Page 96 of Bound to the Orc Warrior

“Broken? Yeah.” She searches my face. “That’s what we wanted, right?”

My teeth grind together as I bite back a protest, and I force myself to nod. This is when she’ll say goodbye and wave me through the door and out of her life.

My stomach plummets when she does exactly that. “You go first.”

That step—my first step away from her—is the hardest I’ve ever had to take.

Aldronn waits on the other side with Shadow and Zephyr. “Brokk and Garint aren’t here.”

I grunt. I know I should be worried about the missing orcs, but how can I when I suffer a much greater loss? My moon bound didn’t even say goodbye. I rub at my chest. Goddess, I can still feel her, bound to my heart, almost as if—

“I love these doors,” Naomi says behind me. “They’re so easy.”

I spin around, stunned. “What? You? But—”

“Words, orc,” Shadow says. “Make use of them.”

“Hush, you.” Zephyr bats him with her horn. “This is serious.”

Naomi’s eyes don’t leave my face as she steps forward to place her hand on mine. In a blink, we’re in the bedroom of the cottage in Moon Blade Village.

Ourcottage.

Hope blooms in my chest.

“You shouldn’t have used your powers again today.”

“An in-realm teleport isn’t so bad, and I feel loads better since you ended that soul stealer.”

“But—”

“No buts,” she says. “I have something to say to you, and I don’t want an audience.”

Her little hands push at me until I sit on the edge of the bed. Then my moon bound steps in between my thighs so we’re face to face.

I stare into her beautiful eyes, ready to offer her the moon, if only she’ll stay. I’ll do anything.

“Naomi, my bride. I realize I might not have a kingdom to offer you, but whatever it means to be king, whether riches or land, I give it freely. It is yours, if you’ll have me.”

“Oh, Wranth, don’t you know I don’t care about that stuff?” A haunted look of sadness flickers across her face. “I’m sorry people have made you feel like you’re not enough.” Then her voice strengthens. “But they’re not me. I don’t care that you’re royalty. I don’t need to know anything about your family to know who you are.” She presses her palm over my heart, and it leaps, pounding against my ribs as if eager to reach her. “I already know exactly who you are, Wranth. You’re the man who protects me, no matter the danger to himself. You’re the man who would never leave me, tether or no tether.

“You’re the man I love.”

Joy, blazing with the strength of a million suns, rushes through me. She loves me! My moon bound bride loves me.

I crush her to me, my mouth eating at hers, a starving man given his first bite of sustenance. I will never get enough.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Naomi

Wranth’s kiss scorches me to my soul, setting my whole body alight. He slides off the bed until his knees hit the floor, pressing me flush to him.

“My bride,” he growls. “My amazing and beautiful moon bound bride. I never needed the tether to bind me to you, for you already hold my heart. Your intelligence, your strength, your willingness to leap into the unknown to help others—all hold me captivated. I’ve lived a life alone, always on the outside. I only know who I truly am because of you and your gifts.”

He brushes his fingers over my cheek. “Yet all of that pales compared to the joy you’ve brought me. Your love of life makes me want to join in, to fully feast on all the world has to offer as long as I can do it by your side. I am no longer alone. I am yours as you are mine.

“You are the missing piece of my heart, and I’m only whole with you. I will live in a shack and think it a castle with you by my side. I will go with you to your world, if that is what you want. I need never be king in Avalon, for the title is less than meaningless compared to you.”

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