Page 23 of Bound to the Orc King

“It does, and I know I’ll face much the same when I return to lead the herds,” she says. “But that only means you have to make sure you find someone you can really talk to.”

“Besides you.”

“Of course, besides me.” Starfall snorts and stomps the ground. “Didn’t you just hear me? I’m going to leave.”

“Ah, but I have access to a teleporter now,” I tease. “I plan to drop in on you regularly.”

She nuzzles the side of my head, her tone softening. “You better.”

I reach up to pat her neck.

“Just don’t expect me to shift into a biped and build a cottage on my nice grasslands.”

“Perish the thought,” I say with a grin. Most of Alarria’s animal fae, such as the cat sith and cu sith, have enjoyed shifting into their more humanoid forms, but not the unicorns. “I’ll make sure to bring my tent.”

May returns, and I lift her into the saddle and mount behind her.

“We’ve talked a lot about Alarria, but not much about you,” I say as Starfall picks up speed, the breeze of her passage lifting May’s hair until the honey-gold ends tickle my nose, filling them with her sweet scent.

“Are you going to ask me where I’m from?” she says.

“I thought you were from Ferndale Falls.”

“Yeah, I didn’t mean like that.” Her tone sounds a little bitter. “I meant where mypeopleare from.”

“You seem to be implying something particular,” I say, using all of my diplomatic training to keep my voice neutral. “But I can’t tell what.”

She twists to face me. “Aren’t you going to tell me I look ‘exotic’?”

“You do.”

Anger flashes across her face, pulling an answering frown from me.

I’ve misstepped, but I don’t know how, so I try to explain. “All humans look exotic to me. I’ve met eight of you so far, and not a one of you is green.”

Her eyes go wide with shock for a split second before she bursts out laughing. Her breath hitches, gasping in between guffaws, until she’s bent over, clutching her stomach. It takes several moments before she catches her breath and straightens, knuckling away tears. “Oh, god. I never thought of it like that. Of course, I look unusual to you, just as you do to me.”

“I’m sure if I’d been raised beside elves, all the various cream and brown-based skin colors wouldn’t seem so unusual.”

“Yeah, well, pretty sure green would still be rare on Earth unless you’re hanging out with the Hulk or She-Hulk.”

“Another of your colloquialisms?”

“Nope.” She waves an airy hand. “Pop culture this time. Remind me to introduce you to Netflix. I think you’ll like superhero movies.”

Instead of asking what “pop” and “Netflix” refer to, I redirect the conversation back to my initial query. “You were going to tell us something of yourself.”

She gives a jerky shrug. “Not much to tell. I’m no one important.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Neither do I,” Starfall says. “You’re one of my new favorite people. Thatautomaticallymakes you important.”

“What can I say? I’m a college dropout who couldn’t pick a major and instead backpacks around the world.”

“Why couldn’t you pick a major?” Starfall asks before I can. “Were none of the officers worth following?”

“What? No! Not that kind of major.” May trills a bright laugh. “It means field of study. I couldn’t pick the topic I wanted to specialize in. I liked too many things: languages and literature and history and psychology, which is the study of behavior, why people do the things they do.”

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