Page 50 of Loved By the Orc
Success! Shalia left quite a few items behind. Several throwing knives, some oddly large for her small frame, but they’ll probably do Varguk nicely. I strap on a thigh belt and hook a couple on.
The sword will be mighty ungainly hanging on my back, but once I free Varguk, he’ll be able to carry the heavy monstrosity.
I grab a few of the round, pointy throwing knives. He’ll like those.
And when I’m strapped to the hilt, I wait in the dark for the sounds of the village to die down.
“Var!”
The hissed whisper in the dark sounds like heaven.
“Negan? What are you doing here?” My voice is raspy and throaty from the cold, my fingers numb.
“I’m here to break you out.”
Godsfire, what? She is willing to go against all her people? To throw away her life?
“What? Nay,” I scowl. “Female, as much as I love you, I can’t let you do that.”
Never that.
“Why not? Don’t you want to be with me?”
“And have you on the run for the rest of your life?”
“I don’t care. I can’t bear what might happen to you. It’s so unfair!”
“Come here, my love,” I whisper.
She presses herself up against the cage as far as she can go, her hands reaching for me through the bars. I lean my face against the cold metal to kiss her forehead.
Her ice-cold forehead. Her damp, braided hair. Despite the fur that wraps her shoulders, she did not prepare well.
“Negan, ‘tis cold out here,” I chide. “Go inside where there’s warmth. A fire.”
“Not with you out here freezing.”
“I’m a prisoner, sweet thing. I knew what I was getting into when I swore your life over mine.”
“If I had known, I never would have agreed to leave that basement. We could have lived there forever, you sneaking out for food…”
My lips curve into the first smile I’ve had in days. “Without ever seeing sun? You’re too beautiful to keep hidden.”
“Your father, brothers, and the king of your entire clan are coming. What do you think they’ll say?”
“Nothing to implicate themselves. More than likely they’ll blame me for your capture.”
“Exactly. And I’m not sitting around for that to happen.”
“And what happens when you’re not around to tell King Jacovi and King Brachard who really kidnapped you?” Her father’s voice has us both whip our heads around.
Negan pales. But in a few moments, she finds her fire. “I will not stand around for Varguk to take the blame for kidnapping me when he saved my life!”
“You will both look guilty by disappearing before the trial. Are you aware that it is not only a father and his two sons arriving but the clan king of their entire tribe? And what is the first thing they will say? That Varguk is to blame because there are no witnesses to dispute it? Mayhap they’ll even say he kidnapped you again.”
Poor Negan didn’t think of that.
“Trust in the system, sweet pea. Let this roll out. Now, come to daddy.” He holds his arms out.
