Page 50 of The Orc and the Innkeeper

“I...I don’t want to bother you. I just came to...” He trails off, searching for the right words.

I lean on my shovel and raise an eyebrow, trying to look unimpressed even as my pulse races. “To what? Gloat? Rub it in my face that you played me?”

He flinches as if I’ve struck him. “No, Mariah, I would never...” He takes a deep breath. “I came to pay the rest of the extermination bill.”

Thorak hands me an envelope and my stomach bottoms out. He’d promised to pay even if the deal with Kingsley fell through.

But I honestly just assumed he would leave me hanging after what happened yesterday. After all, the deal collapsed because of the conversation thatIinitiated. The things thatIsaid.

Even if it was totally justified.

That tiny, traitorous voice sneaks back into my head, telling me that it’s unfair to take the money when I’m at least partially responsible for the deal disappearing, for Thorak losing his chance at his dreams.

“Thanks,” I say curtly, cutting off the little voice and taking the envelope.

Thorak probably just doesn’t want any loose threads. It’s cleaner this way. He’s paying me off so he doesn’t have to feel guilty and can go back to his life with Ygra without another thought about me.

I turn back to my gardening, expecting him to leave, but after a few moments I can sense his presence behind me still.

“Do you need anything else?” I snap, turning back around to face him. “I promise you’ve run out of ways to humiliate me.”

Thorak’s cheeks flush, but he stands his ground. “I know you have no reason to believe me, but I meant what I said yesterday. What we had, it was real. I wasn’t faking or using you. I really do care about you. More than...more than I’ve ever cared about anyone.”

I just stare at him, my emotions warring within me.

I want so badly to believe him, but the walls around my heart are thick and high. He hurt me too many times in the past for me to let him scale them again.

Thorak takes another step closer, his gaze imploring. “I’ve given you every reason to doubt me. I was an ass in high school, and I’ll regret how I treated you until the day I die. But I’m not that orc anymore, Mariah. What happened with Ygra was awful and I should’ve told her about you the moment she showed back up. I’ll regret that forever, too.”

He reaches out a hand as if to touch my cheek, but stops himself.

“I get it if you can’t forgive me. If you can’t trust me. I’m not asking for another chance. I just...” His voice cracks with emotion. “I just need you to know that it was real for me. Every moment, every kiss, every time I held you in my arms. It was the realest thing I’ve ever known.”

I swallow hard and turn my face away. I can’t let him see how much his words affect me. How much I long to throw myself into his embrace and never let go.

But I can’t. I won’t.

I have to protect myself.

“Thorak, I...” My voice wavers. “I can’t do this. Not now. Maybe not ever. Please, just...just go.”

For a long moment he just looks at me, a maelstrom of emotions plain on his face. Then he nods slowly. He turns and walks away, his broad shoulders slumped in defeat.

I watch him go until he disappears from sight, my heart shattered into a million pieces.

Later that day,I’m mindlessly wiping down the front desk, lost in thought, when I hear a throat clear.

I look up into Kingsley’s stone-cold face and feel myself blanch. It’s like all of the work this town had done on him over the past week and a half was wiped out in an instant yesterday. He’s back to being a sour businessman without a speck of warmth in him.

“Checking out,” he tells me emotionlessly.

My eyebrows raise. “Already? I thought you were staying for at least two weeks.”

Kingsley’s lips press into a thin line. “Plans change. I have no reason to stay in this...place any longer than necessary.”

The unspoken “since the deal with Thorak fell through” hangs heavy in the air between us. I glance down at the desk, where Thorak’s check for Mystic Pest is still sitting.

Gods, that little voice is back, reminding me that this whole fake engagement was my idea in the first place. I got my end of the deal; the exterminators finish tomorrow and I won’t have to worry about paying them. The inn is going to be fine.

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