Page 63 of His Orc Lady

He grips my shoulders and moves me away from him so he can meet my gaze. “What was that?”

“I love you,” I say more clearly. “And I’m very glad you won’t be exiled from the clan or tied up and thrown in a dungeon.”

Owen frowns at me. “That’s…oddly specific. But I love you, too. All of you, not just your ears, in case that’s unclear.”

I grin, unable to help it. After the myriad of emotions that have rolled through me in the last days, this mixture—exhaustion, relief, and pure joy—is the nicest of all.

A chair scrapes back in the room, so I quickly ask Owen, “Do you want to tell Willow and Ozork about us tonight?”

He hesitates for a moment, then shakes his head. “No—and it’s not because I want tohideit. But they will have questions, and I want to return to your room as soon as possible.” He kisses the tip of my nose, then straightens and steps back. “And I have plans, you know.”

Chapter

Sixteen

We walk ahead of Ozork and Willow, turning this way and that through the hallways. I lead the way, and Owen keeps pace with me, his hands tucked in the pockets of his pants as if he’s restraining himself from reaching out for me. I have to do the same. Now that I know how good it feels to touch him, I want to do it constantly.

Only a little longer.

Already, the illuminated entrance to the Heart of the Hill appears before us, and we turn into the corridor where four guards are waiting for us in front of the thick iron grate. Ozork unlocks the door, and the four orcs strain to lift it so we can slip through—I go first, simply because I’ve been here before, and the others follow one by one. Ozork remembers to take a lantern from the wall, so I take one as well and nudge Owen to do the same.

Willow picks up a small lantern, her pretty eyes wide. We set out into the darkness, the light from our lanterns casting flickering shadows on the walls. Owen keeps close to me, his elbow brushing mine, and I don’t move away—Willow and Ozork are too distracted with each other to notice any contact between us.

Then the corridor ends, and the Heart opens up in front of us.

I stop, remembering the first time I came here. The wide corridor we just came through wasn’t there at the time—it was excavated later, after we’d learned of the treasure hidden in this hall.

“It’s a natural cavern,” Ozork murmurs. “Similar to the one with the baths.”

I walk forward and keep my lantern low to avoid tripping. “We didn’t discover it until we’d already moved into the Hill.”

Ozork chuckles. “That’s right. I forgot you were the leader of the little gang that found it. How old were you at the time?”

I sense Owen watching me with interest. He must be remembering me saying I’d explored this Hill from top to bottom.

“I was seventeen, and it wasn’t agang. We were just trying to escape Orsha and her exhausting training sessions.”

For a moment, I think Ozork will tease me some more, but Owen stumbles and curses under his breath, swinging his lantern wide.

“What is that? Why would someone leave this lying around…” His voice trails off, and I know what he must have found. He breathes a soft, “Oh,” and stares at the floor.

Willow hurries closer. “What is it?”

Then she stops beside him and lifts her lantern higher. I step up to Owen, adding my lantern’s glow so they can see better, exposing the trench of gold.

“Is that…?” Willow crouches beside the vein and brushes her fingers over it.

Owen rasps, “How deep does it go? How high?”

He walks forward, following the vein, illuminating its beautiful, buttery color. He seems in awe—just as stunned asI’d been when I first discovered it with Carrow and some of the other young orcs who disliked the combat training.

“Deep enough,” Ozork rumbles. “We won’t run out anytime soon.”

I follow Owen farther into the cavern, but Willow’s voice trails after us.

“How have you kept it a secret all this time? People would kill for this.”

I turn on my heels. “We know. Which is why we only tell those we trust with our lives.”

---