Page 38 of The Orc's Innocent Plaything

“Ye said ‘twas normal for a mother to begin to labor a few weeks early or a few weeks late. Ye said this wasnae something to worry about.”

Before my eyes, Myra’s panic disappeared. She hid her earlier desperation behind a cool, calm expression when she turnedto my cousin.

“Aye, I did, and I was right. Everything is fine; this is normal.”

I gaped, impressed beyond words.Thiswas how Myra handled her patients, the people who came to her for healing? What I had always taken for iciness…was it merely a façade, meant to calm others’ pain and panic?

And she let ye see her real self, her real feelings.

This was important in a way I couldn’t grasp yet. I would consider it when I wasn’t standing in the home of a female about to give birth.

“How can I help?” I asked.

And when Myra turned her grateful gaze my way—I marveled that I could read her meaning behind her eyes—I felt like a hero.

“Take Mkaalad out of here.”

“Nay!” my cousin cried, stumbling toward the bed. “I’ll no’ leave my Mate, no’ when she’s going into battle like this.”

“Love,” came Avaleen’s calm voice from the bed. “This is just the beginning, I swear. We have many hours to go, and you being here, being worried…”

Myra crossed to take Mkaalad’s arm. “Your panic will infect her, and that is not fair. We both need you to be calm and focused when you are here.”

“I can be calm! I can be focused!” my cousin cried, throwing off Myra’s hand.

And between one blink and the next, I was at her side, ready to catch her. She sent me an exasperated glance as she clucked her tongue at my cousin.

“I swear, Mkaalad, you will be here for the birth. Avaleen will need you then, when things get difficult.”

“Things look pretty gods-damned difficult now,” he roared, and even as I winced, I had to agree with him.

“Mate,” Avaleen whispered, and my cousin immediately dropped to his knees beside the bed.

Myra’s arm slipped through mine, pulling me back. When I glanced down at her, she sighed.

“Let us give them a moment. But I am beyond grateful you showed up when you did, Vartok. I reallydoneed someone to keep him busy until at least…” She winced slightly. “Midnight at the earliest.”

“Can I fetch Nan for ye?”

“Nan is already asleep. I hope not to need her as the labor progresses, but best let her sleep now, just in case. Youcouldstop by Amma’s home and mayhap Maybal’s. They will spread the word, and I am certain Avaleen would appreciate having her friends with her in these early hours.”

I glanced at Mkaalad.

“More than her Mate?”

“She loves him with all her heart, which means she will worry forhisheart andhismind. If he is frantic for her, she will feel the same. Best to keep him away until the real pain starts, when she will be too focused, too angry, to worry about his fears.”

This made sense to me, although I knew naught about laboring women. So I caught her hand in mine and lifted her fingertips to my mouth.

“Iwillbring him back. I would stand with my Mate when she went through such an ordeal, and I ken he will want this as well.”

Myra had caught her breath at my words—thevow. Did she hear the unspoken meaning? That I had already found my Mate, the female I wanted to bear my bairns, if the gods granted them to us?

Mayhap not, because when Mkaalad rose, she turned away, hustling us both out the door while pretending great cheer for her sister.

Remarkable.

I did as she asked, pulling my cousin out the door, and dragging him around the village to alert Avaleen’s friends. The rumor was that Torvolk’s Mating Heat had finally broken, and I considered fetching him to calm his brother, but ultimately just brought Mkaalad back to my cottage, where I did my best to get him drunk.

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