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Because she was female, no one would touch even one hair of a precious being who might give us orclings. My mate meant much more to me than that, however, and I planned to tell her a thousand times a day once I held her in my arms again.
“Treating her decently is not enough for me,” I stormed. “I’m going to follow them. She’ll be frightened, worried about what’s happening. I need to be there to reassure her.”
“Stay here.” Madr grabbed my arm, holding me back, and if I didn’t love my brother dearly, I’d impale him with my mace. “By the time you reach the building, they’ll be halfway back on their voxes.”
Gripping his shoulder, I peered into his uncanny green eyes, so different from most orcs’ dark gold. He’d inherited them from his mother. “I don’t like this, Madr.”
“I don’t either. It’ll be all I can do not to rip the warden apart when he humbly presents himself here.” He guided me toward the parlor. “Come. Sit. Have a drink. She’ll be here before you know it.”
Gnashing my teeth, I followed him.
“You drove the dresalods away once more,” he said, taking my mace and leaning it against a wall along with his flail.
“Always.”
“My advisors are studying old texts and consulting with other kingdoms in the hope someone can help us arrive at a permanent solution.”
He waved to a sofa, but I didn’t sit. While he filled snifter glasses with a pale liquor, I paced in front of the fireplace, grumbling.
“Why are you here and not finishing off the battle?” the king asked from the doorway.
“It’s over,” I snarled, not in the mood to humor him today. “We killed as many as we could before the rest fled back into the sea.” Because he was the king and my liege lord, even though I despised him, I gave him a short bow.
“Battling doesn’t appear to have improved your mood,” he said with a sniff, crossing the room to join Madr where he was finishing pouring beverages.
My brother left our father to serve himself and brought me a drink. I downed it in one gulp, placing the glass on a nearby table with a clang.
“More?” Madr asked.
“One’s enough.”
“It might cheer you up,” the king said, turning with a drink in his hand. He watched me with speculation. “Why are you here?”
“Are you suggesting I’m not welcome?” I would no longer try to gain his praise or respect. If he was going to be nasty—which he always was—I might as well give it back as quickly as I received it. He deserved a taste of the way he’d treated me for my entire life.
He grunted and sipped his drink, watching me.
“My mate was on the wall during the battle,” I told him. “I saw the guards take her, but when I followed with Feyla, I couldn’t reach her before they took her inside the holding cells. They’ve refused to grant me access.”
“Then why haven’t you gone there?”
“I did. When they wouldn’t release her, I came here for help.” My anger fueled by fighting dropped away suddenly, and I sat again, bracing my elbows on my knees and my face in my palms. “My poor mate must be terrified, and I’m not there to hold her.”
“Ask one of the guards to go get her,” my father told Madr with a sigh.
“I already have. She should be here in no—”
The swoop of wings was followed by the scrape of claws on stone as a flight of voxes landed on the stone pad outside.
I roared to my feet and raced toward the foyer. “Rhoslyn. Rhoslyn!”
The front doors swept open, and my glorious, gorgeous mate strode inside, fury flushing her cheeks.
“I’ll kill the warden and his minions,” she snarled at the guards behind her. A whimper slipped from her lips. “Jaus fell. He could be dead, and I wasn’t there to hold him!” Spying me standing in the entrance to the parlor, her eyes widened. “Jaus, you’re alive. Jaus.” As I rushed toward her, she staggered forward, collapsing into my arms.
I swept her up and kissed her, needing her reassurance as much as she needed mine. My tiny mate was here. She appeared unharmed, and everything was right in my world once more.
I pressed her against the wall and cupped her lush ass. Her legs wrapped around me, her heels tugging me flush against her frame. I devoured her mouth, giving into the craving that threatened to consume me whenever we touched. My tongue spiraled around hers, and—
