Page 45 of Valpar

“Eeeek!” I covered my eye, and Simon wailed at my sudden movement.

Simon fell to the ground with a thud. Valpar jumped from the bed with a roar and ran to shield me. What from, I wasn’t really sure.

“What happened? Who touched you?!” his voice was loud and echoed into the cave walls, making it sound louder than it really was.

“No one touched me!” I slapped his arm and pointed to the frying pan over the hearth. “I just got some bacon grease in my eye. It popped out of the pan and got me. It was an accident.”

Valpar looked at me and back to the frying pan several times.

“Where did you get pig fat? Why are you cooking?” Valpar gazed around the room for the first time, seeing the torches lit along the walls and the big basket of food sitting on the table for two.

“Where, where did you get this food?” He waved his hand at the table. “Did you leave the cave? I sealed it off, female!” he growled and pulled me to him, smashing my face against his man boobs.

“I didn’t leave, Simon brought it back,” I mumbled into his chest.

Valpar pulled me back. “How did he get out?”

Simon yelled and stumbled when he tried to get up from fainting. He shook out his fur and stood up proudly.

“Simon and I always go to the market in the mornings. The market fills up a basket and I always let him carry it. Makes him feel important,” I whispered. “I didn’t go with him today. When I woke up it was already sitting on the table. I sent him through the cave passage down that way last night.” I pointed to the other side of the cave, with the door. “You were taking too long last night, uh, pooping—” I blushed. “So, I had to let him out to go somewhere. I didn’t know he could actually get out of the cave.”

Valpar’s face turned a deeper shade of green, and his hand ran down his face. “Bassza, I—” he groaned, pulled out the chair and sat down in it. It moaned under his weight, while I went back to the hearth, to take the rest of the bacon from the pan and plate it up for him.

I had a lot of bacon cooked and planned on giving it all to Valpar, so I took it and placed it in front of him. “Here, I made you breakfast!”

He stared down at it and his brow furrowed.

“Female, we need to talk,” his voice was raspy, and instantly my shoulders dropped. When someone said they need to talk, it meant they were unhappy.

I lowered my head in shame and Valpar leaned over in his chair to wrap his hand around my waist, pulling me between his legs. He tilted my chin up with one finger and his eyes buried into my soul.

“You do not have to burden yourself to feed me a meal. I am a grown orc, I feed myself.”

“But I wanted to,” I argued back. “I wanted to show…”

“It is my duty as your male to feed you while I court you. I have failed you, again. I am to feed and provide. You are a good female trying to fill my belly, but let me do this.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Oh.” My face flushed. “So, orcs are supposed to feed their women first?”

Valpar grunted and picked up a piece of bacon. “I will need to be quicker on my feet with you, Calliope. You are faster than any female I thought I would receive. You are testing my abilities.”

My shoulders slumped again.I was making things hard for him.Like I do for everyone else.

“I like it,” Valpar added quickly. “I like you to test me, but you will not like it when I prevent you from besting me.” He tapped my nose.

I thought about that for a moment. How would he keep me from besting him? Then, I remembered how Uncle Osirus kept Aunt Melina under control when she got too rowdy. It’s a game for them, maybe it’s a game for Valpar, too.

“So, to keep me from besting you, are you going to punish me?” I placed my hands on his chest. “Does this mean you are gonna spank me?”

Valpar’s eyebrows rose high on his head, and my excitement soared. “Are you going to put me over your sturdy legs, and lift my dress and spank my bare bottom?”

Oh, I liked the sound of someone spanking me, and that someone being Valpar. He looked like he would follow through on his punishments.

Mom and Dad would never spank me when I did something wrong. In fact, they never punished me at all. They would scold me, then ignore me. Mom would just start blabbing, then go off and cook something, or tell Dad about it. He suggested taking something away from me like my coloring or writing journals. She said she could never do that. That I have been through enough.

Whatever that meant.

Hmm, maybe I was a bit of an attention seeker.

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