Page 68 of Bound to the Orc King

Concern pinches Naomi’s face as she wraps an arm around her husband.

At her touch, he meets her eyes, and faint cracks appear in his stony facade, old pain leaking through.

It’s pain I understand, from having lost Mom. I hate to see it in him, but I’m glad he welcomes Naomi’s embrace. If anyone can help him heal from all of this, it’s my amazing friend, who’s got one of the biggest hearts in any world.

“There’s more,” Luke says.

Starfall grumps, “There always is.”

“I saw hundreds of dark fae, although I’m certain there are far more.” The dragon pauses for a moment. “Every single one I observed had shadow magic and could fly.”

Mutters run through the group, with Shadow’s voice rising above the others. “Fuck me. That’s all we need.”

Aldronn stands perfectly still, his muscles locked tight with steely control as thoughts flicker behind his eyes. Then he clears his throat, his aura of command filling the air around him.

“All is not lost. We have the dragons on our side, and there’s nothing that can withstand dragon fire. Additionally, thanks to Grace’s inventions in battling the sluagh, we have defenses against flying attackers the dark fae will never expect.” He pulls his sword free, holding it up so the firelight reflects off the bright-silver blade. “And we have moon steel. The metal gifted to us by the goddess can cut the dark fae’s shadows.”

Sheevora meets his gaze and gives him an approving nod.

“Let’s finish setting up camp and eat.” He sheaths his sword. “We have an early start tomorrow.”

As everyone breaks up to do just that, Aldronn pulls Naomi and Wranth aside. “Naomi, I need you to go to Moon BladeVillage and tell them everything we just learned. Ask Grace to make us several of her net guns.”

“Will those work against shadow fae?” Wranth asks.

“I don’t know,” Aldronn admits. “The only thing that hurt the fae’s shadows was my sword, and he was shocked about that, so it must be something special about moon steel.”

“Then we use that,” I say. “Make the nets out of moon steel wire. If you have the machines to make wire, that is.”

“That’s an excellent idea. And we don’t need machines—we have orcs with metalworking magic.” Aldronn’s eyes warm with pride as he grips my shoulder. Then he turns back to Naomi. “Also tell Grace to stay in the village. We might need you to fetch her at a moment’s notice so she can make one of her carnival rides.”

“Do what now?” I scrunch my nose.

“Grace makes Whirling Swings rides like the ones you see at the state fair.” Naomi swirls her arm over her head in a wide circle. “She made one for Moon Blade Village. When we start it up, the swings’ chains slice through the air, making a whirling umbrella the bad guys can’t fly through.”

“It provides valuable protection from the air, forcing attackers to the ground, where orcs can battle them more fairly,” Aldronn says.

“Don’t forget unicorns.” Starfall pokes his shoulder with her horn.

His lips twitch as he adds, “Unicorns as well.”

“That’s…” I shake my head and grin, never imagining a carnival ride used for anything but fun. “That’s thebestkind of wacky.”

“It really is.” Naomi grins. “Welcome to witch magic.”

If only my magic would do the wonderful and wacky thing, too. Or work at all, dammit.

“Again,” Luke barks at me the next morning.

I grip my crystal, close my eyes, and strain with everything I have for several moments, not even daring to breathe. Yet no matter how hard I try, resounding silence echoes through my head. Lungs burning, I give up, sucking in big gulps of air.

“I need a minute.” I leap to my feet.

“But—”

I let him talk to the hand. “A minute.” I stalk off across the field.

Morning sunlight slants over the pine trees to the east, washing the meadow’s bright-green grass with gold and setting the buttercups ablaze. The sky is the unreal blue of Faerie, broken by the occasional puffy cloud. Birds cheep, little content noises mixed with short bursts of song. Nearby, Starfall and Zephyr graze, the other unicorns lying asleep on the ground all around them.

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