowing, her eyes glancing around at the otherwise empty room. “Um, that sounds lovely,” she said. “But you're from the Grisk clan, right? Surely you don’t wish to be parted from them, in order to be stuck alone in here?”
Baldr’s dismissive shrug was accompanied by a somewhat reddened face, and behind Maria Simon huffed a loud snort. “It shall be no hardship for Baldr to stay here,” he replied, his voice more tolerant than Maria might have expected. “And he shall no oft be alone here either, I ken. No with my brother Drafli so close, ach?”
The red in Baldr’s face deepened as he bent to snatch up what looked like a tunic, and carefully re-folded it into a perfect square. “You don’t know that. There are plenty of other… options. Especially aroundhere.”
There was a distinct note of bitterness in his voice, and Maria was vaguely surprised by the sight of Simon stepping around her, and clapping a heavy hand on Baldr’s shoulder. “Ach, and now your sweet scent shall taint them all,” he said firmly, “and tempt my brother astray, even stronger than before.”
But Baldr’s head jerked back and forth, his hands crumpling the neatly folded tunic. “But Drafli doesn’twantto be tempted astray from your precious Skaiways,” he said, his voice unsettlingly plaintive. “And if he thinks I’m moving in here just to get closer to him, he’ll —”
He broke off there, biting his lip with a sharp tooth, and Simon squeezed his shoulder, gave it a hard little shake. “He shall no,” he said, voice flat. “He knows I shall no risk another Skai in this now. No when this shall only draw Ulfarr’s eye. Ach?”
Oh. Wait. So this thing with Baldr moving in — thiswasn’treally a reward, after all. No, it was about —Ulfarr, and this whole heightened rivalry between him and Simon. Because of… Maria. Because she wasn’t…safe? Enough that she needed constantguarding?
Her thoughts had flashed back to that instant in the corridor, to the way Ulfarr had blocked her in, trapping her,mockingher. Not because he’d truly desired her, but because he wanted to punish Simon. He wanted to…killSimon, and steal everything he owned. He wanted to stealher.
An unpleasant chill trickled up Maria’s back, hardening into a full-on shudder — to which both Simon and Baldr snapped around to look at her. Simon’s eyes with a mulish wariness, Baldr’s with visible concern.
“You need not fear this, Maria,” Baldr said, after an instant’s stillness. “We shall keep you safe. This is why Simon asked me to come. Your welfare is now his most pressing priority, ach?”
