Page 53 of Orc's Redemption

Two dicks.

Three if you count…

No. Nope. Not going there. Not happening.

Dirty thoughts have no place here, especially when that blackness is ready to swallow me whole. Focus girl. One step. The next. I stare ahead, watching the shadows, but the movement doesn’t repeat.

When I step off the bridge I exhale sharply. Ryatuv steps around my front, looking down from his much greater height with concern clearly written over his face.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

Z’leni has his weapon drawn and moves a few steps ahead, staring into the shadows. I open my mouth to respond and something shifts. I know it more than I feel it.

The world freezes—my breath caught, heart clenched, the widening of Ryatuv’s eyes suspended in time. My heart, my breath, the widening of Ryatuv’s eyes. All of it is frozen.

The stone beneath us groans. Then cracks.

The floor gives way beneath us.

I fall—into darkness.

21

RANI

As soon as I exit the Al’fa’s chambers Za’tan is waiting. His glare is angry and disgruntled, which is nothing new for him, but it makes me wonder how much he heard and saw. Embarrassment flickers through my thoughts. I had believed I was alone with the Al’fa. What I said and did was for his eyes and ears only and most especially not for the one who most strongly opposes the alliance I so deeply need.

The corridors of the Zmaj stronghold, carved from raw stone, are dimly lit by the flickering glow of burning torches. The air is thick with the scent of heated metal, dust, and the primal musk of the Zmaj—a potent mix of sweat and fire.

The scent of him.

I walk with my back straight, my steps measured. I am, as always, aware of the eyes on me. The warriors who do not trust me. The ones who would rather see me dead than consider an alliance.

They do not speak. They do not need to. Their silence is a blade, sharp and unspoken.

I ignore them the same as I ignore Za’tan at my side, though his heavy footfalls echo against the cavern walls. He is not pleased, but then, I did not expect him to be, nor do I truly care except that he has the Al’fa’s ear. Though no longer the Al’fa’s second, his opinion remains respected—and dangerous.

“You kneel too easily,” he says at last.

I glance at him. “And you assume too quickly.”

His tail twitches once. A small sign of irritation.

“I assume only what I see.”

“Then you do not see enough.”

Za’tan stops walking. I go three steps further, hoping to avoid this conversation. I did not want him to see that and I am in no mood to discuss this with him. I did what I thought best for my people. As I always have.

And there was something more. Something dangerously exciting.

I push that thought away, locking it in the same box where I shove all such thoughts. There has not been, and most certainly is not now, time for them.

“What is it that I fail to see, Queen Rani?”

I turn, slowly, to meet his gaze unflinching. His one milky eye with its scars gives him an off-putting air, but I do not let it affect me. He is a warrior and he bears the scars of a lifetime of protecting and serving his Al’fa. I do respect him, even if we are at odds right now.

“The difference between submission and strategy,” I answer.

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