Page 141 of The Orc Outcast's Miracle

He blinked and Miranda smiled into his face. Her gaze softened as she stroked him again. “Govek, I don’t wish that for a second, because that death brought me here. To this world that needs saving.”

Govek wetted his lips. “Evythiken... I forced the truths out of him and wrote them down for you. So that you don’t have to see him to know what lies ahead for this world. For Faeda.”

He didn’t want her to see him. He didn’t want that male anywhere near her.

But he would allow it if she wanted it.

“Thank you so much,” Miranda said. “But that’s not the most important thing now. That task is for him. My job for Faeda is done. And it was a horror, but it’s brought me here”—she stroked down his face again—“to you.”

She forced him to look at her. Take in the gravity of her words. The sincerity. “I would endure a thousand deaths like that if it meant getting to meet you again. Getting to call you my mate. Just as you said you would go through a thousand hardships.”

She broke down, her eyes flooding with tears. “I’m so grateful to them, Govek. I’m so sad that Earth is gone, but so, so grateful I’ve been given a second chance. I swear I’m going to make the most of it. I won’t take it for granted for even a second.”

Govek crushed her to him. His lips found hers again. He couldn’t bear to hear her cry for another moment. For the rest of her life, he would do everything in his power to keep the tears from her eyes. To ensure happiness was the only thing she ever felt again.

“I love you, Govek,” she said, and he felt that love in every part of his being, soaking into his soul.

The Fades had given him this. This joy. This love. They’d saved this woman and brought her to him. He wasn’t sure a lifetime of reverence would be enough to thank them.

But one thing he did know, he would cherish their gift—his mate, Miranda—with every fiber of his being.

And then Miranda made him the promise she couldn’t so many days ago.

She looked into his eyes, soaking him with her love and light.

“I vow to you, Govek, I will be with you for the rest of our lives.”

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

GOVEK

Govek gripped Miranda’s hand as they walked through the warrior’s disheveled and noisy camp.

Everything was in chaos. Some of the males were already packing to leave, but most were fighting in a makeshift dueling ring. They challenged each other to bloody battle and fought viciously to win.

The prize being the chance to stay in the Rove Woods.

“Why?” Miranda asked. She flinched as one male landed a particularly nasty punch. “Won’t they all be coming back anyway?”

He took a deep breath of the glorious, crisp air, looking at the brightness of the trees, felt the hum of the Fades deep beneath the ground, beckoning and soothing.

“I guess there is war out there... isn’t there?” Miranda said softly and Govek nodded.

“There is, and some of the clans they will need to move are particularly entrenched.”

Change was coming to these woods and to their land of Faeda. Govek could not imagine how different the Rove Woods would be once every orc on this side of the Wyin Mountains was moved into their borders.

But according to Evythiken, it would be better than the horrors the land outside would soon sustain.

“They are remaking us.” That is what the seer had said to him before Karthoc dragged him off to hunt Viravia. “And all we can do to ensure our survival through the chaos is get out of their way.”

And out of the way meant under the Great Rove Tree.

Fuck, it was going to be thousands of orcs. Would it even be possible?

“Govek.” Brovdir moved out of the crowd. His eyes were dark and his posture slumped. Govek felt some guilt over his cousin’s plight, knowing that Karthoc had forced Brovdir into the role of chief because Govek had refused to take it.

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