Page 129 of Faeling
He was silent for long enough that she thought she might besick. His grip remained tight, and she wasn’t immediately cast away from him, but Ravenna couldn’t read his hard face.
She wanted his forgiveness—but also his anger. She’d used him, betrayed his trust, undermined the sanctity of matehood, a thing held sacrosanct for both orcs and fae.
I’m nothing but an angry, orphaned halfling girl.She didn’t know why she thought to ever be more. She’d known her fate since she was a little girl, predicting the downfall of a queen. There would be no escaping it. The more she tried, the more people she hurt, and she couldn’t hurt him, not anymore, not—
“Is there anything else?”
Ravenna gasped and held her breath. His words and expression were serious but not angry. Those lapis-lazuli eyes assessed her, looking inside her for more revelations.
“No,” she whispered through numb lips.
So stunned was she by his sudden grin that she didn’t believe what she saw. Lifting one brow cockily, he nodded at her.
“Very well. Remember what I promised, sprite. You’ve upheld your end of the bargain.”
Ravenna’s heart lurched painfully in her chest. “No, Vallek, I can’t—”
“You can. It is a mate’s due.” Nuzzling her cheek, he said, “You’ve told me your scheme. Now ask for my aid like the queen you are.”
She reared back, not understanding, not believing. “You can’t mean…”
He nodded at the empty space before the dais. “Ask.”
Her poor heart didn’t know whether to beat right out of her chest or stop altogether. Her fingers spasmed in the abused fabric of his tunic, holding onto him as if he was the last harboragainst a storm of insanity.
He waited patiently, helping her stand and find her balance. Ravenna’s tears dried as she descended the steps in a daze, her mind buzzing with a new reality she couldn’t quite accept yet.
When she turned to face the throne, she looked up to find the imperious orc king staring down at her. Legs spread, hands gripping the curved ends of the armrests, he was every inch the conquering warrior and anointed monarch.
He was magnificent, and he was her mate.
A giddy excitement fluttered in her chest.
Bowing her head only enough to be respectful, Ravenna said, “I come humbly before you, King Vallek, to seek your aid against a shared enemy. Amaranthe of the fae is a tyrant and a threat. I beseech your help in defeating her.”
“Intriguing. And what will I receive in return?”
Ravenna’s lips twitched with a grin. “My eternal thanks. And my love.”
Vallek rumbled with interest, leaning forward in his throne. He held out a hand, which Ravenna gracefully ascended the steps again to take. Drawing her forward, Vallek kissed the back of her hand.
“Now ask me as a mate would.”
She couldn’t stop the grin this time. Fates, this man. How could he so easily wring out her heart and fill it, too?
Holding onto his hand, she knelt between his spread legs. His pupils dilated as he watched her, a vein visibly pulsing in his neck.
“Will you help me, my love?”
Bending down to share breath, he murmured, “Your enemies are mine. And you know how I feel about threats to you.Consider it done.”
More tears threatened, a bewildering mixture of relief and jubilation and dread, but Ravenna forced them back with sheer will.
“You mean that?”
“I do.” One side of his mouth lifted in a cocksure grin. “It will be my pleasure to bring you her head.”
That dread inside her only deepened, but she didn’t correct him. Not yet. There was too much to be grateful for. If he meant to help her, there would be time to find a way that would involve the least amount of risk to him. He was what was most important to Ravenna and the orc-kin.
