Page 8 of The Orc's Wife

When it turned out the only things I could possibly throw were some of Urgan’s weapons and helmets, all neatly put away in a large wooden chest, I sat down on the bed with a huff. All of that sharp, pointy metal was much too heavy to throw around.

And I didn’t want to cut my ear off by accident.

I sighed. The rooms were painfully bare. Sitting locked up in such a comfortless place would be torture.

The only thing that interested me was the bathroom. We hadn’t had anything like this at home. All my life, I had relieved my needs in an outhouse or under a bush somewhere. Here, this was impossible. How could I run up two levels of stairs, through the beautiful palace hall, and outside every time I wanted to go?

It was only natural the orcs had come up with a different solution.

The bathroom was big on account of the enormous bathtub. It must have been made specifically for an orc, because a human could drown in it. Aside from the metal monstrosity, there was also a circular trap in the floor. When I opened it, it revealed a deep, black hole, and a whiff of excrement.

Aha.

I eyed the hole nervously. I had an irrational fear that if I squatted over it, something evil and hungry would reach up from the reeking depths and bite my bottom. The hole was much deeper than it had been in our outhouse.

Brushing my worries away, I turned to the bathtub. But before I could start figuring out how to make the water flow, there was a loud knock and a voice calling at the door. And then, the sound of the key turning. I shot out of the bathroom, my heart pounding.

A human girl was in the room. She was wearing a servant’s apron, and her blonde hair was modestly tied up in a braid. When she saw me, her young, freckled face split in a cheerful smile. She curtsied.

“I am Mina, my lady. Your maid,” she said.

I returned her smile with relief, the wheels already turning in my head. She was the key to my freedom and a mine of information, I just knew it.

“So, you are Urgan’s servant?” I asked. “Call me Una.”

“Yes, my lady Una. I am one of the general’s personal servants, now entirely at your disposal.”

Entirely at my disposal. That was entirely wonderful.

“So, I’d like to take a quick bath first. And I need a dress and a pair of shoes. Something clean and respectable I can go out in. And when I’m dressed, we’ll go to the city, Mina. You’ll show me around.”

Mina’s smile faltered slightly, but she nodded and hurried to the bathroom. She showed me how to make the water flow, explaining about an underground source of hot water that had been harnessed to make bathing in the palace even more luxurious. Soon, I was scrubbing myself in a wonderfully warm bath while she was out looking for a dress.

While the sweat, grime, and fear were melting off my skin, I was studiously avoiding any thoughts of Urgan. He was being the unreasonable one, not I. That was all there was to it, and I would not spoil my mood thinking about him.

I pretended the tiny pang of guilt and apprehension in my chest was just a cramp.

Soon, Mina returned and showed me how to make the dirty water go down the drain. She wrapped a soft sheet around me, and I dried myself as best I could, wringing out my hair, too.

The dress was too large but finer than anything I had ever worn. Made of soft, green fabric that shimmered slightly in the light, it hung down my body in graceful lines, making me look slightly bigger and fluffier. I liked looking bigger. It made me seem stronger.

Mina expertly pinned up the too long hem, making the dress end just above my ankles.

The shoes, made of soft leather and wonderfully snug, pinched my toes slightly.

It turned out I was wearing Mina’s sister’s wedding clothes, which she had no use for now. And even those clothes Mina had had trouble procuring. Humans rarely wore finery now, and there weren’t any human ladies in the palace. Almost all humans were servants now.

“And as an orc’s mate, you will not be considered human,” Mina said, running a comb through my still wet hair. “You are a sort of an honorary orc. That’s why as soon as a seamstress will be available, she’ll come and fit you up with a wardrobe like for an orc lady. You’ll be more respected wearing a leather dress, lady Una. This is what Oriana wears.”

“Who’s Oriana?” I asked, my voice strained. Untangling all the knots in my hair was awfully painful, although I wasn’t about to complain. All that tangle was a result of many intense mating rounds with Urgan and my previous lack of a comb.

“Why, she’s the general’s grandmother!” Mina explained, sounding affronted at my ignorance.

I grimaced, remembering that Urgan had told me he had a human grandmother. I wanted to believe she would be my ally, seeing as we both were human women mated to orcs, but she was also my grandmother-in-law, and that never boded well.

“How old is she?” I asked, trying to imagine an elderly lady clad in orc leathers, and failing.

“Over 70 for sure,” said Mina. I thought I detected disapproval in her voice.

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