Page 45 of The Orc's Wife

Fear. Disbelief. Utter shock. A pain beyond words. Or maybe all of those, etched on my features, turning my face into a mask of agony.

“Want to know how I know?” she asked, crouching by my side. She leaned closer, pushing her lips so close to my ear we were touching, and still, I didn’t even twitch. “I killed him myself.”

She pulled back, watching me with smug satisfaction. I didn’t react. I couldn’t.

Urgan, dead? It couldn’t be true.

But then I saw it. A speck of blood on her cheek. Her knuckles, scraped and bloody.

When she had left her bedroom that morning, she had looked pristine. Urzulah never dirtied her own hands if she could prevent it. Even if she wanted to torture someone, she had others do her dirty job.

Unless it was so personal she couldn’t keep herself from doing it.

The first stab of pain jolted through me. Urgan was dead.

He was dead.

I felt like curling into a ball and crying, only I couldn’t. Urzulah’s knife was now inches away from my face, and I didn’t dare move.

But what was the point of living? Urgan was dead.

I felt suddenly nauseous, my guts roiling, and I swallowed hard to keep the bile from rising.

And then I knew what the point of living was. I was carrying Urgan’s child. I couldn’t let myself be killed.

You are responsible, Oriana’s voice echoed in my mind.

I had to protect Urgan’s baby. My baby.

I spat into Urzulah’s face, and she recoiled from me in her instinctive disgust, the knife floundering away from my face. I rolled to my feet and jumped onto her bed, planting myself on the other side of it. Now, the bed was between us. So far, so good.

Urzulah got to her feet with a snarl and rushed around the bed to get to me, but I was on the move again, aiming for the window. If she followed me, I had a chance to get to the door…

But Urzulah knew what I was thinking. She stopped chasing me and stood in front of me, barring my way from the door. She raised her arms to the sides, and they were so much longer than mine. She had enormous reach.

I could try ducking under her arm, but I knew what would happen. She would kick at me or trip me up, sending me sprawling on the floor.

Trip. She would trip me. Suddenly, Oriana’s advice from days ago came to me.Trip her, and when she’s on the floor, go for the throat.

That was all fine and handy, but Urzulah was now slowly walking towards me, her arms raised. I had a chance of tripping her, maybe, if she rushed me. But this wasn’t going to happen.

I had backed away up to the window and felt the cold glass against my back. The bed was to my left, a wall to my right. Urzulah was getting closer, her grin so wide I could see her gums, so red against the whiteness of her fangs.

I dashed left, to the bed again, but she was ready. She grabbed the back of my dress and we tussled for a moment, but she was so much stronger, of course she was winning…

“You ugly orc!”

Urzulah’s grip on me slipped and I tore free, turning to look who had spoken.

Nat was standing on the threshold of our room, her face set in determination even though her body was trembling. Urzulah was looking between us two, no longer smiling. She was calculating her chances, and I caught the moment when she picked me as the more dangerous threat. She turned back to me and rushed me in her haste to take me down fast so she could deal with Nat.

And that was exactly what I had been hoping for.

I swiveled out of her way, almost planting myself against the wall, and pushed a low stool she kept by her bed under her feet, tripping her up.

Urzulah cried out when the edge of the stool hit her shin, and she lost her balance and toppled onto the floor. She groaned and fumbled to stand up, and I wasted a precious second to locate her knife. There! The handle was peeking from under the bed, and as I dove for it, I knew I didn’t have enough time, she would stand up before I stabbed her…

Clang! Thud!

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