Page 58 of The Orc's Thief
When I turn back to the horses, the old groom smirks at me.
“Young love, eh?” He unties Cricket’s lead from Pip’s saddle and leads the gelding into the stables, motioning for me to follow with the other two horses.
I don’t reply to his comment, because it’s not love, like I told Tessa earlier. There’s want—a pounding, thrumming need to hold her, to bury myself in her and never let go—but not love. Not yet.
She doesn’t feel it, either, and I wonder if she ever will.
“I remember when I first saw my Clara,” the groom says as he undoes Cricket’s gear with sure, practiced movements that speak of decades of experience. “Couldn’t keep my eyes off her.”
Reaching up, I unbuckle Pip’s bags, then heft the heavy saddle onto the rack on the wall opposite the stalls. “Are you still together?”
The man nods proudly. “Forty years and counting. Four children. We’ve five grandbabies now, the youngest just three weeks old.”
A pang of jealousy goes through me at his words. He’s made a quiet, honest life for himself and his family, and spent the majority of his years with the love of his life.
“I can take care of them,” he says, nodding at Tessa’s mare and Pip. “You go on. She’ll be waiting for you.”
Gods, I wish he was right. I don’t have the heart to tell him she’s just as likely to run away from me, though I guess that’s not entirely true anymore.
She had the opportunity to leave and didn’t take it.
That spurs me on, and I leave with a word of thanks to the old man and a quick pat for Pip. I cross the courtyard with quick steps and burst through the front door of the inn, where Mistress Maeve directs me toward the stairs with an incline of her head.
“Climb as high as you can, then turn right. Second door on the left after that,” she instructs, already bustling away to serve another group of patrons.
I shuck my jacket while climbing the stairs. The warm air from the taproom rises with me. At least we’ll be sleeping in warm beds tonight, safe from the rain.
I reach the first landing and discover that the house, which I thought only had three floors, has an attic as well. That’s where we’ve been shoved, into the last available room in a very full inn. The door is ajar, and shuffling sounds drift through it as I approach.
At the sound of my footsteps, Tessa appears at the threshold, her hands on her hips.
“Did you do this?” she demands in a furious whisper.
I frown. “Do what?”
She clicks her tongue, then pushes the door open the rest of the way, revealing the inside of our room.
It barely deserves the name. The small space has no windows, the ceiling is open to expose the beams and thick sheaves of straw used for the roof, and the bed… The bed is a simple, low mattress raised a few inches off the floor on a roughly hewn wooden frame. It’s shoved right up under the slanted ceiling, with just enough room on the side for a small table holding a washbasin, a pitcher of hot water, and a small lantern casting yellow light on the wooden walls. Tessa’s saddlebags lie on the narrow strip of floor, blocking access to the other side of the room.
“She called you myhusband,” Tessa hisses through gritted teeth. “Any clue why she might think we’re married?”
I send her a sideways glance. “Did you correct her?”
“No.” Tessa nudges me into the room, then follows and shuts the door. “I didn’t want her to think I’m traveling alone with a man who’snotmy husband.”
Another human concern from her, but I understand. She’s been burned before, and not by strangers. I still can’t believe her family abandoned her because she took a lover. If mine did the same, I’d be on the street a dozen times over. But orcs aren’t as prudish as that.
“I told her you were my mate,” I explain, stepping back to give her room. “She must have misunderstood.”
Tessa sighs and gestures at the space. “Well, it is what it is. She told me all the other rooms were full on the way up. Apologized for the lack of a window, too.”
I glance down at the mattress, which is narrower than any bed I’ve slept in since I was a child.
“Do you want me to sleep in the stables? You can have the room if you want.”
Tessa stares at me, her pretty eyes wide. “You’d really do that, wouldn’t you? You mean it?”
I drop my saddlebags on the floor and hang my jacket on a hook by the door.
