Page 73 of Ogres Don't Play

He sighed heavily, music in every breath and movement of him. “I suppose I’ll have to put more effort into my snuggling skills.”

“You’re awake?” my father demanded as he threw open the door and walked in, golden wings spread like he was going to cut off someone’s head with them. I’d seen him do it. His wings were terrifying, although they could be cuddly when they were in the right mood. This was not that mood.

Rook sat back, letting my father get a good look at me.

“The prodigal returns home,” the commander said, gesturing at me broadly. We were doing drama then.

I wrinkled my nose at him. “That’s right. Where’s my fatted lamb?”

“You can have meat when you can chew it. You haven’t noticed? You broke your jaw.” His frown at me was definitely an accusation.

“My jaw feels fine.” More or less. Mostly less.

“That’s because you can’t feel it. Now then, let’s discuss this case, shall we?” He gave Rook a suspicious glance, like he suspected the ogre, but there’s no way he would have given me Hero, and not chopped off Rook’s head with her if he didn’t trust Rook. My husband. And my dad had married us. Wow. There were miracles all over the place.

“What case?” I asked, trying to focus.

Rook started counting off his fingers. “There was a collapsing stone wall, a goblin bomb, an elven arrow, as well as the troll.”

I looked at him in surprise. “You think Garnagth was an assassination attempt?”

Rook nodded. “How else would she have known about you? Someone transported her and her friends to Singsong City, but no one has a memory of their passing. They simply appeared. That means transported using a portal, most likely.”

My dad scowled at Rook, but it was a thinking scowl, not a killing one. No, he looked quite serene when he was channeling one of his lethal weapons. “A wall? Someone dropped a wall on you? That’s deep magic. Goblin bomb means money while an elven arrow means connections. A portal means high magic. I’d bet my wings that it’s someone in the elven aristocracy.”

I nodded at him and then stopped because I was getting some feeling back in my jaw, and it was not a good feeling. “That’s why Rook thought it was my grandfather, the emperor, but that’s a dead end, because he worked so hard keeping me alive.”

My father patted my head like I was still five years old. Also, ow. “That’s why he’s here.”

“To keep me alive?”

“No, to catch the person who wants to kill you, although I suppose the two are complimentary. You don’t go around shooting elven arrows into ogre princes without getting reported to the very highest levels. I believe your elven musician friend reported the case.”

“Tiago reported it? He didn’t say anything to me.”

My dad shrugged. “Elves don’t speak unless it’s necessary. Now then, your grandfather’s the emperor? And your husband is the Ogre Prince. So, you really are my little princess.”

He smiled the most irresistible smile. I couldn’t help returning it and feeling like everything was going to be okay.

I held out my arm to him and he immediately folded me into a solid hug, golden wings snuggling around me like a massive chicken. For a second, I held onto my dad and let him protect me from the rest of the world, needing to be safe from all the uncertainty and pain. After a few minutes, I pulled away, feeling like an idiot, but also slightly better.

I smiled at him and he smiled back.

Then he said, “Now, princess, we go to war.”

“War?!” I grabbed onto his sleeve. “What do you mean? I fought that fur bikini abomination so that there wouldn’t be a war!”

My dad took my hand and squeezed it slightly while he smiled at me. “That’s the way things go sometimes. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

“I can’t go to war like this.” I gestured at myself with my one good arm, which was still hooked up to a needle.

“Ah, no, of course you can’t. You’ll sleep here tonight and then take the train back to Singsong City while I go with Rook to put down the troll uprising. Gavriel will be your guard.”

I looked from him to Rook, and when I looked at my luthier, my husband, I couldn’t look away. My heart sank. “You’re going to war without me?”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Your father has allied himself with us in this particular cause. Once the trolls have been pushed back, you should be healed enough that we can go visit my father so that you can be officially crowned.”

I stared at him, then at my dad. “Crowned? Me? But I need to get back to Singsong City and deal with the aftermath of that ridiculous jubilee.”

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