Page 76 of Wed to the Orc Captive

Vrathgar’s voice echoed, angry, like I could have imagined him. He was scooping me into his chest, and I tried to shift my weight, heard myself screaming. Was I shattered? Could this only be bruising, when it felt like pieces of glass cutting from inside?

“Don’t try,” he said, hoarse. “Don’t try. I’ve got you.” And how was he climbing the wall and carrying me? How did that make sense, when I’d tried all night, by myself, and I hadn’t made it halfway?

“How…are you climbing?” I think I whimpered it.

Some ragged sound came out of him. “I practiced a lot. I know the way. Don’t try to hold on. I’ve got you.”

“You practiced.” I think the words slurred, squeaked. My vision was white and dark again. “How?”

We were almost at the top.

“I was terrified I’d fail, so I used to come down here, over and over.” He grunted as he took our weight on that leg.

“There are monsters.”

“I know. You’re safe now, alright?”

I tried to ignore another wave of agony, cling to his neck, with what little strength was left to me. “You could have died,” I whispered.

A sound like exhaustion. “I wasn’t afraid of dying, ’Nora. I was afraid to fail.” We reached the lip, and he pulled me with him.

I was aware that there were people there, watching us, murmuring, more of them, suddenly, like I was losing time. Grezha’s face loomed over me. I was still in Vrathgar’s arms, still trying not to use any of the muscles that screamed, the bones I feared were broken. She was touching my arms, my legs, speaking the sibilant bark that I couldn’t understand.

Somewhere across the sunlit glen, Rowena was running towards me. Her hand found my forehead, and at first heat I rebelled against the magic flowing into me, recoiled from the power that wasn’t mine. But no, Grezha was here, and she was trying to help, and Vrathgar was over me, looking so beautiful and devastated, and I had to let it in. The bonds coiled around my tongue again as I heard Grezha’s voice resolve to clarity.

“What hurts? Girl-child? Tell me what is hurting.”

The magic felt so gross on my throat. “...everything.”

Vrathgar’s grip tightened.

My view of part of the crowd went clear, and Sareet stood there, her stance unworried, relaxed. “So,” she said, the Orcish rolling against my mind like a wave. “The pet failed.”

Vrathgar’s voice snarled. “How dare you?”

“How dare I what?” she scoffed. “I gave her a chance to belong here.”

“Never have the people required the ascension of one from outside our clan!”

“Yes, because anyone we married was proved among their own people. Because any woman marrying from outside the clan was blooded!” Her voice rose, and with it the murmurs behind him.

His voice shook. “You could have killed her.”

“We gave her a chance to earn her place. Like we all had.”

“You think this is fair? You know you crossed the line! You break the ways!”

“You want to talk about the ways? You abandoned them when you brought us a weakling!” She pointed, spat out, “Our children do this!”

“Yes, because we train them for it!”

“Forgive me for thinking she had a chance.”

“I will not forgive you, because you had no place kidnapping my wife!”

Drazha was among the crowd, holding back, watching. Grezha pressed on my hip, and I saw stars.

Sareet was still speaking, still secure with her arms crossed over her chest. “You want to be angry? Your human pet is lucky that Larrakh was soft and stayed.”