Page 18 of Wagered to the Orc
My body andKteerresponded together; I rose up on one elbow, looming over her, while it howled for blood.
“Ye thought I would—ye thought we wouldrapeye?”
In the dim light from the embers in the hearth, I saw her wince and roll onto her back.
“I did not know you.”
“And now?”
Her fingers rested lightly on my chest. “I do not understand why you will not take what is offered.”
Because I dinnae want to take. I want to give.
I threw myself back to the mattress with a huff. “Effie, why would ye think ‘twas a good plan? What makes ye think such a thing would work?”
She shrugged. “It has always worked before.”
I went very still as her meaning set in. Ice slowly moved through my veins, and I spoke very clearly, very seriously, to the ceiling.
“Ye have done this afore? Offered yerself to one man to save yerself from many?”
“Where I come from…” She trailed off, and I rolled to face her. When my arm went around her again, I felt her relax slightly. “My mother is Lord Tarbert’s cousin, Korvak. A younger daughter of his mother’s sister. Hardly a connection at all, and throughfemales, no less.”
She spat the word as if being a female was somehow lesser.
“Aye?”
“My mother married beneath her slight station, a man-at-arms who claimed her when she fell pregnant. And when he died, she and I were left destitute. She turned to her cousin, begging him forprotection, and he kindly allowed us a place in his household. But I did not have the protection of his name.”
I was trying to understand these human ways. Did they not realize thatanyrelation was meant to be protected? That females were to be revered for their ability to sustain the clan? Did their villages not come together to care for the neediest and most vulnerable?
She shrugged. “I was not important enough to be kept pure for marriage, so I was fair game for the men in the Tarbert household.” Her yawn took us both by surprise. “My mother taught me ‘twas better to belong to one man rather than many, and, if I was lucky, that man might marry me, as my father had her.”
Gods below.
Gods below.
“Ye…” I wasn’t proud of the way my voice cracked as I tried to modulate my rage. “The man ye gave yerself to…did he recognize yer worth? Did he show he valued ye?”
Her little snort sounded half-asleep. “Worth? I have no worth, Korvak. This I know.”
Oh,gods below!
This…explained much.
I reclined there in bed, the sweet little human in my arms slowly falling asleep whilst I tried to master my rage. I wanted to find this human male who’d taught her she was worthless and rip him apart myself.
When I thought I could speak without my voice betraying my fury, I asked, “And pleasure? Did this male show ye pleasure, Effie?”
Her sleepy little huff told me everything I needed to know.
“Not once.”
I squeezed my eyes shut on a silent groan.
This broken female in my arms had learned a horrible lesson, a false one. She thought her only value was her body, so she’d bartered that…and received naught in return. This nameless bastard hadn’t been able to protect her fromme, and he’d given her no pleasure in return.
Well, now she’s yers.
