Page 19 of Ogres Don't Play

He shifted until his body was against my side, warmth and strength that made my neck tingle and also relieved some of the itching of my thigh. I rubbed against him subtly, hardly any motion at all, so Lanise wouldn’t see and sit on me. Rook rumbled deep in his chest, and I wondered if he was going to start snoring, but no, it was more like a purr. The sound and the vibrations were so good against my itchy body. I wriggled against him, almost forgetting Lanise in my delicious relief from agonizing itching, but then Rook rolled over, his arm falling over me so I was tucked against his chest in a solid ogre cave that completely hid me from my bodyguard intern.

I rubbed my itchy skin against him while he purred, rich, deep, as satisfying in its way as the scratching.

At some point, I stopped itching, and was so warm and cozy that I fell asleep instead of planning something elaborate. It’s not like I could do much with my hands tied, anyway.

I woke up with music playing in the background along with his deep breathing, music that played through me all the way to my bones, music that was like sunshine on the water, or daffodils bobbing in the breeze after a long winter, or a sushi boat when you were starving. Elvish. Elvish music was playing in the other room in time to Rook’s breathing. I was wrapped in his strong arms, my head on my shoulder, his shirt fisted in my hands like he was my precious harp. I felt… good wasn’t a big enough word. I hadn’t felt this content since I was a little girl playing duets with my brother on the balcony overlooking the water at the summer home that one time when my dad had a whole three months off from active duty. It had been the best summer ever and had ended with me being enlisted into the cubs so I could grow up to be a lion like Rich. I was so happy that I’d made it in, and my dad and brother had been so proud of me.

Now I was AWOL from a lesser guild when I couldn’t hack it in the lions. My father had never said that he was disappointed in me when I quit the harps, but he’d definitely know now that I was a weak coward who couldn’t commit to doing my duty after I’d abandoned my entire family to follow my music.

When I woke up in Rook the Luthier’s arms, I didn’t care that I’d disappointed my father and my brother. I didn’t care that the music guild was going to want to know if I’d murdered their representative. I didn’t care about the corrupt mayor and his blackmail, or the crumbling music hall, or the goblin assassins. I didn’t care about how hungry I was, or any of the big or little things in between. I only cared about the warm, wonderful skin under my forehead, the strong hand over my hip, the way every one of his breaths was like dancing, my breathing in perfect sync with his.

Nothing else could touch me as long as I was here, where I belonged, when I’d never really belonged anywhere before.

“You’re hungry,” he rumbled deep in his chest, sending ripples of sound through me that I floated on happily.

“You’re worried that I’m going to lick you again,” I mumbled, lazy and disconnected. I felt soooo good.

His laugh was low, so sweet, a sound that filled me more than a four-course meal at the best restaurant, or at home where the cook was a grumpy dwarf who was also the best cook in the world. Too bad I hadn’t learned to cook anything so I could impress Rook with some skills. Oh well. It didn’t matter because everything other than the sweet happiness was secondary. Not even secondary. First was him, second was him, third was him, and everything else was at some distant blurry point far past that. He was everything. This moment, this existence, it was what I hadn’t known I’d been searching for my whole life.

That’s when a hint of panic tangled around the edges of my happily buzzing contentment. I wasn’t a happy and contented person. Why would waking up with an ogre make me so blissful? My dad had married Hope for duty, had my brother, and then separated and divorced once their duty was completed. Then he’d married my mom for love. Angels didn’t do casual relationships. Devotion was an end-all game. If he’d been devoted to Hope, he never would have married another. He wouldn’t have given her up so easily, either. Devotion was absolute, and even though I’d had a crush on Gavriel, it hadn’t been anything close to this. This. What was this feeling of rapturous contentment other than devoted love, which made absolutely no logical sense? No, it wasn’t the lack of logic that was the problem, it was the lack of angelic blood. I had my duty to do, and Rook the Luthier wouldn’t be bound by angelic codes of conduct like devotion and constancy. Also, and this was the thing that had me sitting up in a panic. My dad would kill him.

