When Drafli’s face drew away again, there wasbloodpooling down Baldr’s neck, staining his grey tunic. And without breaking his rhythm, Drafli slowly, deliberately turned his head toward…Maria. Showing her the blood smeared all over his mouth, his lips drawing back to bare all his sharp teeth, his eyes narrow and glittering andfurious—
Shit. Maria jerked away from the door, far too late, and dodged back for the safety of Simon’s room. Wishing, irrationally, that there was a door to slam behind her, to help block out the shocking reality happening just next door. Drafli had…bittenBaldr. And Baldr had…likedit.
And now, of course, swarming through Maria’s thoughts, were visions of Simon. DidSimonwant such things? Expect such things? Would he command her to bear it, and expect her to obey, or bribe her with yet anotherreward?
A sharp shiver rippled down Maria’s back, one that didn’t feel entirely like fear, and she groaned aloud as she thrust down the lamp, her eyes wildly flitting about the room. Catching, abruptly, on the haphazard array of armour and weapons scattered about, which she’d scarcelytouchedin her cleaning spree…
She lunged toward the nearest stack with a gulp of relief, her hands frantically digging through the mess. Separating it by type — knives, swords, scabbards, belts and baldrics — and stacking it all into neat piles on the floor around her. And then frowning as she searched the room, because there was in truth nowhere to putanyof this…
“Maria?” came a tentative voice from behind her — and when Maria whirled around to look, it was Baldr. Fully dressed in trousers and a fresh tunic, and standing a bit stiffly in the doorway. His grey-green face was suffused with pink, his gaze not quite meeting hers, and his neck looked trulyravagedwith raw, reddened, deadly-looking teeth-marks.
“Are you all right?” Maria asked, breathless, her eyes locked on his neck — and in return Baldr nodded, silent, his cheeks flushing even redder. Clearly not wanting to talk about it, and Maria swallowed hard, and forced her attention back to the piles of steel around her.
“I don’t suppose you know the best way to store these things?” she asked, her voice unnaturally loud. “There are somanyof them, and it can’t be good for them to just be scattered everywhere on the floor, right? There are hooks in the walls for some of them, but the rest are —”
She flapped her hands helplessly at the mess, and she could hear Baldr’s exhale as he strode over to stand beside her. “Ach, it is a lot,” he replied, still rather stiff. “I ken Simon should wish to keep them close at hand, so hanging ought to be best. Should you wish, I could speak to the Ka-esh upon this, as they are the ones who direct such work.”
Maria shot him a grateful smile, and in return Baldr gave an uneasy smile back. “Simon wished me to take you to our chief healer,” he said. “His clinic is just at the edge of the Skai wing, if you should come with me?”
By this point, Maria was all too enthusiastic to go somewhere,anywhere, and soon she was walking down the corridor with Baldr, eagerly glancing around in the lamplight. However, Baldr hadn’t again spoken, and the silence seemed to scrape louder between them as they walked. Enough that Maria had opened her mouth to ask about something as inane as possible, perhaps these weapon-hanging processes —
“I hope I did not,” Baldr blurted out, sudden and loud, “frighten you, Maria. I did not intend —”
He broke off there, grimacing, and Maria attempted a shrug, a lightness in her voice she didn’t at all feel. “You didn’t frighten me in the least, Baldr. Though I will admit that your Drafli is alittleterrifying, don’t you think? And he surely loathes me, though I’m not sure I understand why?”
Beside her Baldr’s shoulders had sagged, though the grimace kept twisting at his mouth. “Drafli isn’tmine,” he said, his voice thin. “Skai orcs don’t claim other orcs, or offer them fidelity, like they do with women.Ever. And Drafli doesn’t hateyou, he only” — he jerked a shrug — “struggles with women, ach?”
Oh. Maria couldn’t help a searching look toward Baldr, her head tilting. “Struggles with women how?”
Baldr sighed and ran a clawed hand against his braid, surely about to speak — but then something changed on his face, his form. His eyes narrowing, his steps slowing, his breath inhaling sharp. His body swiftly easing in front of Maria, smooth and powerful, and he suddenly seemed unnervingly large, angry, deadly.
“Little brother Baldr!” boomed a voice from up the corridor, deep and horribly familiar — and Maria flinched all over asUlfarrstrode out of the darkness ahead. He was flanked by two big, unfamiliar orcs with scarred, rugged faces, and he wassmilingat Baldr. Smiling ather.
“And our fair Maria,” Ulfarr continued, as he swaggered to a halt before Baldr, his gaze intent on Maria behind him. “What brings you away from your stubborn keeper this morn?”
Maria truly could not speak, her voice locked in her throat, and thank the gods Baldr hovered close before her, his arms crossing over his chest, his eyes narrow and unafraid. “Simon works today, to serve us all,” he said flatly. “As you well know, Ulfarr.”
But Ulfarr scoffed a laugh, his eyes still unnervingly intent on Maria. “Ach, he moves against brothers who only follow their true natures,” he said, “and leaves alone those who break the deep ways of our clan.”
Maria could feel Baldr bristling, a low hiss burning from his throat. “And thedeep waysof your clan demand you honour your Enforcer and his judgement,” he shot back. “As well as the claims your brothers make upon their mates.”
Ulfarr’s smile only broadened, his eyes mocking as they flicked to Baldr’s face. “Ach, but our pretty Maria is not a truly won Skai mate, is she?” he purred. “Just as you are not either, my pretty Grisk. No matter how oft or how easy you bend over for our right hand — or how scent-bound you keep yourself for him. Ach?”
Baldr didn’t immediately reply, and Ulfarr laughed again, lower this time. “There is naught binding you to us,” he said, his eyes sliding lazily from Baldr, to Maria, and back again. “Beyond the Skai’s deep need to spill our seed into the tightest hole, and despoil all that is fresh and pretty, until it is broken and begging at our feet. Mayhap” — his eyes settled on Maria, heavy — “our Maria, at least, shall soon learn more of this, and taste the ways of a true Skai mate. Ach?”
A hard chill ripped down Maria’s back, and she was deeply, distantly grateful for the sound of Baldr’s loud scoff, breaking into the tension around them. “Keep dreaming, Ulfarr,” he snapped. “Simon isnotabout to let her go that easily, most of all to the likes of you. Now fuck off, we have places to be.”
With that, he shoved his way past Ulfarr, dragging Maria after him by the wrist. Her feet stumbling, her heart racing, her eyes still trapped on Ulfarr, on the smug superiormockeryon his face.
“Farewell, my pretty Maria,” he crooned, low, taunting. “We meet again soon, ach?”
Baldr made a sound much like a bark over his shoulder, and pulled Maria along faster. Around a corner, down a black corridor with no doors, around another corner, up a twisty little ascent. Straight past multiple groups of new, unfamiliar orcs, some of them looking at her with curiosity, others with suspicion, others with a startling, visceraldislike.
“Woman Enforcerpaid,” one of their voices growled, as Baldr dragged her past. “CheatedSkai on rut. Not even onmouth.”
Baldr thoroughly ignored this alarming statement, but the next group was even louder, openly pointing and muttering as they passed. “She is Enforcer false mate,” one of them hissed to the orc beside him. “He no yet fuck her before us. No even scent ofsonyet, ach?”
Baldr snapped something back at these orcs, but Maria couldn’t seem to hear it over the sickening, curdling echoes in her brain.Paid. Cheated Skai. No yet fuck her before us. Not even scent of son. Need to despoil all that is fresh and pretty…
