Page 10 of The Orc's Promised Bride

“You said your brother’s mate also came from Earth?”

He nodded, an odd look in his face.

“What happened to her? Is she still here?”

He hesitated, then nodded again.

“Yes. She came as an answer to a prayer to the Old Gods.”

“You’re saying someone prayed and… what? She just appeared?”

But even as the skeptical words left her mouth, another half-formed memory flickered in her mind, then slipped away like a dream upon waking. There had been a voice, hadn’t there? A question…

She rubbed her head, trying to catch more of the memory, but it had dissolved again.

Lothar lifted the steaming pot from the flames, then pulled a small leather pouch from his pack and measured dark leavesinto a wooden cup. The water followed, sending out a fragrant steam - cinnamon and clove, with undertones of something exotic she couldn’t name.

“Here.” He pressed the warm cup into her hands. “This will help.”

The spicy steam curled around her face as she breathed it in. She took a tentative sip, then let out a soft sigh of pleasure as the warm liquid washed down her throat.

“It’s wonderful. What is it?”

“My own mix. A blend of teas.” He gave her an unexpectedly charming grin. “One of my few useful skills.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” she said dryly, remembering how he’d taken on the dire wolf, and he grinned again.

She took another sip, then cradled the warm cup in her hands, its heat seeping into her palms.

“Was I… was I someone’s prayer too?”

Something she couldn’t read crossed his face before he looked away, his broad shoulders tensing.

“No. Not that I know of.”

Of course not.. Who would pray for her? She was damaged goods. She’d spent years building walls around herself, pushing people away. Even her closest neighbors back home barely knew her name. The bitter thought settled like lead in her stomach.

She took a sip of the tea to hide her expression. The spices bloomed across her tongue, warming her from the inside out.

“This other woman - where is she now?”

“Kari lives in my village. As I said, she is mated to my brother Wulf, our clan chief.”

“Where exactly is this village?” She traced patterns in the dirt with a stick, not meeting his eyes.

“Seven days ride south, through the mountains beyond Port Cael.”

He gestured towards the peaks looming in the darkness.

“What’s it like?”

“It’s a small settlement, but a good one. Our fields are fertile and our pastures rich. We have lived there for many years.” A shadow crossed his face. “But I don’t know how much longer we will last.”

“Why?”

Now he was the one avoiding her eyes.

“We have been… cursed. We have fewer females and fewer children with each generation.”

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