Page 36 of The Orc's Wife

So when the door swung open, the sound accompanied by Urzulah’s excited giggle, I felt nothing. No fear. No apprehension. I was mildly interested to see what would happen, the same way I might be idly interested in an unremarkable stranger I had just met.

I hoped she would kill me quickly, but then again, what did it matter? What was physical suffering to the pain of my broken heart? It would only be an inconvenience.

Well, as it turned out when Urzulah hit me, I had been wrong. Because physical pain had a wonderful ability of muffling the pain inside.

When Urzulah backhanded me again, sending me sprawling to the floor, I was shaking with silent laughter. It felt good, that pain. Like trying to stick your tongue into a hurting tooth. It felt inconsequential, shallow, even pleasant, like the aroused throbbing of my core.

So I stood up, a grin on my face, my hair a wild tangle, and I faced Urzulah again.

She was panting now. She had entered the room with a wide smile on her face, almost bouncing on her feet like a child excited about a new toy. She wasn’t smiling now. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought she was looking at me with respect.

I was also quite certain she had been pulling her punches. I would have been dead if she hadn’t.

“You sick, filthy human,” Urzulah spat. “If I hadn’t been told to keep you alive, I would…” she trailed off, her eyes going up to the ceiling. Her mouth was moving, but no sound came out. I tilted my head to the side, patiently waiting for her to finish the thought. “I would rip out your entrails and drape them around my bed!”

She looked at me with a proud spark in her eye. When I didn’t react, she stomped her foot.

“Why aren’t you afraid? Every human is afraid of an orc ripping out their entrails!”

I blinked at her, wondering whether to answer. But the pain in my face had turned into a low throbbing, and my heart was once more bursting with the grief and hurt of Urgan’s rejection. So I spoke to make her angrier.

“Why? Because when I think about how your bedroom would stink if you did that, it seems worth it. You wouldn’t be able to get rid of the stink of entrails for months. It would be in your bed. In your clothes. In your hair.”

Urzulah shuddered with disgust. And then, she dry-heaved. I almost laughed. Now, I was the one in power, even if she was stronger.

All it had taken was for me to realize how worthless my life was.

“You’re disgusting. Filthy, rotten human,” she said, clenching and unclenching her fists. She was itching to hit me again. “No wonder Urgan threw you away.”

My smirk slid off my face, and Urzulah straightened in triumph.

“All that scheming wasn’t really necessary, was it?” she said, stalking closer. “After all, he just threw you away himself. I shouldn’t have bothered arranging that attack on you in the city.”

“That was you?” I asked, although I didn’t really care. “Well, it failed, didn’t it?”

Urzulah grabbed my hair in her fist and drew a single claw down my cheek, painting a line of stinging pain in my flesh. I didn’t even flinch.

“Who cares? I had my father cover it for me. Then, he was still afraid the army would rebel if he attacked Urgan openly. But now… Now, the army is divided. We won, little human. The strong always do.

“And I’ll win your mate, too, one way or another. Soon, he’ll be screaming my name. Maybe you can even hear if you strain your filthy human ears.”

She pushed me, and I fell painfully, hitting my tailbone. I didn’t understand what she had just said, what it meant, but her words felt ominous. Something was wrong with Urgan’s plans. And… He would be screaming her name? Was she really hoping he would court her now? Become her mate?

My head was starting to throb, one more point of pain and sorrow in my body.

“I’ll be going to bed now,” said Urzulah. “Tomorrow, you will start serving me. And you’ll keep serving me until the end of your days, scum. I’ll make sure you have a long life.”

She walked out of the room. There was no sound of the key turning, and soon I knew why: two other human girls entered the chamber a few minutes later. Then, the door was locked from the outside, trapping us all together.

“We can only whisper very quietly,” one of them, a short, gaunt-faced blonde said. She was wrangling her hands nervously, and her eyes looked feverish. Her body was much too thin, much too frail. I wondered if she was ill.

The other girl, a taller, plumper brunette, put her arm around the shorter girl, making soothing sounds.

“Shh, you’re safe. We’re safe here until morning.”

The blonde gave her a nod and turned back to me.

“You’re Una,” she said, and instantly started chewing on her lip.

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