Page 36 of Bound to the Orc Hunter

Her easy touch tells me I’ve done right not to force matters. It shows an unconscious trust of me, one written in her body, if not her thoughts.

Grace’s hands lift her hair, twisting it into a bun, which she secures with the fabric thing she had on her wrist. “No need for an alarm clock with her around.”

“Always. Overnight watch makes her cranky, even if she can enter a kind of half-sleep while standing.” I roll up to sitting. “But she never calls out in actual alarm without good reason.”

“That’s not the kind of alarm I meant, but it’s sure a more useful one.”

When she leaves the tent, I reach down and adjust my cock, which has lost none of its stiffness. I leave my shirt untucked to hide it and follow her out into the cool morning air.

The first rays of sunlight sparkle on the river as I step out onto the bank, the constant roar of the water now so familiar as to become background noise.

“We should go before the sight of that thing calls enemies to us.” Aurora jabs her horn at the Ferris wheel.

“You might like it better if you took a ride,” Grace says.

“Humph.” The unicorn snorts and shakes her head. “I’m not a foal to be amused by trifles.”

“It’s not a trifle,” I say, hating the tiny pinch of pain that crossed my bride’s face. “It’s a wonder such as we’ve never seen in Alarria.”

“Forgive me, I meant no disrespect.” Aurora dips her head toward Grace. “I merely hate having something that announces our location so clearly when we’re far from home meadows.”

“Should we send it away?” Grace eyes the giant wheel. “Maybe the gnomes?”

“Their earth magic is great, but I doubt even they could convey something so large through the ground,” I say.

“We don’t need to worry about such things right now. We simply need to leave it behind.”

A wistful look crosses my bride’s face as she looks at her creation. This Ferris wheel means something to her, is a part of her and her past.

The water nymphs spot us, swimming as close to the bank as possible, crammed into the canyons between the wide slabs of granite that dot the river before us. Their burbling voices cry out, water foam hands beckoning, “Come play!”

I wrap my arm around her shoulder and give her a sideways hug. “If only they could work the machine, then someone would still enjoy it.”

Grace looks up at me, her wide mouth stretching into a glorious smile that fills my heart with joy.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Grace

“I know just what to do!” I say, my heart thumping with excitement. Branikk’s words have sparked an idea. I step away from him and stomp down, repeating the pattern he used my first day here, rat-a-tat-tat-tat.

“You’re calling the gnomes?” Aurora’s tone holds disbelief. “Why in the goddess’ name would you do that?”

“Reasons.” I keep stomping.

Instead of questioning me, Branikk joins in, his feet thudding against the dirt in deep booms as he uses his greater strength.

I like that. Having him support me makes all of this even better.

Just inside the tree line, a patch of toadstools quiver. They’re some of the biggest mushrooms I’ve ever seen, with bright red caps speckled with white dots. Branikk warned they’re very poisonous.

But if that bothers the gnomes, it doesn’t show. The leader pops up, right in the middle of the patch, the cap of the largest toadstool perched on her head as she throws out her arms and strikes a dramatic pose. The rest of the gnomes whirl up out of the ground all around her, each wearing a jaunty red mushroom cap.

“Human witch! Why do you call the gnomes?”

“I’ve got something for you.” I hook a thumb over my shoulder at the Ferris wheel.

The leader tumbles forward across the ground in a series of front flips until she reaches the edge of the water, where she stops and squints at the Ferris wheel. “What is it?”

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