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Roktas and Drunella rifled around inside a wooden crate placed to the right of a meandering crushed stone path.
What kind of test would I have to complete? I studied the forest. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be expected to run through the woods with predators hot on my tail or—
Something whistled past my head and smacked into the wooden door behind me.
Frowning, I turned.
The shaft of an axe trembled; its steel head embedded in the door.
Chapter 11
Jarum
“Duck,” I shouted, ripping the axe from the door. So my parents had gone with one of the more physical tests, had they? I sensed my mother’s involvement in this. She wasn’t opposed to a human daughter-in-law, but she also wasn’t above doing all she could to make it hard for Kassia to pass the first test. She was so entrenched in traditions; she’d feel this was the only fair way to do it.
We’d see about that. My heart belonged to Kassia, and no one was going to give her tasks she couldn’t complete.
With a yelp, Kassia dropped behind the stone railing.
I handed the axe to her.
She stared down at it as a second smacked against the wall and fell to the deck with a rattle. “What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Throw it and hit the moving targets.”
“What targets?”
“You’ll see. I want to help you, but I can’t.”
“Why not?” she growled. “What kind of daughter-in-law test is this?”
I winced. “An orc test.”
“The movie Monster-in-Law had nothing on this shit.” With a huff, she hefted the axe. “But I love you and dammit, I’m going to be your mate. I just hope I don’t hurt someone.”
“Don’t give that a thought. Orcs are good at this. I promise you won’t cause any harm. They’ll dart out of the way. Speaking of which . . .” I leaped over the rail and landed on the lawn. I raced toward the center of this part of the gardens, calling out over my shoulder. “Make sure you hit the targets quickly! You need to hit three.”
“Ugh.” She peeked over the rail. “I . . . I . . . Whoa, there really are targets.”
I darted behind a thick wooden cutout of an upright frilladon beast complete with shaggy fur and raging red eyes. In early orc days, the axe test included real beasts, but after a few mates were eaten during the test, they did away with that.
Our targets weren’t like those I’d seen in the human world with a bullseye, but all she had to do was hit them somewhere. Even the legs would do.
“Just return the ones thrown your way and you’ll do great,” I yelled. If only I could’ve warned her, though I wasn’t supposed to.
With a snarl, she tossed an axe over the rail. It flew past me and swept through a flowerbed, severing a cluster of westoons that whimpered, their petals falling to the grass like pink confetti.
“You need to try harder,” my mother called out. I scowled at her, and she returned the gesture. “What? She needs to impress us using our traditional ways.”
Another axe landed near my father’s feet.
“Great job.” He hefted it and tossed it back at her. It smacked on the railing and tumbled onto the deck at her side.
Her next throw hit the frilladon, though with the handle.
“One down,” I yelled. “Only two left, love.”
“She didn’t hit with the axe head.” Mother’s lips were tight.
