I don’t know if letting her talk to her people will help. Truthfully, the main reason I agreed to it is becauseshethinks it will. I have my doubts, but I know I’m biased. I’d rather burn Concord City to the ground. Put an end to this once and for all.
But it wouldn’t be fair to all the innocent people in Concord City. Some of them mean something to the woman who sleeps in my bed. Her parents. Her sisters. Her best friend. She’s told meabout them. They’re as innocent as she is. They don’t deserve to be damned for a political agenda they have nothing to do with.
My crown is currently on the table beside me, but the weight is heavier than it’s ever been. I finally fall asleep, wondering if I’ve grown too soft to protect Uzrirgard. Wondering if my edges are so dull I’m not fit to wear the crown of my ancient bloodline anymore. My war council may be doubting my abilities, especially after I disregarded all their plans, but those are problems to deal with after I get some rest.
When I wake up, Clover’s head is still on my leg. My hand is still on her shoulder. Her hair is in front of her face again, so I brush it away, but that causes her to stir. She smiles when her beautiful brown eyes open.
“Good morning,” she practically sings her greeting. “Were you able to rest?”
“As long as I could,” I rasp, sitting up. “But I need to get back to my office. If you’re going to address your people tonight, I need to make sure everything is prepared.”
“I’ll bring you some coffee,” she offers, kissing my leg before pulling away.
It isn’t enough rest. Not even close. But it’s more than I’ve had in days, and for the first time since Highton’s speech, my thoughts don’t feel like rusted gears grinding in my skull.
I watch her get dressed in the clothes she was wearing yesterday and leave before I get out of bed. There’s something different coiled inside my stomach, and it’s not just because of what I’m dealing with. It’s emotions I buried long ago. Maybe this trouble is bringing them to the surface again. Or maybe it’s her.
I don’t really have time to sit down for breakfast, but the sight of her sitting at the breakfast table makes me miss our quiet, uninterrupted mornings. I turn toward the door. Then toward the table. Then back toward the door like a fool trying to choose between a burning kingdom and a warm meal. I can spare a few minutes. That may not be the case later, so I should take advantage of the time I have.
“It was nice being able to sleep so close to you last night,” she offers, sipping her milky brown sludge. She smiles faintly. “Sometimes I get a little cold when I’m by myself on the other side of the bed. You’re nice and warm.”
“Yes, orcs give off more body heat than humans,” I say dismissively like I normally do, but something tightens in my stomach. “If you’re ever cold, you can move closer to me.”
“Thank you,” she chirps, her sweet smile turning genuine. “Do you need anything today, or should I just entertain myself?’
I take a bite of my eggs and watch as she does the same. We’re going to let her talk to her people tonight, but we won’t start preparing for that until later. Still, it might help her stay focused if she’s not distracted by books or movies or whatever else she finds to entertain herself with today.
“Why don’t you stick with me today?” I suggest. “I’ll be busy, but we can talk about what you’re going to say tonight. Make sure you don’t miss any critical points.”
“Of course,” she agrees, her smile getting even wider.
After breakfast, we go to my office. I move a chair over so she can sit beside me at my desk. I’ve got a few meetings to get through before I can discuss anything with her. The first is with Lady Sharog. She’s in charge of taking care of the humans that weresent here, but I’m more concerned about the testing being done on the food.
I start the meeting and Lady Sharog appears on the screen a few seconds later. The orc wrinkles her nose when she sees Clover sitting beside me, but she doesn’t say anything about it.
“Are our human guests still doing okay?” I ask.
“They’re guests now?” Lady Sharog sighs with raised eyebrows. “They’re fine. Restless, but fine. They’ve been asking when they’ll be able to leave the hotel.”
“I’m not sure if I’m ready for that yet, but we can allow them access to the entertainment area near the hotel,” I offer. “Take them in small groups and make sure they have plenty of guards. If any of them try to escape, they don’t get to leave the hotel again until we figure out what to do with them.”
“If they try to escape, they should be whipped,” Lady Sharog argues. “They should havealreadybeen whipped.”
Clover shudders and I notice it. That tightens my stomach again, because I regret dragging her down to the dungeon and scaring her half to death. She may have been ready to accept her Reparations Penalty with as much dignity as she could, but she was still terrified.
“We’re not whipping humans anymore. At all,” my voice relaying that I am not to be argued with. I squeeze Clover’s little hand. “We don’t need reparations anymore, so the humans should no longer be penalized for what happened two hundred years ago. It’s not like any of them had anything to do with it.”
Clover likes what I said but Lady Sharog doesn’t. I can see it in her eyes. But that doesn’t matter. I’m the king and my word is law.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” she replies dutifully, glancing at Clover again. “Understood.”
“The main thing I care about is the food the humans sent,” I growl. “Why is it taking our scientists so long to test it?”
“They’re trying to be thorough, Your Majesty, but I got a report this morning,” she says, her hands moving like she’s typing something. “From what our scientists can tell, what President Highton said is accurate. The testing hasn’t revealed anything unusual about the food, other than the size. That’s likely because they were grown using advanced hydroponics.”
“Alright, tell them to keep what they need for testing. Lock down the rest until I decide what to do with it,” I growl. “I’m sure some of it has already rotted.”
“Surprisingly, no, Your Majesty,” she replies. “It seems to last longer than what we grow. We didn’t even have to store and revive any of it for the testing.”
