Page 62 of The Orc's Rage

“Get in, little deer,” he commanded her, and reflexively, Cedar obeyed, climbing into the tub. The hot water enveloped her, and she couldn’t resist letting out a sigh of pleasure as it covered her cold skin. She watched as Kargorr undressed himself, revealing that big chest with the full pectorals, his strong belly, the line of muscle that trailed from his hip bones to the massive cock at the apex of his groin. His thighs were dense and thick, and when he turned to peel his pants off his big feet, Cedar found herself admiring his carved ass. No wonder he could fuck with such abandon when he looked like that.

At last, he stepped into the tub and settled in front of her, placing his legs on either side of her hips. She remembered this position, too, and how neatly she nestled between his calves. With his added bulk, the water rose nearly to overflowing the tub, and Cedar sighed as it covered her collarbone. She felt Kargorr’s eyes on her as she tilted her head back and sank even deeper, letting her hair drift under the surface of the water. Her knees floated up, and she felt his hands wrap around them, gently tugging her closer. Soon she was fully spread, her feet in his lap and her head leaning against the back of the tub. Perhaps she ought to have hidden herself from such exposure, but she was too tired and pleasantly warm to care.

Her eyes did open, though, when Kargorr’s calloused hand wrapped around her foot. He kneaded it with his strong fingers, forcing his thumb through the stiff muscle, and Cedar couldn’t help the low gasp of pleasure she let out. His body shuddered at the sound, but otherwise he gave no indication that he’d heard her as he continued his thorough rubbing. When he’d finished at her heel, he took her other foot and repeated the motion, digging his hands into her strained muscles, which she hadn’t realized were quite so hard until now. She couldn’t help sagging deeper into the water, her hips sliding toward his in the tub. When he finished with her other heel, he let it drop to his lap, and then she heard shuffling. Cedar glanced up to find him holding soap, and he took her legs once more, lifting them out of the water so he could lather her feet, then her calf and knee. His hand slipped down her thigh to her rear, where he ever-so-gently urged her to lift her hips.

Her body lit up like a flame at the touch. It remembered him so easily, how he felt around her, inside her, and suddenly all it wanted was to return to that place where they were joined together. Cedar crushed her eyes closed, hoping that if she simply didn’t look at him, at his square face and deep-set eyes and bulky, scarred chest, she could stave off how much she needed him.

And yet, she obeyed his unspoken command, her thighs spreading and her body rising with his hands. When he had her above the surface of the water, he continued soaping her, from her thighs to her belly. He leaned forward as he set her down once more, then continued upward to her chest. He spread suds liberally over her breasts, but never stopped on them for too long, only brushing his palms over her nipples as he worked the soap across her warm skin. When he reached her throat, he paused underneath her jaw, and Cedar couldn’t help peering up at him.

Kargorr’s brows were drawn together in thought, his lips curved down at the sides. Was he unhappy with her? Had she done something wrong without realizing it?

He leaned closer to her, his broad hands gliding up to cup her face. Cedar realized her legs were slung over his thighs, so now his prominent cock was rising in the water between them, and she shivered at the sight of it.

“Look at me, little deer.”

Her eyes jumped to his. This time, underneath the impossible blackness of them, Cedar thought she saw something else—something softer, warmer, sweeter. But was that simply her imagination? Her vast well of pathetic, hopeful thoughts?

He didn’t care for her. He didn’t love her. She was an object, a vessel, as she always had been. He wanted her complicity and thought he could buy it from her with affection, by rubbing her feet in the bath and looking deep into her eyes.

At last, Kargorr spoke.

“I meant what I said.” He stroked a thumb across her cheek. “You... are myyapira. The one I was supposed to find.”

Cedar frowned. He had called her this, and yet while he did it, he had stolen from her. He had ripped away any trust they might have built between them out there in the snow. What did he hope to gain now by telling her?

There was no destiny here, no intention. She was simply the unlucky girl who lived in the village Lord Kargorr destroyed, that was all. Perhaps his backward, brutish beliefs wanted it to mean more than that, but she knew the truth underneath.

It was all luck, or in her case, the lack thereof. When Lissa was murdered in front of her, Cedar knew there were no gods, no force of fate. She’d always suspected, but Kargorr had cemented that knowledge.

His hands slid under her hair, down her neck, around her back, so he could draw her closer. His frown deepened.

“You do not believe me.”

She couldn’t stand the expression of hurt that crossed his face. Surely he didn’t have feelings that could be injured. He pressed his lips to her forehead and held her there, his arms curled loosely around her.

“If that is really who I am to you,” she said finally, clenching her hands, “then why does Orgha treat Rathka as his partner, his equal? They have no children, and still, he loves her. He cares for her. He kisses her goodbye before he leaves. He doesn’t steal away in the night.”

Kargorr’s arms stilled around her.

“It is different for Orgha,” he said. “You know that I am trying to build something. Create something. Take back what is mine.”

It only took a breath for her to understand. So he would not treat her as Orgha treated Rathka, not while his work continued.

All that he offered her now was what hecouldoffer her. She would never be more important than his mission.

Kargorr said nothing further when she didn’t answer. After a time, he drew away and gently turned her in the tub so her back faced his chest, then tipped her into the water to wash her hair. The intimacy of the gesture bewildered Cedar, but she allowed it, sinking into his hands. When he finished, he slid her into the triangle of his crossed legs, and while he was hard there underneath her, he did not attempt to put it inside her. No, his fingers trailed down to her breasts, circling her nipples, refusing to touch them. He explored her belly, her hips, her thighs. His tusks brushed the back of her neck as he brought his lips to her flesh, gently pressing them there before moving across her shoulder. While he touched every inch of her body with his hands, he covered the rest with his kisses, curling himself tighter and tighter around her until she thought she might vanish inside him.

30

Kargorr

Though her heart was conflicted, her body knew him. She leaned into his touch without realizing, pressed her hips down into his while she sat in his arms, let herself drift into his chest as he kissed along her shoulder. Kargorr curled his hand around hers and drew it over her head, so he could continue leaving the imprints of his lips up her arm. She trembled under him, but still wavered, reluctant to give in to what she really wanted.

And so he continued languidly, balling up her fingers in his palm and cupping them like a small, tender thing. He brought her hand back down to her chest, then curled it around her waist, his atop hers. Instead of his fingers sliding over her hip, it was her fingers. As he guided them back up to her chest, it was her hand that traveled over the swell of her breast, across the taut nipples just barely above the surface of the water. She shivered as he rubbed back and forth, from one breast to the other. Her round ass ground perfectly against his cock, and truly, all he wanted was to bury hissargain her again, to be one with her at last.

Instead, he nipped the lobe of her ear, letting his breath fall over her skin. A gasp escaped her lips, and he guided her hand down, over the soft swell of her belly. Though his cock nudged urgently at the space between her legs, Kargorr ignored it, caressing her elbow inside of his as he guided her everywhere except there. She shifted in his lap, and he knew her body was aching for more.

But no, he planned to take this slow. Now that she was clean and the water was cooling down, it was time to explore the gift she had made for him.

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