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“Make sure you remember to breathe.”
His sharp gaze landed on my face once more. “Why?”
I slipped one of his knives from a sheath at his side and brandished it near his nose. “If you hold your breath, waiting for me to give in, you’ll pass out.”
“Ineverpass out.”
Some did. “Anyway. Don’t think I’ll be easy to win or plant orclings in.”
His laugh burst from his lungs, full and throaty. His hand snapped out, stealing the knife from me with ease. He returned it to the sheath.
“I hate you.”
He just snorted, and that irksome, knowing look remained in his eyes. “For now.”
How could he be so sure I’d love him?
“I’ve never craved sex, and I certainly won’t with you,” I snapped.
“You will.”
Argh! I wanted to smack him, but I didn’t quite dare. First, I was a healer, not one who dispensed harm.
Second, he was an orc, a fearsome, raging beast according to human legends.
Third, he was very good with his mace.
Although I’d seen nothing beastly about him. He’d killed the shayde, but who wouldn’t? Eat or be eaten, and shaydes loved our flesh. Still, he must be beastly inside. And extra snarly.
Jaus was so easily irritated, it was fun to poke him. I’d never learned to control my mouth, and I wasn’t about to start now.
“As for my strength, I’ll soon surprise you. Mine is inside.” I looked up at him, studying him like he did me. I’d seen a few orcs when they came near the fortress, hunting shaydes or discussing the change of guard with those working along the fortress fence. But they always came at night. I’d never had the chance to view one of them up close and in broad daylight.
Jaus’s windblown hair hung past his shoulders in a wild disarray, and it was softer than the finest silk. I’d discovered this when Feyla banked to the right sharply to avoid a flock of birds, and I clutched Jaus’s shoulders.
What would it be like to run my fingers through it, to kiss along his jawline until I could bury my face in the thick strands?
Kissing him was a foreign concept. I’d never thought of orcs as attractive. They were the stuff of nightmares.
Sadly enough, it wasn’t hard for me to feel desire for this devastatingly handsome orc. If I didn’t take care, he could be my downfall. He’d made it clear he didn’t want me, that he never would.
My heart pinched at the thought. I didn’t wanthim. I should be grateful he wouldn’t force me.
I was not a true maiden, though he’d called me that earlier. Before my parents died and I had dedicated myself to my sister, I’d been with a man, one I thought I might wed. He asked another when I gently nudged him away.
Sex wasn’t anything to ache for, however, at least not with the man I thought I might marry.
With Jaus? Hopefully I could hold on to my will and resist him.
Feyla flew lower, so close to the buildings, her claws could brush across the sharply peaked roofs. Unadorned, the walls of the single and even three-story homes appeared incredibly smooth. If a ferocious creature tried to scale them, their claws would not find purchase. The attacker would slide down the surface and land hard on the ground.
With a subtle nudge of his heel, Jaus directed Feyla to the right. If I wasn’t sitting in his lap, I’d miss how carefully he controlled her with a series of complex foot commands.
“I know nothing about voxes,” I whispered, though no one could hear but us. A few mounted voxes flying along the coastline were the only other beings in sight.
“You’ll learn.”
Feyla swept even lower, flying at an angle above the polished cobbled streets weaving among the buildings. We passed a big open market full of orcs hawking their wares, but I didn’t see a single woman. Were they kept hidden inside?