I stared down at Rook, who gazed back at me with a soft curl on his lips, adorable tusks just asking to be licked or something else ridiculous, laziness and contentment soaking through him like a sprinkler through green grass. Blue grass because he was blue. Anyway, he felt the contentment too, so maybe it was just a spell someone had put us under that would wear off except that I’d been struggling with attachment ever since I heard he was Rook the Luthier, and then the duet, and then him saving my life and pouring his magical energy into me and then waking up with him… it was the cherry on top of a growing mountain of trouble that neither one of us needed or wanted, but what could I do now? I was caught. Wasn’t I?

I slid off the bed and studied my hands, which were now not tied to the bed posts. “You untied me.”

His smile widened, and he put a hand behind his head, elevating it slightly. “Is that a complaint? I could tie you back up. You aren’t in danger any more. You have successfully survived a goblin assassination attempt. Congratulations.”

“Thank you. I know it’s definitely the minority, those that survive, that is. Thank you.” I’d already said that. He just lay there staring at me while I stared back, loving every line and curve of his face, the shape of him, the strength, and wanting to climb back on the bed and bury my face into his strong, beautiful chest. My dad would definitely kill him.

I took two steps away. “I need to meet my friends for sushi. They’ll be worried if I don’t come.” I had no idea what day it was, and it didn’t matter because the only thing that mattered was Rook. I must be under a spell. What else could explain these feelings of happiness as I looked at him mingled with nauseating terror at the idea of my father destroying the threat to my future and duty? You didn’t marry ogres. Did they even get married? You didn’t really marry musicians either. They were a flighty lot.We were a flighty lot more obsessed with music than anything else. Except now my priorities had flipped terrifyingly.

He sat up and stood in one smooth motion that left him too close to me, particularly when he put a hand on my shoulder and held me there so I couldn’t move away. Not that I tried. I tried to try, which wasn’t the same thing because I didn’t actually go anywhere. The only where I wanted to be was closer to him. Closer. Always. The end.

I swallowed hard as he leaned down until I could see the specks in his marvelous eyes. “I will accompany you to the sushi place.”

“Right. Good. Because otherwise I might get killed by goblins or something.”

He nodded soberly, and the smile faded for a moment before it returned better than before. “But you will be safe with me.”

I nodded back at him, as serious as death. I would be safe. He would be dead. Wait, no, he couldn’t come with me. I needed him to not be anywhere close to me, or he’d die. I’d come back from gob death. Not that I cared about the death part because my brain was thoroughly scrambled. But how could I leave him? That would be a million times worse than death. My life would be the empty desolate wasteland it had been before I’d woken up in his arms, completely bound to him.

Um. What? This was definitely a spell. Could I fight it? I didn’t want to. I was tired of being cold and lonely and overwhelmed with absolutely everything in the world. I wanted to feel like this instead. Happy. I’d kill anyone else he showed any interest in and become one of those insane females who dragged a man off to her cave. I didn’t have a cave, so that was clearly out of the question. I could get a cave. It would have to be huge because he took up so much space, and we’d have to have room for instruments and a very big bed, but not too big becauseI needed to be snuggled up against him every time I fell asleep for the rest of my life.

I blinked twice, slowly, trying to break the spell that I was aware of, even if I couldn’t so much as resent it. “Do you feel…weird?”

His hand ran down my back from my shoulder to my waist, his hand broad enough to span the whole of it. “Always.”

I was going to kiss him. Always. I leaned towards him, but then a trill of delicate laughter had me looking towards the door. I didn’t like that sound. It was too sweet, pure, perfect. Wait. Since when did I not like beautiful voices? I’d completely lost my mind. “Who’s that? Not Lanise.”

“I asked some of my employees to come and open the shop while I clear up the issue with your safety.”

I looked up at him and the rest of the world drifted away while I moved closer until I was leaning against his chest, staring up into his mesmerizing, beautiful, compelling, irresistible eyes like an ogre addict or something else ridiculous.

My stomach rumbled, and I straightened up, then realized that I was wearing the black linen shirt that he’d been so offended by me wearing last time. I tugged on the hem and tried to look at something other than him. All those beautiful, fascinating instruments, and I didn’t care, because none of them were close to as beautiful as he was. This was not me.

“Right. I’ll get dressed and…” I had no clothes here. I cleared my throat. “I’ll just go to the apartment in the Lydian and get some things.”

“No need. I had some clothing brought for you.” He tugged on the hem of my shirt, pulling me back against him, which was exactly where I wanted to be, his heart beating under my palms like the perfect drum line to my life.

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