Page 56 of The Orc's Wife

“Time to go.”

It was Grikh’s voice, but he wasn’t speaking to us. With one precise hit, he felled one of the guards, who were standing by us, completely still in their confusion. Another orc killed the other guard and ran off to deal with the others.

I looked around. While almost everyone’s attention was on Oriana and the Imperator, Urgan’s warriors were in the crowd, killing quickly and efficiently. Barely a groan escaped those who fell at their feet.

The Imperator slumped to the ground, trying to crawl away from Oriana. His lips were moving, trying to speak, but no sound came out.

Oriana gripped his axe, breathing heavily, and swung it high with a scream of pure rage. Her wiry, strong muscles tensed under the load… She let the axe fall, and the blade stuck in the Imperator’s neck. He stilled.

In the silence that followed, Oriana straightened and looked at the crowd with feverish eyes.

“Urgan the Bloodthirsty defeated the Imp!”

And then she fell, unconscious.

I screamed and tried to rush to her, but Grikh held me firmly in place.

“Stop. You must go with Urgan. Help him keep standing. Someone will get Oriana out of here.”

A few servants ran up to her and carried her out of the ring in the growing chaos. Orcs were finally realizing what was happening, looking at their fallen neighbors, screaming, running around, falling, too…

“There’s a dais where musicians were to play,” Grikh said. He stepped to Urgan’s other side and let him lean against him. “Come on. Up you go.”

We shuffled through the crowd, and the chaos was getting to my head, my thoughts unraveling. How was Urgan supposed to speak now? How could we calm the panic around us?

Grikh helped Urgan up, and then he stood behind Urgan’s back but without touching him. Urgan leaned some of his weight on me, not much, but enough to make me wince. I forced myself to keep standing, to support him, to wipe my face off the pain…

Urgan roared.

One moment, he was trembling against me, weakened beyond recognition, and the next, he was roaring, making the crowd stop and spin to us, their eyes filled with fear. Their attention was on us.

“I defeated the Imperator through the hands of my human grandmother!” he bellowed. “I am Urgan the Bloodthirsty, and I am your Imperator! And my human mate, Una the Brave, is your Empress!”

The orcs were watching us, stunned and baffled. And then came the cheers. But not from the orcs.

The multitude of servants, until then almost invisible, screamed in one voice. So many human men and women were shouting and screaming, pledging their allegiance… And then, the orcs were falling to their knees, and those who failed to kneel were quickly cut down by Urgan’s warriors in the crowd.

It was done. The coup was done. We had won.

Grikh was at Urgan’s side again, helping him down the steps, another orc joining us.

“Me people will spread the news and keep the peace in the city, Imperator,” he told Urgan and disappeared.

“To my rooms,” Urgan said through clenched teeth. “Send us the human healer. And sort the mess in the palace while Durug works in the city. You are my second in command.”

Grikh gave Urgan a grin.

“I’ll stand in for tonight. But you know you must be up on that throne tomorrow.”

Urgan only groaned. I followed, not daring to let his hand out of my grip.

I couldn’t lose him again.

Chapter 19

Urgan

His weariness overcame him as soon as they reached his quarters. Grikh left after saying he would post trusted guards in front of the door, and Urgan walked to the bed with a last spurt of effort before he fell on top of it, exhausted.

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