Page 13 of Daghel

“Are you finished here?” he growls, casting an impatient look at me. “Vorn has instructed me to show you to your new rookery attached to the palace. You may summon your wyvern once you have settled there. All the same rules apply, however,” he adds gruffly, and Daghel dips his head very slightly as he turns to follow him.

My captor says nothing more but stares flatly ahead as he carries me through a stone doorway, and we are suddenly plunged into a torchlit darkness. Despite the low light, I can make out the orc stalking ahead of us, and the smooth rhythm of Daghel’s steps doesn’t break for even a moment as he follows the male down the corridor. A distant sound of laughter trickles up the passage, growing louder and louder until we enter directly into a court with a massive enthroned orc surrounded by female orcs and human women.

I stare at them, aghast at the women fawning over the enormous male. Do they dine on human flesh with the orcs? Are they even aware of what they feed upon? It makes me nauseated as the women pluck little bits of meat offered to them from his fingertips with soft little moans of gratitude.

“Prince Vorn,” Daghel rumbles, startling close to my ear. The heat of his breath stirs something deep within me that makes metremble in spite of myself. “Stay away from him when you are not with me. He does eat humans when not fucking them.”

“Do you?” I shoot back as I attempt to ignore the ice seeping into my belly, warring with the strange heat that my proximity to him seems to stir within me.

A deep, dark chuckle rumbles from his broad chest, and I feel it echo through me, triggering tiny tremors that I fight to ignore. “On occasion. But human flesh is unsatisfying. Too fatty.”

My brows knit together, and I feel a familiar sting to my pride, but I can’t put a finger on exactly if I should be offended or not. I thought we were speaking of literally eating human flesh, but now I’m not so sure. I feel a strange desire to defend my desirability, but I clamp my teeth together hard before any words have the chance to spill out.

I am not getting trapped in whatever game this male is playing.

Chapter

Eight

DAGHEL

Although I maintain my icy reserve as I follow Ajek down the long halls of the palace, fury smolders beneath the surface with every drop of blood from my female’s hand. I am livid. With Kael for daring to harm her. With Ajek for insisting that he escort us to our new rookery rather than visiting the healer’s apprentice to see about her wound. With myself for leaving her behind when I should not have let her out of my sight. And yet she didn’t complain. She tore a bandage from her own clothes shortly after entering the palace and wrapped it tightly around her hand, staunching the flow of blood to the best of her ability, but that hasn’t stopped her from falling unconscious from blood loss or the slow, steady drip splattering on the palace floors.

“Can you not do something to keep her from bleeding all over the floors?” Ajek growls as he peers back at me over his shoulder.

“Certainly,” I reply. “That would be going to the healer.” I raise an eyebrow at him, and his lips curl in a sneer.

“Fucking drehl,” he mutters as he resumes facing forward. “I do not understand what Vorn thinks he can accomplish withyou. You will bring misfortune to the entire clan. Either by simply being the curse that you are, or because of your failure to abide by any authority but your own. We all know that the clan cannot depend on a drehl.”

“Interesting that you say that when life teaches a drehl one fact quite well: that we are without clan in any way that it truly matters,” I point out as my gaze drifts along the carvings and tapestries of the inner corridor. “All we have is the fear that we strike in others and the begrudging respect it garners us. And I have done that very well.Thatis what Vorn wants. But,” I drawl so softly that his head turns back to me with a frown, “if my female dies, I can guarantee that whatever he is planning dies with her.”

“Are you daring to threaten your prince?” Ajek demands as he rounds on me.

I meet his gaze without flinching and narrow my eyes as I come to a stop in the middle of the corridor. “I am simply informing you thateverythinghinges onherwelfare. That is the cost of having a pet drehl to command,” I growl. “I will dance to Vorn’s tune for no other reason than for her. Vorn knows this and is counting on it. The most basic truth of the situation is that my loyalty belongs to her, and to her alone. And Vorn is smart enough to capitalize on it. So, if you do not wish to run afoul of the prince with your games, I suggest that you cease worrying about the floors and bring a healer for her.”

Ajek clenches his jaw so hard that the muscle bulges and stands out, as do the veins in his neck. But the male is as smart as I anticipated, and he gives me a sharp nod before resuming his path down the corridor while adjusting his pace to a quicker clip. I stalk after him, my flesh nearly shivering with the effect of the strange energy in the air stirring around me. A pulse that he clearly does not feel or has learned to ignore over the years despite its slow growth around our peaks.

“We are nearly to the stairwell to your rookery,” he mutters. “I doubt she will die of a hand injury. If you kept it clean and changed the rags, it would eventually heal on its own, but I will send one of the apprentices up to you to mend her hand. Since you insist. You may want to rethink it, however. She is dangerous with functioning hands. She not only managed to get Kael’s dagger from him, but drew first blood. She might do worse to you in close quarters.”

I shake my head at the thought, but my cock tightens with anticipation. Such exquisite pain and agony from her hand can only be looked forward to with considerable pleasure. If that is the coin with which I must pay to claim my mate and bind her completely to me and Drisk, then I am pleased to do so.

“I wish nothing more than for my mate to be whole,” I reply in a low voice, only to be met by a derisive snort from the male in front of me.

“I never would have taken a drehl for a sentimental fool,” Ajek observes with a dry chuckle. “It’s your hide. If you wish to take risks, maybe she will save me the headache and just kill you quickly.”

My mouth tightens beneath my flight mask in consideration. “Perhaps.”

Ajek’s chuckle floats through the corridor, echoing with his heavy footsteps. “Obedient to your mate already, are you? I never thought a drehl, of all people, would suffer the same disease as much of our clan.” He pats a hand in the air with his amusement. “Do not worry, you will see. Prince Vorn will show you a different future for our clan.”

I peer at the back of his head, cocking my head. This is enlightening, but I am not surprised. “Will he?” I murmur as we arrive at a dark staircase.

Ajek stops and turns toward me as he leans back against the wall. “Naturally. Males are stronger and more powerful. Itis our right to have power over the females who depend on our protection. All other orcs across Helfallow know this. Even pitiful, weak humans understand it. It is our Cold Mountain clans who are ignorant of the natural order of things. The time of our dominion is now.” He waves me toward the stairs. “This is you.”

I incline my head and proceed toward the stairs, refusing to comment on his speech. It is something I have heard before among some males within the clan. Males like Kael, whom I wouldn’t trust with the welfare of a female. They will never understand the reason females have led our clans throughout the ages.

I pause on the steps and glance over my shoulder. “The healer?”

The male grunts and nods. “I will send one immediately. We will get your delicate little female fixed up for you so that you can enjoy her trying to murder you in your sleep. Here… your key.”

---