Page 64 of His Orc Lady

Owen faces me suddenly, his face illuminated with the flickering lantern light. “And you decided to tell me?”

I give him a secret smile, one only he will understand. Of course I trust him—I’ve given my heart over to him for safekeeping, after all.

But Owen is staring past me at Willow, and she straightens suddenly, as if struck.

“Oh. What if the duke orders you to tell him everything you saw here?” she asks.

My stomach drops, worry spreading through me. Would he really…?

A muscle jumps in Owen’s cheek, and I suddenly understand—he’s still bound by duty, at least until he resigns from his post officially. I didn’t think of this before I asked Gorvor to allow me to bring Owen here. I don’t think Owen would willingly betray us, but this puts him in an uncomfortable position of having to choose. He will either decide to honor his duty to the duchy where he’s been serving for more than half his life—or pick me, the woman he swears he cannot live without.

I bite my lip, wishing I’d considered this. For a man of such high honor, this must be torture.

“You could order me not to,” he blurts finally.

Willow frowns at him. “What?”

He rakes his fingers through his hair. “In Ultrup, the duke assigned me to you, correct? So if you are now my superior, an order from you would work,” he concludes.

Ozork’s lady sucks in a breath. “You’re forgetting that the duke ismysuperior. The chain of command is clear.”

But Owen grins, his gaze brilliant. “Not anymore. You married Ozork, did you not? And by marriage, you’re now part of the Black Bear Clan. Which means that if I serve you, I am, too.”

I laugh, unable to stop myself. “That’s some convoluted logic, Captain.”

He glances toward me but stands his ground, a soldier waiting for his orders.

Willow hesitates, then finally nods. “Captain Hawke, I hereby forbid you from ever speaking about the Heart of the Hill or any other clan secrets to anyone outside the clan, especially the Duke of Ultrup.”

Owen lets out a sigh of relief, his tense posture relaxing. He bows deeply to Willow. “Thank you, my lady.”

I must admit, Willow is growing on me, the longer I know her.

She groans and nudges Owen with her elbow. “We’ll have a difficult time explaining to my uncle that we’re now determined to remain here. And that we’ve both developed a case of silliness and can only report on how good the spiced cakes were.”

Owen’s lips twitch. “We’ll send most of the soldiers home tomorrow before they discover anything and we have to swear them to secrecy. You’ll have to write a very convincing letter to your uncle, or else the duke will send an army to try and save you from the evil orcs.”

Willow steps closer to Ozork, her expression sobering. “I’ll see what I can do.”

When we head outside, Owen and I walk behind the newlyweds, and I risk brushing my hand against Owen’s.

“Well, then, I’m off to bed,” I announce loudly, glancing from Willow to Ozork and back. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

Owen’s gaze is bright with amusement as he clears his throat and asks, “May I escort you to your room?”

Heat rises to my cheeks because he looks so wickedly handsome in that moment, with his hair all messy and his cheeks pink with excitement. “All right, then.”

I ignore Ozork’s satisfied grin when he lifts a hand in farewell, and then Owen and I turn the corner, finally removing ourselves from their view. I reach for him immediately, and he takes my hand, pressing a kiss to my fingers.

“I’m almost certain this was the longest day of my life,” he muses. “But I wouldn’t give away even a minute of it.”

I yawn, covering my mouth with my hand. “Aye, I know what you mean. It must be past midnight, though, so perhaps this counts as tomorrow.”

He grins down at me. “I think that word will forever hold a special meaning for us.”

The farther we walk from the Heart, the more the tiredness descends. I miss a twist in the corridor and only realize what I’ve done when we find ourselves in front of the carved double doors to the library. Cursing softly under my breath, I tug Owen into the opposite direction. I just want to get to my room and?—

“Hey.” Owen stops me and wraps me in his arms. “Stop. Tell me what’s going on.”

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