Page 71 of Bound to the Orc Warrior

“Yes. They’re the rulers of all the realms,” I say. “Some say they birthed all the races of fae in the time before recorded history.”

“With them gone, a new ruler emerged, a nameless being we call the Dark God. He offered power to any fae who swore allegiance, but any who accepted were twisted by his magic, made fearsome and strange.”

“The dark fae,” I say. It’s what the brownie called me when I first pulled him from the oak.

He nods.

“The elves didn’t fight them?” I eat a spoonful of stew, the flavor the taste of the forest distilled into meaty richness by the mushrooms. If this is what he considers poor fare, I can only imagine what he could do with a well-stocked larder.

“There are no more elves. They were the first to succumb. It was as if the Dark God had a special hold on them. He told them they’d have the power to change the land. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth as they expected it. He turned the elves into the dark fae.”

“What? How can th—”

“Wranth!” Naomi’s upset voice startles me from any other concern, her eyes big and worried. “I feel something weird. I think we’re about to be pulled back.”

“Quick,” I say to Tumbletoad. “My parents. I must know—”

I slam to a halt. Know what? Their names? Their life stories? I don’t know how to finish that sentence, because I want to knoweverything. How do you distill entire lives into only a few words?

“They were King Strakk and Queen Belva. They led the orcs in protecting the realm from the dark fae, but their forces were whittled down over the years until they fled here, to the old royal hunting lodge. The Queen gave birth to you in this very house.” The brownie’s eyes fill with tears. “It was the happiest day any of us had known for some time.”

My bride’s fingers dig into my arm, telling me we have no more time.

My heart pounds faster as the seconds fly by.

“Only a month later, the dark fae found us. While your father fought to hold them at the door, your mother called upon her magic. She had a very special gift, you see, one she traced to an elf ancestor. She could move places in the blink of an eye.” He snaps his fingers.

“She’s a teleporter like me!” Naomi says.

“The king fell, outnumbered ten to one. As the dark fae rushed through the doorway, the queen prayed to Titania to take you somewhere safe, since there was no such place left in Avalon. She poured all of her life force into completing the spell, and you disappeared right from her arms as she breathed her last breath.” The brownie snaps his fingers again.

Roaring fills my ears as the whole world tips sideways, everything I thought I knew about my life turned on its head.

I wasn’t unwanted.

I wasn’t unloved.

My parents gave their very lives to save mine.

“They loved you more than anything.” Tumbletoad’s words resound through my soul like a struck gong as a giant hand picks me up and hurls me across worlds.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Naomi

I’m dumped into daylight, my eyes blinking at the return of brightness, my fingers digging into bright-green moss under my hands and knees. Color returns along with a buzzing sense of all the living things surrounding me. Feeling the difference in Avalon—which was stunted and shuttered—lets me recognize this for what it is.

It’s the magic of Alarria! It suffuses everything.

There’s a soft thud behind me, and I know without looking it’s Wranth, the bond in my chest reacting to his nearness with a sense of relief.

A sharp slap of pressure resounds through me, knocking me sideways and making my bones vibrate. My chest locks in shock, and it’s several moments before I can breathe. I shake my head,trying to clear the dizziness, and roll back up onto my hands and knees. The door to Avalon just slammed closed.

I turn toward Wranth. He kneels on the ground by the standing stone, his expression dazed with far more than our rough return trip.

“Wranth!” I scramble over to him and grip his hand. “Wasn’t that amazing? Could you ever have imagined? You’re a prince, or I guess, you’re actually a king!”

Then I wince, since he’s only a king because his parents died. But my mouth keeps going, unable to contain all the excited thoughts whirling through me.

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