Page 162 of Halfling
Fates, what a female his mate was.
But even if she would do this for him, he wouldn’t do this to her.
The Stone-Skin clan had never truly been his home. It’d been a place to lay his head occasionally. Never accepted, never welcomed. And while sitting at their head, forcing them to listen finally to what he had to say may fulfill a vicious part of him that’d grown from a lonely youngling cast to the shadows, it wouldn’t make him content.
Only his mate had ever done so. And for that, he owed her everything.
“The clan doesn’t want a halfling chief,” said Orek.
“It’s yours by right,” said Fulk.
“I didn’t make a formal challenge.”
“No, but it happened all the same. You know kin don’t worry over the details.”
“Perhaps. But I don’t want it.” More murmurs from the handful of remaining orcs, including a derisive snort from Kaldar. Orek did allow his vicious self to indulge in a dark pleasure knowing he turned down what Kaldar wanted so badly.
“Orek…” Sorcha whispered, perhaps understanding their words from the tone.
He kissed her forehead. “You are all I want, my heart. My place is with you.” To Fulk he said, “The Stone-Skin clan needs a good leader, one who won’t rule with cruelty. I name you chieftain, Fulk.”
“But—”
“You’ve served the clan honorably your whole life. You will lead them well.”
“That’s not how it’s done!” argued one of the orcs.
Orek looked on impassively. “Would you rather be led by a halfling and his human mate?”
The orc shut up, just as Orek figured he would.
Although he still looked troubled, Fulk slowly nodded. “I accept. I will do my best to lead them.”
Darrow cleared his throat again. “This one is speaking for them now?” When Orek nodded, Darrow asked Fulk, “Do you understand the human tongue at all?”
Looking between the lord and Orek, Fulk shook his head.
“Translate for me, my boy?” Orek hadn’t even nodded before Darrow continued, “There’s no reason for further violence between our people. If you will sit down with me in peace to talk, we can come to an agreement. Your people need supplies. Mine have them. I want to stop the slave trade here in the south. I believe you and your kin can help us.”
Fulk listened with knitted brows as Orek related the proposal. Even though he spoke the words, he could hardly believe them.
Fulk looked to Darrow for a long while, staring down at this human lord offering to treat with an orc clan for the first time in…fates, centuries.
“Is he a trustworthy male?” Fulk asked Orek.
“Yes. He punished his own son for harming my mate. They are honorable males.”
After another moment, Fulk nodded and extended his hand to Darrow in the human gesture. The males shook on it, changing the course of the Stone-Skin clan’s history and Eirea’s with it.
“Then I agree,” Fulk said. “It is time we stop scraping a life from the rocks.”
37
Sorcha lay beside her halfling under the stars, and if she closed her eyes and ignored the sounds of the others around their makeshift camp, she could almost imagine it was just her and Orek, on their journey north again.
But Sorcha didn’t want to close her eyes. Every time she tried to find a little rest after days of panicked flight, her eyes snapped open, desperately seeking her mate.
She ran her fingers gently over a patch of chest that hadn’t had to be bandaged up, needing the reassurance of his warm skin.
