Page 9 of Bound to the Orc King

The ogre loses his grip, his great mass sending us plummeting toward the ground.

Kicking off the stone, I launch sideways away from his trajectory, so I hit a clear patch of ground. My rounded torso turns the fall into a roll, and I spring up to my feet.

The ogre lands flat on his back with a meaty thump that sends vibrations racing through the ground. Yet he doesn’t stay down for long. No matter how much I despise ogres, I can’t deny they’re tough.

He jumps up, one massive hand pawing the battleaxe from his back. “Orc scum!” he yells. “This sky gift is mine.”

“You lie, ogre. The Moon Goddess summoned me.” My sword slides from its sheath with the high ring of pure metal. “The human is my bride.”

A kelpie gallops from the trees, their dark-green seaweed mane and tail fluttering in the wind of their passage. The scaled equine fae is larger even than a unicorn, their mouth full of vicious shark teeth. But this one runs as if their life depends upon it.

“Face me, kelpie!” Starfall yells, pounding after the water horse. “Feel the might of my horn!”

The kelpie spins in place, rearing to lash out with sharp hooves. “You’ll have to get close to me to use that horn.”

Right as they surge toward one another, the ogre strikes, hacking at me with his axe as if I’m a tree to chop down.

Fool.

I might be king, but I spent my teens in the same rigorous warrior training every orc gets. It’s been twenty years since I completed my studies at sixteen and earned my warrior piercings, and I continue to spar regularly with my guard, who are some of the best fighters in the realm.

His axe whistles down in a punishing overhead blow.

I glide left, raising my sword in a block that directs the other weapon to the right and leaves him open for a vicious punch.

“You think that crown is going to stop me?” he spits, lifting his battleaxe high.

“No.” My lips pull back from my tusks in dark amusement. “I think myswordis going to stop you.”

He lands a punishing blow, the handle of his axe striking my shoulder in a flare of pain.

I ignore it. Battle lust rides me hard, adding fury to every stroke of my sword. The ogre’s thick gray hide might be impervious to most blades, but not my moon steel sword.

My foe is bigger than me, stronger than me—it matters not. My diagonal strike slices open his chest, making it weep black blood.

Hard thumps of hooves striking flesh echo behind me, and the kelpie screams, the word so distorted by pain it’s hard to make out. “Retreat!”

She thunders past, and the ogre leaps awkwardly onto her back, clambering for his seat as they disappear into the forest.

Starfall gives chase, and our long years of working together mean I know she’ll ensure our enemies don’t sneak around to attack our backs.

Pitch-black blood stains the bright silver of my blade, and I wipe it clean on moss before sheathing it.

My moon bound bride waits atop the standing stone, and I finally have a chance to really look at her.

She’s small, as all humans are, but well proportioned. Dark blue cloth clings to her legs and hips, and a short-sleeved top in a bright orange-pink swells over the curves of her breasts. Her skin glows with a warm golden color that’s echoed along the length of her wavy hair, which is a dark brown at the roots that lightens to blonde by the ends.

“Jump, and I’ll catch you.” I hold out my arms, glad to meet her after the doors of Faerie have opened, so she can understand me without needing the magic of the speaking stone.

Yet it seems Faerie’s translation magic doesn’t solve everything. She shoots me a dubious look. “Will you?”

“Of course, I will.” Why would she doubt me? I’m a king! “I just said I would, and I’m a man of honor.”

“Yeah, well, that last guy just said a lot of things, too.” She gestures toward the woods that swallowed the ogre. “All of it lies.”

Why would she compare me to such scum? I’m no ogre! I put all of my authority into my voice. “Jump.”

Instead of obeying my command, she bristles.

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