Page 78 of Bound to the Orc King

“How the hell have you convinced yourself that you’re incapable of love?” She throws her arms wide. “I mean, really. What. The. Fucking. Hell?”

“You were in my mind. If anyone knows the truth of me, it’s you. You saw the memories.”

“Exactly.” She steps close, poking a finger to my chest to emphasize certain words. “I saw exactly who you are. KingAldronnof Elmswood Keep,rulerofalltheorcsin Alarria.”

I grimace.

“You’re the person who stepped in to help a bullied little boy; the guy who loves his parents so much it makes my heart ache; the teenager who ignored all the fun things he’d rather be doing so as not to hurt his people’s feelings; the man who fights for his people and his friends.”

She pauses, her hand drifting up to cup my cheek. “Don’t you see? You’re nothingbutlove. You were made to take on a heavy burden from a very young age, and your love for your parents, your friends, and your people has kept all your emotional energy so tied up that you can’t even see what drives you to do it all.”

Shock roots me in place. Can my generous bride really see me like this? “It’s my duty.”

“You’ve made it so much more than that. You’ve made your care for them define all of who you are.” She gives a huff ofamusement. “Thank god, you’ve got me now, because I know how to be the right kind of selfish.”

“You arenotselfish,” I growl. “Here you are on a dangerous quest to aid people you barely know.”

“Okay, maybe selfish isn’t the exact word. How about this—I know how to do self-care. And you need to do a hell of a lot more of it. I think we’ll start by setting some time boundaries. Carve out a little ‘me time’ for you.”

I’m amazed at how she sees me. What if she’s right and I’ve hidden too much of myself under the burdens of my title? What if I can love? Hope flickers in my chest.

“Just to be clear. You’re not leaving me?”

“Oh, hell no.”

“Good,” I growl. My fingers curl in her hair, and I slip a hand under her cloak to pull her closer. “Because I was about to practice being selfish and demand you stay.”

“Oh, yeah?” She grins up at me. “What else were you going to demand? Something with me on my knees, perhaps?”

“Fuck, May.”

“Yep.” She nods. “That’s the idea.”

I lean over to—

“Hey, lovebirds!” Naomi’s voice calls out. “You’re the last ones here.”

We wheel around to face camp, which is gone, nothing left but a dead fire and faint depressions in the grass where the tents stood overnight. The sun hangs low in the western sky, sending long rays over the tundra waiting to the north.

“Um, how long were we in your mind castle?” May asks.

“All day, it appears.”

“Going to have to work on being faster at that.”

“Come on!” Naomi strides toward us, holding out a hand. “We took all your stuff already.”

May takes it, and they blink away.

In a few more moments, Naomi returns and teleports me to the new site.

Tundra spreads to the horizon, but ice creeps across the ground, choking the vegetation down to the occasional tufts of grass and clumps of moss and lichen. At my back, a massive block of ice juts into the orange-streaked sky like an iceberg dropped on land. A freezing wind whips my hair back from my face. Although the cold is unpleasant, it’s bearable, but I don’t like the way May shivers, clutching her fur cloak closed in the front.

“There are caves.” Naomi points to a series of openings in the ice cliff. The golden light of glow stones shines from within several of them. There’s a large cook fire already set up outside. Naomi teleported logs to sit on and to chop up for fires, and my guards are already working on food. “They’re ice caves, but they’re out of the wind. It was the best we could find.”

“This is great, Naomi. Really,” May says. “Even better, I figured out how to use my magic!”

“You did!” Naomi throws her arms around May and they start talking in excited whispers.

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