Page 29 of Bound to the Orc Warlord

“Then I suppose you’d better keep me warm.” The words slip out. Damn. There goes my poor attempt to hide my lust.

But she offers me an impish grin. “Just like you’ll keep me from floating away.”

With a grunt, I continue on, pulling her through a stand of pine and blue birch to the edge of a small creek. Relief goes through me, for I truly am thirsty. I’ve ignored it for several hours, not wanting to deplete our supply if we failed to find another, but now that we’ve found water, my body takes over.

I drop to my knees on the pine-needle covered bank and secure her tether under one knee. Then I scoop an eager handful of water to my mouth. Cold and fresh, it courses over my tongue with such a refreshing sweetness that I moan. Over and over again, I drink, long past the time that Ashely’s stopped splashing beside me.

“Iknewyou were thirsty.” I pivot to find her studying me, and my night sight lets me see her troubled look. “Why’d you hide it from me?”

“I did not seek to hide it from you as much as I suppressed the feeling until I could do something about it.” I uncork the waterskin and fill it. “Don’t worry. Orcs are strong and hardy, and I am tougher than most.” Warrior training often involved days of going without, to prepare both the body and the mind for such hardships. Alarria is a beautiful world but not a safe one.

A pixie darts down to the water’s edge on the other side of the creek, and my bride gasps in delight. “What’s that? A pixie or a sprite?”

“A pixie.”

“One of them approached me the other day, and I could swear it said pizza, which is the wildest thing. How could anyone here know pizza?”

“Pizza!” the pixie cries out in a high ringing voice. His glowing moth wings flutter in a blur as he darts across the water to hover in front of Ashley. “You are the one who makes pizza?”

Several more bright-blue dots appear all around us, lighting the creek so the surface sparkles like diamonds.

“I mean, I like pizza, and I can put a frozen one in the oven, but make it?” She shakes her head. “I live in New York City. We don’t make pizza, we buy it.”

“No pizza!” The pixie throws up his hands and does a slow spin in the air so all the others can see the look of disgust written across his tiny glowing face.

The rest of them call out, “No pizza!” Then a series of high whistles sound from all around us, tiny arms flailing in exaggerated gestures.

“What’s that?” my bride pulls herself closer to me and whispers out the side of her mouth.

“It’s their normal speech,” I say. “It’s too fast for anyone else to understand unless they slow it down.”

“From now on, the one with the fire hair will be known as No Pizza.” The pixie in front of us gives one last whistle like an angry teakettle at full boil. Then they all flit away, into the trees, leaving us in true darkness.

A choked chuckle sputters out of Ashley, turning into a full belly laugh. She lets go of me to clutch at her stomach as she curls forward into a ball in the air, her entire body shaking.

I hold her, feeling her mirth vibrate up my arm to settle into my chest with a lightness that pulls my lips into a smile.

“No Pizza.” She unfurls enough to clutch onto my arm, laughing up at me, her smile wide. “They’re going to call me ‘No Pizza.’”

Her amusement catches me, sparking something within, and in a flash, I’m laughing with her, the sound rusty with disuse but still full of joy.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ashley

Once we return to the saddlebags, Dravarr secures me to them and quickly sets up the tent, even though he can’t use one of his hands much.

I wish I could help, but until arriving here, I’d never been camping. Instead, I hold my still-glowing crystal out to provide a little light and ask him about the pixies and pizza.

“A couple of weeks ago, another human arrived in Alarria.” He stomps a stake into the ground. “Her name’s Olivia, and one of the standing stones gave her the power to conjure food and drink.”

“There’s another woman here like me?” Pleasure ripples through me. I’m not alone. I mean, okay, I know I’m not alone-alone, what with Dravarr and Midnight and Drake. But anotherhuman… And one who got powers. “So she’s a witch, too! Can I meet her?”

“We travel to her now.” He stretches the supple leather up over the frame. “She resides in Moon Blade Village, my home.”

Anticipation bubbles through me. A village! It sounds adorable. “Tell me every—”

“Look at me!” Drake’s piercing cry cuts through the air. He swoops in from the meadow, carrying something clutched in his talons. He lands in front of me, using one last strong beat of his wings to slow. They whomp the air, the breeze blowing back my hair. “I hunted for me, and then I hunted for you.”

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