Page 31 of The Orc's Wife

Something about Oriana made me want to impress her, and she didn’t seem like she’d take to me if I complained too much.

“I told that useless girl of yours to come here, but she’s slacking now,” she said when she was done. “I can’t braid to save my life.”

I sat up straighter.

“Maybe something happened to her?”

Oriana tsked, running her fingers through my hair.

“Now that she isn’t carrying the general’s key, no one’s going to take interest in her. Stupid fearful thing.”

I shook my head and opened my mouth to speak, but at that point, Urgan came out in all his clean, glistening glory. I forgot what I was going to say.

“I shouldn’t have given her the key,” he rumbled, trying to dry himself with a sheet of coarse fabric. “It’s my fault.”

“But her slacking is not your… Oh thank the gods, where have you been?” Oriana shouted when Mina entered the room. Urgan wrapped the sheet around his loins to keep a semblance of propriety, but Mina still blushed when her eyes fell on him.

“You told me to find out if there would be any unusual guests,” she told Oriana, looking at her feet.

“Oh, of course,” Oriana said unapologetically. “Well?”

“Decorated army veterans were invited,” she said. “And all officers who are in the capital now.”

Oriana looked sharply at Urgan, who had clenched his jaw.

“I don’t know,” he said, before she could ask. “But we’ll find out.”

Oriana ushered Mina to my side, telling her what kind of an updo she thought was suitable, and I meekly sat there, allowing them to shape me as they wished. I was following orders like a good mate. Urgan should be proud of me.

Even though it was taking all of my willpower to hold back the resentment of being pushed around like this. It seemed everyone was ordering me around, and I was obeying for fear of making another deadly mistake.

But it chafed. A lot. Urgan should have found a better way of protecting me.

I pushed those feelings down, into the deep darkness of my mind.

While Mina was working, Oriana handed me a small bottle, no larger than my palm.

“Here. If you don’t want your smell to give away your thoughts, use this. It’s the essence of Spider’s Tear, a rare berry plant that can disguise human smell from the orcs. Put just a little on the nape of your neck, just where your hair starts. That way, it will last longer. It’s very potent, so it should work even if you wash your hair. Reapply every two or three weeks.”

Urgan had told me there were substances that could disguise the smell of human fear. It was no surprise Oriana would have one, then. I thanked her and applied the essence, thinking with grim satisfaction that at least tonight, Urzulah wouldn’t be able to taunt me about my fear.

As soon as Mina had braided my hair, we went, me walking fast to keep up with Urgan. Oriana had split away, claiming she had an acquaintance to visit. She hadn’t been invited to the feast.

Before we entered the main hall of the palace, now filled with laughter, merry voices, and an insistent music of the fiddle and drums, Urgan stopped and dragged me to a quiet corner.

“You are with me,” he said. “Follow my lead. If you want to speak, do. If you don’t, remain quiet. I’ll handle it. And in the meanwhile, you can amuse yourself with watching all that opulence. One day, you’ll be the Empress of it all. My Empress.”

“I’d much rather look at you,” I whispered, staring at his scarred face, the sharp fangs now bared in a confident grin, the silver eyes that could pierce me to the depths of my soul with one look. He towered over me, broad and strong, wearing a red shirt that clashed with the color of his skin in a striking way, and leather britches.

They were so tight I was sure they would break if he as much as tensed his immense thighs. The only weapon at his belt was his sword.

I still looked tiny at his side, but at least today, I didn’t look weak. The orc attire was making me look, well, not like an orc female, but like a woman who would know what to do with a weapon if she carried one.

I wasn’t carrying any weapons.

“And I at you,” Urgan murmured, leaning down to taste my lips. He kissed me heard, pressing my body into him, and I drank in all his hard plains and ridges, all that power trapped in his body. He was invincible, and I was safe with him.

Together, we would rule the realm one day, uniting humans and orcs.

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