Page 21 of The Orc's Rage

“Don’t worry.” He tore off a piece for himself and slipped it between his lips, chewing thoughtfully. “Your pig does not have this much fat on her.”

Cedar was speechless as he left to go do whatever it was that he went off and did.

Later that day, an orc she didn’t recognize came inside. Without looking at her, or even greeting her, he began packing all of Lord Kargorr’s things. He started on the left side of the room, gathering up whatever lay out on the small table and the lid of his trunk. It was all stuffed into leather bags, and even the table was disassembled while he stayed silent.

He didn’t look like the other orcs. He was shorter by half a head and much more slender, without that hulking mass that Lord Kargorr carried with him. This orc’s features were finer, with a longer, more pointed nose and a less brutish jaw. His tusks were smaller, too, curling only to the base of his cheeks.

Cedar puzzled over this as he worked. Then the thought occurred to her: he looked almosthuman.

Her stomach tightened. Is that what he was? Part human and part orc? It was as if someone had poured ice water over her as she watched him laboring, his powerful muscles moving under his shirt. Still he wouldn’t turn his gaze on her, even as she stared.

Is this what Kargorr was after? More half-breeds?

She’d been watching so long she nearly forgot what he was doing. Her eyes darted to the wall as he began taking down the weapons hung there.

It hadn’t seemed that many of the orcs spoke her tongue, but perhaps if he was half-human, he would.

“Don’t touch those,” she said, and the half-orc froze. “He won’t like that.”

At last, he turned to look at her, but then his eyes fell to the floor.

“What’s wrong? Why won’t you look at me? Or talk to me?” She was tired of this, of Kargorr being her only interaction with the outside world.

“He does not allow it,” he finally said, stepping away from the weapons. He had no accent when he spoke in her tongue—it was clearly native to him. So he had been raised by a human.

“Kargorr won’t let you talk to me?” Cedar stiffened. “Why not?”

The half-orc shook his head, then pressed his lips closed like he was determined to keep them that way. Instead, he turned his attention to all of Lord Kargorr’s sets of armor where they hung, and began packing them, along with the racks they were on. He carried it all out the door and deposited it on a massive wooden sledge.

Cedar didn’t have much time. She would have to replace the dagger on the wall, or Kargorr would surely find it when he took them all down.

While the half-orc was gone, she dove for the furs to retrieve the blade from underneath them. It took some time for her to locate it, and when she pulled it out, the flap of the tent opened. She tucked the dagger behind her back, her breath sticking in her throat, hoping the half-orc wouldn’t see that she had it. He’d certainly tell Kargorr, and then what would he do to her?

She could barely breathe as the visitor shook out the rugs and rolled them up, hefting them over his shoulder. And then, the worst thing possible happened.

Lord Kargorr returned.

Cedar clamped her hand tight around the dagger’s hilt, keeping the flat of the blade against her back. She couldn’t attack him here, not with someone else around. Kargorr snapped some harsh words in his tongue, and the half-orc quickly fled the tent, leaving them alone.

Kargorr walked to his wall of weapons, one of the only objects now remaining in the hut besides the bed. He looked over his axes, and she knew any moment now he’d discover the missing dagger.

When she didn’t move or speak, Kargorr arched an eyebrow and looked at her from the corner of his eye. The blade of the dagger was cool against her skin.

“Are you anxious, little deer?” he asked, turning away from the weapons. “About leaving tomorrow?”

She shook her head. “No. Why would I be? This isn’t my home.”

He chuckled at her easy answer. He seemed less stiff now than he had been the last few days. And when his lip curled, it wasn’t cruel, but amused.

“That’s good, then.” He patted the blade of his axe before turning to her. She let out a sigh of relief that he was no longer looking at the wall where the dagger should be. “We’ve made all the preparations, and it will be a smooth journey.”

He sat down on the bed next to her with a heavy, but relieved, sigh.

“In the morning, we’ll take out the furs and stow the bed. But until then...” He leaned toward her, and his smell filled Cedar’s nose. It instantly triggered a response, her body stiffening, a languid warmth trailing down from her breasts into her hips. She’d already grown so accustomed to that smell, sleeping in his furs, his sweat dripping onto her as he thrust inside her, that it made her skin feel alive.

She shifted away so she could keep her front toward him and her back hidden. The curl fell off his mouth. He cocked his head.

“What is it, little deer?” His eyes landed on her arm, the way it was clasped behind her back, and a stone fell in her stomach. “What do you have hidden there?”

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