Page 71 of The Orc's Rage

They did not exchange words until morning, when sunlight crept in through the tent ceiling, and Lord Kargorr blinked bleary eyes. Rarely did he find himself in this state, sated like a cat that has just gorged on a fresh kill. He could move, he thought, and perhaps he ought to. But Cedar was curled up against him, her head resting on his arm, her breathing the only thing in the quiet.

But then he heard movement outside, and knew he had matters to attend to, now that Lord Gannag’sparogwas on the way. Still, he watched her a few moments longer, and his free hand traveled down her body, exploring it, tracing the familiar edges of it and committing them to memory again. His blood warmed for her as he thought of all the ways he had rutted her last night, slinging her legs up over his shoulders, rolling her onto her front so he could lie on top of her, their legs and arms wrapped up together.

His cock was fully alert now, rubbing against Cedar’s swelled belly, and she shifted in her sleep. With a soft moan, she rubbed back, and her hands drifted down until they were wrapped around his girth, and her eyes drifted open.

And then she smiled. It was an unguarded, pleased sort of smile, a smile he had never once seen on her face before. Lord Kargorr watched her, frozen, as she stroked up the length of him with her small hand.

There was certainly no chance of him leaving this tent now.

He fucked her while looking into her brown eyes, taking his time, working himself into her one slow inch by slow inch, languidly stoking her flames until she was burning, crying out, a twisting, panting, sweating mess underneath him. It gave him great pleasure to undo her.

“Tell me, little deer,” he murmured to her, teasing her with hissargabut not yet giving them to her. “Tell me how you are mine.”

“I’m not,” she whined, jerking her hips up, trying to take more of him. “Please, I?—”

And Kargorr swallowed her objections, scouring her mouth as hissargafilled her up, as he took pleasure in her and pleasured her all at once, until he had emptied his seed inside her twice more, and she was utterly boneless underneath him.

But the time had come and he had delayed too long. Lord Kargorr sat up and rose off the bed, but a hand caught him.

“You aren’t leaving again, are you?”

Cedar’s question surprised and rejuvenated him, this not-so-hidden plea for his presence and company. Of course he would leave—he had to, in a few weeks’ time. But for a moment, he considered lying, because her hesitance also meant that perhaps the bond between them was healing.

Lord Kargorr held her gaze. “Not immediately,” he said, and she wilted. “First, Lord Gannag will join us here.”

She blinked. “He agreed to come?” They had been too lost in their reunion for him to even convey this news.

“And his entireparog,” Lord Kargorr said. “We will do as nogrrosekhave done before us and combine our forces. We will build an army.” As he spoke, his vigor and his determination swelled. “And then I will bring morekazek, moreparog, until we have the force to destroy all of humanity.”

Cedar was not affronted, as he might have thought she would be, given he intended to extinguish her kind. Instead, she gave him a look that was almost... pitying.

“When will it be enough?” she asked. “How many lords?”

Lord Kargorr did not understand the question. He would walk to the ends of the earth to find his kin, bring them together, and lead the assault. In the ashes, he would rise as the unifier.

“Until we can walk over their bodies with our boots,” Kargorr said, and began to dress.

Cedar didn’t speak as he finished and headed for the tent door. There, he paused.

“I will remain here as long as possible,” Lord Kargorr said at last. “And send Orgha in my place when I can. But this is what I must do, what I was called on to do.”

Gazing upon her face, though, it was clear to him that Cedar knew this. She already knew how his mission superseded all else, including her. So Cedar simply nodded, then lay back down in the furs, resigned to it.

When he left the tent, Kargorr called on someone to find Rathka and bring her. Kiya slept on the ground, waiting for his mistress. Opening the tent flap, Kargorr sent the cat inside. Unlike Liga, who had grown up on the snowfields with the other cats, Kiya had an intuitiveness about him that surprised Kargorr. The cat understood many words and knew when Cedar needed him.

Lord Kargorr should be thinking about what came next, about the wave ofgrrosekdescending upon them and everything their presence would demand: more tents, more land, more food, more everything. There was much to plan and many tasks to do, and yet even as he summoned Samrak and the two of them got to work, Kargorr thought of how hisyapirahad taken him so well last night, and how poorly he had left her this morning.

He could not give her what she wanted: true security, in his heart and in hisparog. And he hated it.

Cedar

The camp was bright with energy when she and Rathka emerged. A warm, spring sun was shining down, and it rather maddened Cedar that the world would only choose to warm up when Lord Kargorr returned. She was second-best, even in the sun’s eyes.

Everyone was working, and when Cedar entered Carn’s workshop, she found another young half-orc there, helping with some fresh kills. She was pretty, and had thick, braided hair that fell over her shoulder. She spoke Cedar’s language, which was a welcome reprieve from most of the time, when no one except Carn and Rathka understood her.

But the orc woman did not meet Cedar’s eyes. She spoke a little of her mother, a human woman who had been taken decades ago and already passed away. It was comforting to speak in her own language with someone who fully understood her.

Apparently, the hunters were out scouring the landscape for fresh kills, so the camp cooks could dry more meat for the coming orcs. Cedar wondered how many of these strangers there would be, and how the camp would accommodate all of them—more warriors, more families, even another lord.

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