Page 14 of Her Orc Blacksmiths

She palms her forehead in a gesture of exasperation. “Honestly, humans baffle me. Yes, the tea.” She walks over to the chest, digs through it, and unearths a small pot of what must be the tea she’s talking about. “Here. Drink it every morning, a teaspoon in hot water. It’ll prevent you from getting pregnant unless you want that. When you run out, just ask Ivy for more. Or Taris, our herbalist.”

“Oh!” I take the jar and hide it in my saddlebag. “I-I won’t need it. Not yet.”

The idea of talking so freely about these things—and with a woman I only met a day ago—should be strange, but Ritta sounds so matter-of-fact, I can’t even be embarrassed about it. It’s refreshing and much better than any talk I’ve ever had with my mother.

She shrugs. “But now you have it if you do.”

The moment we step out into the corridor, Torren waits there. He’s so tall, he seems to take up a lot of space, but it’s his smile that really pulls in my attention—it makes him look younger and less severe, and I can’t help but return it.

“Have fun,” Ritta says from behind me.

I turn to see she’s already heading in the other direction, likely going toward the great hall for breakfast.

“Can you tell Rose I’ll see her for lunch?” I call after her.

She waves to say she will and disappears around the corner. I face Torren slowly, very aware all of a sudden that we’re alone in the corridor. I don’t know where the inhabitants of the other rooms are or if anyone even lives in them, but there’s just the two of us now.

“Good morning,” Torren says. “Did you sleep well?”

I swallow down my nerves. “Yes. Ritta’s day bed is extremely comfortable. Did you?”

“I didn’t sleep at all,” Torren says with a grin. “It’s not every day you meet your mate, and I couldn’t wait to see you again. I went for a bath in the middle of the night, then stopped in the kitchens on my way here.”

He nudges his boot against a large woven basket I didn’t notice until now.

“What’s this?” I ask, though now that I’m paying attention to the basket and not Torren’s beautiful eyes, I can already smell freshly baked goods.

He shuffles his feet a little. “Well, I thought we might have breakfast together.”

My heart melts at the bashful smile he gives me.

“Of course,” I say, smiling right back. “I’d love to.”

He picks up the basket and offers me his arm, and I take it, trying not to squeeze his muscles too much. I doubt he’d mind—but I don’t want him to think I’m groping him. He smells incredibly nice, too, so it’s all I can do not to lean into him and sniff.

But then he does just that—he stops at a crossroads in the tunnels, curls his big body around me, and gives me a warm embrace while he inhales deeply.

“I’m sorry.” He releases me. “I needed to make sure that I hadn’t only dreamt what happened last night.”

I fight the blush heating my cheeks because I had the opportunity to notice that he was hard all over when he hugged me. “I thought you said you didn’t sleep,” I quip.

He lets out a low chuckle that does strange things to my insides. “Aye, sweetheart, that’s true.”

He takes my hand and places it back in the crook of his elbow. Now that I got the hug I didn’t know I was craving, I can focus better on our surroundings. We’re not heading for the great hall or the baths. Instead, the signpost at the next tunnel junction announces that we’re walking toward for the main gate.

“We’re going outside?” I ask.

He frowns down at me. “Would you rather stay inside?”

I shake my head quickly, not wanting to admit I’d been hoping for him to show me his room. Of course, that would have been much too soon, and too forward of me.

“There’s a place not far from here,” he tells me as we reach the narrow entrance hall, “where I like to go anytime I need a break from the forge.”

I note the tense set of his jaw. “I heard Morg works in the forge with you.”

He shoots me a quick look, then focuses on hailing one of the guardsmen who waves back, then writes something on a piece of paper, likely marking our departure from the Hill.

“Aye, Morg works at the forge,” he says carefully.

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