Page 35 of The Orc's Wife

If protecting his mate was the last thing he did, it was worth it. Even if he hurt her by doing it.

And yet, the betrayed, broken look he saw in her eyes when the servants were dragging her away would haunt him for the rest of his days.

Good thing his days were numbered.

When Una was gone, the Imperator stood up with Ragan by his side. Urgan congratulated himself on his good sense. Now, Una wouldn’t be seen with him. No one would associate her immediately with his fall from grace.

“And now, it’s time for our second celebration,” the Imperator said, commanding the room. “For we have caught a traitor in our midst!”

Shouts of confusion and outrage filled the room. Urgan remained standing, proud and tall.

The Imperator gestured with his hand, silencing the room.

“And it is none other than Urgan the Bloodthirsty!”

An inferno of noise broke out, a horrible chaos as people clambered to their feet or shuffled on the benches, trying to distance themselves from him. He gave them a grim smile just as a force of ten palace guards – who owed him no loyalty at all – surrounded him.

“I gave you everything,” the Imperator was saying, always one for cheap entertainment and affected speeches. “I ignored your low standing, your tainted blood, your questionable parentage. Because I saw a talent in you, I gave you training. Gave you weapons. I gave you opportunities to fight and bring home victories.

“And my only daughter, the heiress to my throne, wanted to give you herself!”

The crowd gasped at that. Clearly, they hadn’t been aware Urzulah had been pursuing him.

The Imperator stopped speaking to let the courtiers express their shock and anger, and challenging Urgan with his eyes to speak.

But Urgan knew whatever he said wouldn’t save him, so he remained silent, pretending this performance wasn’t affecting him. He even let a mocking smile play on his lips, enjoying how it infuriated the Imperator.

“But now, it is clear blood will out!” the Imp raged. Urgan yawned, startling an orc female into a giggle, which she immediately covered with a fake cough. “Your filthy, human blood led you to betray all that we hold dear! You turned on your brothers in arms, on your officers, on your soldiers! Your turned on the orcs of the capital, and our entire race!”

Urgan did his best to look bored. The Imp was starting to froth at the mouth.

Good. Maybe he would kill Urgan himself, right now. This way, they wouldn’t torture him to try to get the names of other traitors out of him. Ragan didn’t know who else was involved. Even Grikh didn’t know everything. Urgan had taken care of that.

The identity of other rebels would be forever gone with him.

“This filthy traitor,” the Imp was saying, spit flying out of his mouth as he pointed a shaky finger at Urgan. “This traitor has been planning a revolution! He wanted to reinstate a human ruler! He wanted humans to rule us all!”

The feast hall turned into a pandemonium. Orcs were crying and raging, hurling curses at Urgan, or sliding to the floor in pretended swoons – something orc females had learned from human romance books. It was pitiful. Orcs never lost their consciousness from emotion alone. Maybe from a solid hit to the head.

Urgan cast a look over the heads of the grotesque orcs at the human servants cowering by the walls. Some looked surprised, or even hopeful. And some were staring at him with calculation in their eyes.

It was good the cause wouldn’t die with him, then. He had laid the groundwork. But it would take much longer without his army, and the outcome wouldn’t be as certain.

“And now, he shall suffer for it! Take him to the palace dungeons. He will be punished, and when the army that was under his traitorous command arrives, his soldiers will be allowed to execute him themselves. And we will watch. All orcs will watch as the one who would have us subject to a lower race dies for his betrayal.”

Urgan made a flamboyant bow, as if he were the one who had just given such a dramatic speech. So they were hoping to keep him alive until his troops arrived. And then, his soldiers, who were most faithful to him, would execute him themselves. The Imperator had been rather clever in thinking up this plan, Urgan had to admit.

So, he had two weeks. This was how long he would have to survive without revealing the names of the others.

It seemed like eternity.

Chapter 11

Una

It seemed like an eternity passed before the key finally scraped in the lock and the door swung open. The entire time, I had been just sitting there and not crying. A sort of unpleasant numbness descended on me. I felt like it didn’t matter whether I lived or died.

It was a peculiar feeling. I looked back at the evening, the joy of feeling Urgan’s lips on my own, the annoyance and grudging awe I had felt for Oriana, and I wanted to laugh. Had I really felt all those things? Preposterous. I was unable to feel.

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