Page 9 of My Orc Pen Pal

Chuckling, I clinked my wine glass against hers. “In my childhood, we also burned a large log to celebrate the Midwinter Festival, but it was an actuallog. I’ve never heard of using a Christmas tree for it.”

“Yes, well, it was already dry and crackly by New Year’s Eve, but since then, we’ve made sure to light it on fireoutside, and my brother doesn’t get to play with matches.” She sipped. “Did your people have Christmas trees?”

“No, but…” I couldn’t help the way my tone turned wistful. “Bramblewood Bluff does the holiday season particularly beautifully. The snow and the lights and the warmness. I will miss it come winter.”

“So you’re staying here in Eastshore?” She sounded surprised.

I allowed my gaze to rake Rosemary, lingering on her shoulder, her fingers, her lips. “Yes,” I murmured lowly. “I am.”

From the way her breath caught, there was no confusion about what I meant. Good.

The food arrived, and the fried flounder was just as good as she’d declared. The conversation also continued, offering more insights and shared stories, making us laugh and tease as if we’d known each other for months.

You have.

MyKteerknew this female, despite having only just met her tonight. I knew her mind and her heart, thanks to her beautifully written letters to me.

But the longer I spent with her, the more I knew that she was meant for me.

“How did you end up in Bramblewood Bluff?” she asked, slumping back in the booth with her wine, her flounder half-gone. “You and your—are they your brothers? The other newcomers to Eastshore.”

“Tarkhan is my cousin,” I explained, “although in our clan, most of us are related in some way. Aswan and Abydos are twins, older brothers to two of the males already living on the island.”

She nodded eagerly. “Simbel and Memnon! My friend Maya is married—sorry, no,Matedto Memnon. They run the floral shop, Nature’s Gift, and I buy myself a flower arrangement from her each Monday.”

How…unique. I loved that she loved herself enough to do such a thing, and I also wanted to buy her flowers. If that’s what made her happy, I would cover her with them.

“Memnon and Simbel went to New York City after the scientists released us from their laboratories because they said they wanted to experience human life to the fullest. Their older brothers had the opposite opinion.”

Rosemary cocked her head, eyeing me. I shifted in my seat, self-conscious for the first time. Wondering what she saw.

“And you, Akhmim?” she murmured. “Why did you go with Aswan and Abydos and your cousin to Bramblewood Bluff?”

I blew out a breath and admitted the truth. “After spending a year being tested and experimented on, not all of us had the best opinion of humans. Sakkara was a natural here; he learned the stock market and made us all a bunch of money with investments. Giza and Luxor moved to the coast to work; Tanis, Karnak and Cairo found their way to this island. Dahshur and others spread out throughout the country.”

“But you didn’t want to live among humans,” she guessed in a quiet voice, still watching me.

Her words and her tone didn’t make me defensive, but I felt as if I should apologize. “I didn’t know?—”

“It’s okay, Akhmim.” Her hand came to rest on my arm. “I’ve seen the horrible stuff humans can do to one another. I can only imagine what they’d do to another species. It makes sense that you’d want to get away from us.”

“Fromthem.” I enveloped her hand in my big one. “If there had been someone as kind and gentle as you in those facilities, Rosemary, I would have stayed forever.”

A laugh burst from her lips, but she blushed at the compliment. “So you and the others have been playing woodsmen for the last decade? Living in trees in the mountains? No, that’s not possible, you had a great internet connection.”

“I did.” Although we all had plenty of money thanks to Sakkara’s investments, I enjoyed my job working remote cyber security for a big California firm. I was the only one of us who’d really mastered computers, likely because I was younger than the rest of them. “And yeah, originally, I think it was Abydos’s plan to go hide in the woods for the rest of our lives. The Rockies reminded us very much of home.”

“What happened?”

“We found Bramblewood. It’s a lot like Eastshore, but there are more than just orcs and humans living there. They accepted us, and I think we were mostly happy. But then Sakkara tracked us down and told us how Eastshore had become a haven for orcs—not just our cohort, but others. We decided to visit.”

When Rosemary shifted, her calf pressed against my knee. I glanced at her face, and her half-lidded eyes as she sipped her wine told me she knew what she was doing.

“Just a visit?”

“We’ve all been sharing an apartment since we arrived, and the place is cramped. Tarkhan is talking about buying a house with more space, so I guess that means he’s staying. I don’t know what the others think, but their brothersarehere. As for me…”

I took the chance I’d been wanting to take all night.

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