Page 13 of Bound to the Orc King

All my thoughts are indeed dirty and filthy.

May asks a constant stream of questions as we ride through the forest, amazed by everything.

Golden larks take to the air, their yellow wings flashes of brightness against the darker blue-green pines. “What are those? We don’t have those on Earth!”

We pass through a stand of blue birch, the sun shining through their cerulean leaves making everything below seem tinted as if we’re suddenly riding through an underwater world. She asks Starfall to halt. May’s fingers dance over the silver curls of bark peeling from the trunk, then reach for a branch of leaves, so she can inspect their color close up. “This isn’t paint or anything. This is real! But blue trees? How is it possible?”

“Magic,” I say. “Everything in Alarria is alive with magic. I never fully realized how different a place could be until I went through the door to Earth and felt what a magicless land was like.”

“You’ve been to Earth?” She twists to look over her shoulder at me.

“To your hometown, even. Ferndale Falls.”

“You’re shitting me.”

I frown. “I assure you I have full control over my bowels.”

“What?” She bursts into laughter, waving a hand in the air as she leans forward, shoulders shaking. When she finally regains a modicum of composure, she says, “I didn’t mean literally! It’s a colloquialism. It means you’re pulling my leg.”

I narrow my eyes. “Since I’m doing no such thing to any of your body parts…”

“Yep! You got me!” Her eyes sparkle. “Another idiom. English is full of them!”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re going to use every single one you can think of?”

“Because you’re not just a pretty face?”

“Pretty? I’m no such thing.” Though a part of me is pleased she finds my features attractive.

Starfall gives an amused snort. “I like you, human. It’s about time someone talked to him like that.”

“Youtalk to me like that,” I growl.

“Indeed, I do. But I’m the only one.” She tosses her mane. “It’s good to have company.”

“No problem.” May pats the unicorn’s withers. “I’m more than happy to help take him down a peg or two.”

“Another idiom?” I growl, fighting to keep from smiling. Starfall’s right. I can’t remember the last time anyone else teased me. It’s been years, perhaps a decade, even. When did I get so… stodgy? I always thought my cousin Wranth was the grumpy one.

“But for real, you were in Ferndale Falls?” May asks as Starfall starts forward again.

“Yes,” I say. “I helped defend it from a sluagh attack.”

“Slew ahh?” She asks, breaking the word apart into phonetic syllables. “What’s that?”

“It’s one of the most dangerous types of fae.” I tell her about the darker side of Faerie, one with ogres and kelpies and soul stealers who eat your life and trap you as one of their victims for an eternity.

The longer I talk, the stiller May grows in my arms. I don’t even make it to discussing our new foe, the dark fae, before I can’t bear it any longer. “I don’t want to tell you only the bad, for there is much of beauty and joy here, too.”

“My mom used to tell me stories of Faerie. Everything was pixies and parties and magic and fairy cakes.” She glances over her shoulder at me. “You don’t have any fairy cakes, do you?”

“Alas, I do not.” My arm tightens around her as I lean back and delve into a saddlebag. I hate that she’s hungry and I’ve done nothing to alleviate it. I’ve traveled hard for days, not stopping to hunt, living on travel rations. Now that I know she’ssafe, I need to ensure better food for our return trip. “I will hunt for our dinner if you can make do with this for now.”

She takes the hardtack from me and nibbles at the tough biscuit, her tiny human teeth unable to bite through it like my tusks can. Yet my bride doesn’t complain. “Mmm. It’s like a savory, nutty cookie. I like it.”

We ride on, finding a clearing filled with elderberry bushes. Sunlight glints off clusters of tiny white flowers mixed with clumps of tiny dark-purple berries, the bushes caught in the mixed state of both spring and late summer instead of following the smooth march of time found in the human world.

The tiny sweet-tart balls crunch between May’s teeth, and she gives me a happy grin as she eats. “I love these. I know you’re not supposed to eat too many of them raw, but I can’t resist having a few.”

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