Page 56 of Claimed By the Orc Lord

I stepped forward, trying to make sure I didn’t get into Koth’s line of sight while I wiggled just outside the tree line. Nash’s eyes were all for the men to his right, but I saw his shoulders tense. When I shimmied again, feeling like a bit of an idiot for practically dancing while there were people with sharp blades close by who wanted to take my head off, his gaze turned in my direction.

The second his eyes made contact with mine, I saw emotions flood across his face—fury, shock... and then the sweetest relief I’d ever seen.

He didn’t have to say anything for me to realize this wasn’t one of those typical situations I read about in books.

He wasn’t trying to valiantly tell me togoso I could save myself and leave him behind.

He wasn’t jerking his head and struggling, willing to sacrifice himself because I was some little damsel who needed help.

Once he looked me over and realized I was fine, his eyes moved to the left.

To the pile of his belongings that had been stripped from him.

To the blade I’d seen him take off so many times before he went to bed.

I pressed my back to the tree I was peeking around and nodded. He wasn’t telling me to go—he was showing me where I could help him… and as much as I would have liked to charge in and grab the blade and start swinging…

Well, I knew better. Obviously I’d gotten my ass kicked once by Koth already—if I tried to fight him again, especially when he was in his own space with backup…?

Well, that wasn’t going to do me a damn bit of good, was it?

But if I had Nash to help…

Well, shit. I wasn’t sure there’d be a damn thing we couldn’t do.

His eyes stayed fixed on me for another second and then I nodded once, hoping he’d realize that I hadnoidea what I was supposed to do, but I was going to do it to the best of my ability. The only thing I could think of was to slip back into the line of trees and make my way across the clearing as quietly as I could. There was just one problem… That drop-off Nash had mentioned before, the one that apparently traveled for miles where a river had cut deep into the earth a long, long time ago, ran all along the left side of the camp.

There was no way for me to get completely behind him. Which meant there was no way for me to sneak across and cut him loose before someone noticed me.

Some of the assholes in the group had bows, and I was pretty sure they’d shoot me without hesitation if it meant they would keep me from rescuing a furious Nash. So… the best I could do was…

Well…

Improvise.

It was probably a good thing I’d read so many books after all, because at least I was slightly prepared for this situation, even if my preparation wasn’t exactly realistic.

I moved as close to Nash as I could, and every time I peeked through the trees, his eyes were still on me. Now that he knew I was here, he could probably sense me just as much as I could sense him. There was almost something comforting about that, knowing that no matter what happened, we weren’t going to get ripped apart again. I had a feeling Koth wouldn’t let us live that long if things went south anyway.

In theory, it would be good if I could get something to him so he could get himself loose before I came charging in as backup. I wasn’t exactly sure how to do that, so the best I could manage was to slip around the last tree in the clearing and try to judge the distance between us.

It wasn’t perfect.

None of this was perfect…

And I realized if I went through with the plan forming in my mind, there was every chance Nash might just kill me when all was said and done anyway. But if they saw me cutting him loose, they’d probably kill one of us.

If they thought I was coming in to rescue him with guns blazing, they’d probably still kill me… but they’d do it slower.

I had a feeling from the look on Koth’s face and the sadistic edge to his expression that he’d want to draw it out if he was given the chance. Especially if Nash had to watch it happen.

I was putting a lot of faith in maybes and the fact that I believed Nash wouldn’t let anyone hurt me… but what else was I supposed to do?

I think Nash could tell that I was about to do something either really brave or really stupid, because he shook his head… but…

Well.

Permission. Forgiveness. The same thing still applied.

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