Page 53 of The Orc's Rage

You would replace me! You would throw me away!

Kargorr dropped a hand to her side, simply seeking her warmth. She flinched, but didn’t move. She was shivering, he realized, so he pulled over an extra fur and covered her with it.

“Why did you run?” he asked at length.

There came no answer, but he waited anyway.

It could have been minutes or a whole hour later when Cedar finally answered.

“The women.” She closed her eyes. “More concubines. More...orclings.” She spit the word, and curled away from him, wrapping her arms tight around herself.

Kargorr tried to think what she meant. What women? What concubines? There was no one but her.

At last, he remembered: the humans the party had brought back with them from their conquest, with their loud and pitiful crying.

It all unraveled in front of him. The moment he understood was like a blow to the side of his head.

Cedarhadwaited for him. Not only was she loyal, but she was jealous, too. There was only one reason why she had left his side, why she had fled tonight of all nights, at this moment of all moments.

The truth settled in, ugly and dark in Kargorr’s belly, of what he’d done to hisyapira. She was his only. The one he had been destined for. The woman who carried his orcling, who had moaned so sweetly under him when he pleasured her, who ate too much and had once thought about killing him with a dagger in the night.

Kargorr had hurt her. He had hurt her in a way nogrrosekshould ever hurt his chosen one.

“No, little deer,” he said quietly. “It is only you.”

Kargorr wrapped his arms around her, trying to bring her in close—but she was as stiff as a stone, and he hoped against all hope that he hadn’t broken her.

26

Cedar

Hisyapira. That’s what he had called her.

Rathka had led Cedar to believe this meant something. That it was a special bond, a sacred bond.

Just words, Cedar thought. They were all just words.

In the morning, she awoke to the strange sensation of warm arms locked around her, keeping her rooted to the bed.

“It’s early, little deer,” she heard Kargorr’s voice say when she moved away. She had forgotten what he sounded like while he was gone, but the familiarity of it washed over her like a warm blanket—which quickly turned cold. It was a very different voice from last night, when he had roared like a bear driven to madness. “Get some more sleep.”

But Cedar had become an early riser in his absence, and she found she couldn’t bear being so close to him. It made her heart squeeze tight, like a curled fist, protecting itself. She tried to worm away, but he held her fast.

“Don’t go yet,” he murmured, lowering his face to her hair.

So she lay there, quite still. As much as her body longed to mold into his, to take him inside her now that he was here again... she could also feel the scratches on her back where he’d pushed her naked body against the tree trunk, and her soul hardened.

At last, Lord Kargorr let out a sigh and released her, sitting up with his thick legs hanging off the bed. She crawled out, put on her clothes, and patted Kiya on the head. It was time for his breakfast.

Usually Rathka would be waiting outside the tent, but Cedar had a feeling that this morning, she wouldn’t be.

Kargorr remained sitting, watching her with unreadable eyes. She wondered if perhaps she wouldn’t be allowed to leave the tent anymore. Perhaps he intended to fulfill the promise he made her once upon a time.

“Are you going to whip me?” Cedar finally asked.

Kargorr’s head jerked up when she spoke, and his eyebrows rose, lips parting around his thick tusks.

“Whip you?” he repeated. He searched her face for a long moment, the silence building louder and louder between them, until he lowered his eyes and shook his head. “No, I will not whip you.”

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