Page 9 of Keeping the Human's Heart

I cry out when he spears my flesh, my ragged, angry skin lighting on fire with pain. I squirm and wriggle, trying to escape, but the troll holds me firmly as the needle pierces me, over and over. I’m sobbing by the time he’s finished, and he ties off the thread before slicing it with his teeth. A few hiccups escape me, but that’s all I have left.

With a sharp nod at me, the orc gets out of his chair to tidy up. The troll crouches down in front of me as I wipe my tears away with my good arm.

“Yazi keva,” he says, reaching towards my face. I flinch away, but all he’s doing is tucking some of my wet hair behind my ear. For a moment, he looks sad, and screws up his lips in a funny way. “Gro agken.”

I don’t know what the words mean, but it feels like he’s apologizing. A troll, apologizing to me? An orc, caring for my wounds? I feel like I’ve entered another world, and despite the fresh stitches in my arm, I don’t think I hate it.

After that the big orc cooks a meal of fresh chicken and roasted vegetables, and I don’t know how long it’s been since I ate so well. I try to help out, but he pushes me away, and the troll is the one who cleans up at the end of the meal. Even with my bunk arm, I follow him outside so I can do something to help. This is how I’ll show that I’m worth keeping around.

“Keva!” the troll chastises me. I realize that he’s talking to me.

“Keva?” I ask. I point at myself. “No, Esme. I’m Esme.”

He shakes his head. “Keva.” Then he gestures to himself. “Han’zir. Zak gorkk—” he points after the orc. “Drazak.”

Han’zir and Drazak, is it? I suppose he’s decided to call me keva, whatever that means. Hmm. I think I like it. Maybe it suits me. I could become someone new here, someone who isn’t Esme, maid and deserter.

Han’zir bids me to follow him, and together we go back out to the barn. He gestures at the hay loft and mimes sleeping, giving me another command that ends in keva.

He wants me to go to bed? But it’s the middle of the afternoon. When I object, though, the troll silences me and points again at the loft. I think he wants me to rest.

I won’t object to that. I’m exhausted after Drazak stitched me up, and my face burns from crying. Once I settle myself into the hay, my arm still aching, it’s easy to wander off into dreams.

Chapter 4

Han’zir

“Go to bed, puppy,” I tell her again. Drazak’s last command was to make her rest and give her body a chance to heal. We don’t know how fast or slow humans recover from injuries, and Drazak told me in no uncertain terms that she couldn’t be taxing herself and doing difficult chores if we wanted that arm to stay stitched.

I’m disappointed, of course, because she’s so cute and eager to help. She’s the type who’s pleased when given tasks to do, a caring sort of person who wants to look after everyone else. I can relate to that.

After I’ve put the human to bed, I saunter back to the house to find where my orc has gone. I feel almost buzzed, a little heat sloshing around in my head. This is all very thrilling. A lot has happened in one day. We’ve adopted a pet of sorts, and treated a life-threatening wound before it could do too much damage. I’ve seen a human naked for the first time, which was brilliant and enchanting. I liked the soft planes of her body, all curvy and round.

In our little world, things don’t happen this fast. Not much happens at all, actually, which does get old after a while. But I don’t think that peace will remain for long with the new puppy around to mix things up.

I’m strangely horny by the time I locate Drazak working on fixing an old wagon. I crouch down behind him and run a hand down his back, pausing to cup his ass when I reach it. He grunts in answer, but doesn’t move, so I slide my fingers around to his crotch.

Whoa. He’s already hard as a rock. I grin and stroke him over his pants, and he freezes.

“What is it?” he asks, voice hitching ever so slightly.

“I’m not allowed to touch you now?” I ask, devilishly running my hand lower, where I know that soft cockhead is hidden. I squeeze just a tad, and he jerks under me.

“Well, now someone else lives here,” he answers in a gruff tone that says this is my fault and I should know it.

“Aw, that doesn’t change anything, though.” I rub him harder. “Who cares if the puppy catches us fucking?”

I’m surprised when he leans away from me, then abruptly stands. His cock is straining at his pants when he turns around.

“Don’t forget that she’s a human,” he growls to me, and I’m equally as surprised by the fire in his eyes. “A human who is our enemy. Who no one can catch staying here, or they will drag her away and kill her.”

Immediately I sober. He’s right, and I hate that he’s right. Still, it’s curious that he’s defending the human after getting so grumpy about having her here. But I raise my hands up in the air in surrender and back away. “Then I guess you can fuck me later, like we’re some old grandparents. Should I pretend to have a headache, too?”

I can tell by the slight drift of his left tusk upward that he likes the idea of taking me. Before the puppy, he would have done it right now against the wagon.

“There’s work to be finished thanks to all the time we lost this morning and this afternoon.” Drazak wipes his hands off on his pants and tries to ignore his straining cock. “So you should get to work. And then I’ll fuck you so hard after dinner you won’t be able to walk.”

My whole body shivers. “Is that a promise?” I ask, making sure he gets a good look at my backside as I walk away.

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