Page 40 of The Orc's Wife

“First, she wanted to practice on prisoners, but she killed the first one almost immediately when he spat at her, and she got angry. So, her father forbade her from touching the prisoners. She had also gotten blood and spit on herself, which disgusted her. She wanted to keep learning torture, but without the gore. And she needed to find her own subject.”

Nat stopped speaking, and I only heard rustling and shuffling, and Laya’s soft whispers.

“I had dropped something of hers that day. It was an accident, but Urzulah didn’t care. She had an idea, you see. How to make someone suffer without getting blood on herself.

“She dragged me to the brothel, the one where human women serve orcs. It’s popular but expensive. She tied me up to a pole in front of the entrance, ripped off my clothes, and told everyone I was free. They could use me as they wanted.”

I closed my eyes. Mating with an orc could be painful even if the woman wanted it and he was being considerate. But this… I couldn’t imagine it.

“And they did. In every way. Urzulah was sitting on a bench and just laughing. She watched all the time, talking to me while it happened. She would tell me how long the queue was. How silly I looked. What a poor whore I made.

“And whenever I fainted from pain, she poured cold water on me or slapped me awake even though those orcs didn’t mind I was unconscious. She minded, though. She wanted me to feel everything. All that pain.”

We were quiet for some time. My throat was closed tight, and I had no words to speak. I wondered how Nat was still alive.

“I’m all broken inside,” she said after a while. “Sometimes I… soil myself. I will never have children. Or a husband. And it hurts, almost all the time. There is an old woman in the kitchens, Savinia, and she brings me strong herbal medicine. It helps. Savinia was the one who saved me from death.”

I cleared my throat, making an awful croaking sound, and I said: “I am so sorry this happened to you. I will do anything I can to help.”

“You can do a lot,” Nat said, her voice growing quietly savage. “Mess with her head. Use her. And when you have the chance, bring her to her knees. And return power to us. When you sit on that throne by your mate’s side, make laws punishing every orc who rapes a woman. Make them pay.”

The enormity of what she was asking of me landed on my shoulders like a heavy rock, but there was no way I could refuse or make excuses. I didn’t share Nat’s conviction that we could really win and wrestle the power from the Imperator’s claws.

But now that she had told me what she wanted, I had to do my best.

“I will.”

Chapter 12

Una

We drifted off to sleep after that, but not for long. I woke with a start as the door was yanked open, and Urzulah screamed for us to wake up.

“My new slave will serve me today,” she said, watching me with a predatory glint in her eye. “You two, go to the kitchens. And you, my pretty little slave,” she said, turning to Nat and caressing her cheek with a clawed finger, “remember I know where your baby sister lives. If you run, I’ll do with her exactly what I did with you.”

Nat was pale and shaking violently when Laya was ushering her out of the chamber. The door shut behind them, and I was left alone with Urzulah.

“I have something for you to clean in my bath,” she said, motioning for me to go before her.

As soon as I entered the bath, which looked similar to the one Urgan had had, only with a narrow window, an awful stench hit my nostrils. There was a pile of steaming shit on the floor.

“Clean it with your bare hands,” Urzulah said.

I clenched my teeth to keep myself from gagging and turned to her.

“Or what? I have no sister for you to threaten. What will you do if I refuse?”

“I’ll have you whipped,” she snarled, her happy mood evaporating in an instant. She swung her arm back to hit me, and I stepped out of her way, putting the pile of excrement between us.

“You let it slip that you must keep me alive for now. You can’t risk killing me.”

She hissed like an angry cat but didn’t follow me inside. She was wrinkling her nose at the smell and casting worried looks at the mess.

“Then I’ll bring some guards in here and tell them to bugger you,” she said, beginning to smile now. “And you know what? I’ll tell them to do it in the dungeons so Urgan can hear your screams. He must still care about you, so he’ll tell my father what he wants to know. And if he doesn’t care… well, it’ll just hurt you more.”

I took a deep breath, the nerves overcoming me so much that the smell stopped bothering me. This was my lucky break. Sooner than I’d expected. I had to take this chance, and I couldn’t fail.

“If you want to make him talk, putyourselfdown there and let those guards haveyou. You are the only female Urgan cares about,” I said, doing my best to sound bitter and jealous.

---