Page 9 of The Passionate Orc
"Don't worry about it. Just be safe." Her voice was understanding, but I could see the worry in her eyes. "The competition piece can wait."
But it couldn't wait forever. And as the days passed, my opportunities to work on it dwindled. Night patrols, weapons training, and clan meetings suddenly filled my schedule. Almost as if...
No. They couldn't know. It was just bad timing.
"They're onto us,"I declared dramatically three days later, barging into Emryn's apartment with paint supplies hidden in a meat delivery bag.
"The meat's going to spoil if you keep using that bag for art supplies," she noted, failing to appreciate the gravity of my statement.
"Did you hear me? My clan suspects something."
Emryn looked up from her clay figures, a smudge of blue on her cheek that I found unreasonably adorable. "What makes you think that?"
"Suddenly I'm needed for every patrol, every training session, every stupid clan meeting about proper axe maintenance." I dropped onto her couch, deflated. "They're keeping me busy on purpose."
"Or maybe they just value you?" She set down her tools and came to sit beside me, her small frame fitting perfectly against mine. "You are their best warrior, after all."
I snorted. "I'm being paranoid, aren't I?"
"A little." She reached up to trace one of my tusks with her finger. "But it's cute."
"Orcs aren't cute," I growled halfheartedly, leaning into her touch.
"This one is." She kissed me lightly, then pulled back. "Now, we only have a few hours before you need to return. Let's make them count."
We worked intensely that evening, making significant progress on our piece. The miniature world was coming together beautifully—my painted landscape merging seamlessly with Emryn's sculpted figures and trees. We called it "Two Worlds, One Home," a representation of our different backgrounds finding harmony together.
It was personal. It was perfect.
And it was almost finished when disaster struck again.
I was carryingour nearly completed piece, carefully wrapped in protective cloth, to a safer storage place in Emryn's building when I literally ran into Thokk and Grubnuk on the street corner.
"Humperdink!" Grubnuk's voice boomed down the quiet street. "What are you doing in the artisan district?"
I froze, clutching our precious artwork. "Just visiting Emryn."
"What's that you're carrying?" Thokk's beady eyes fixed on my package.
"A gift," I said quickly. "For Emryn."
"Let's see it then." Grubnuk reached for the package.
I stepped back, panic rising. "It's private."
"More female herbs?" Thokk sneered.
"No, it's…"
"Is everything okay?" Emryn's voice came from behind me, and relief washed through me. She'd followed me out, my guardian angel in paint-splattered overalls.
My clan brothers straightened immediately. Despite their general disdain for humans, they respected Emryn for having "tamed" me, as they put it.
"Just wondering what lover-boy here is bringing you," Grubnuk grinned, tusks gleaming in the streetlight.
Emryn slipped beside me, her small hand finding mine. "Oh, that? It's a surprise. For me." She gave them a conspiratorial wink. "And I'd really appreciate if you let him deliver it properly."
The two orcs exchanged glances, then broke into knowing grins.
