Page 45 of Faeling
In as few words as possible, Vallek explained how the previous two nights had gone with his faeling mate. How she fought him at every turn. How his beast yearned for her as much as it was bewildered by her.
“She’s known all this time, Asta,” he sighed. “Yet she hid herself from me. Denied our bond. She still does.”
Twirling the end of her braid with a finger, a habit she’d had since girlhood, Asta asked, “Have you asked her why she hides?”
“Of course,” he said, “but she gives me nothing. Anything I get must be fought for.”
“You wouldn’t like it if it was easy,” she teased gently. “We both know you’d be bored with a simpering orcess within the month.”
Vallek harrumphed, not liking that she was right. “Perhaps, perhaps not. But why must everything be a fight? She’s known all this time, has sat with me for many evenings overtalfon,andyet she doesn’t trust me.”
“She agreed to playtalfon?More than once? Yes, you’re well suited.” Sighing profoundly, she slapped her hand onto Vallek’s shoulder. “That time before, she wasn’t your mate. She was someone else. Whatever you had then, it must have felt safe enough for her. What you have now is different.”
“She has seen me for who I am all this time,” he argued. “Yet she still hid away. She still runs from me.”
“What have you done to reassure her? To win her over as yourmate?”
Vallek’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.
There had to be something.
“I have told her she’s safe,” he insisted, although he didn’t need Asta rolling her eyes to tell him what a weak answer it was.
“Told her, yes. You’ve told her many things. Ordered her about, too, I’m sure. What have you done to prove it?”
Vallek had no answer for that.I’m her mate,his beast insisted. For any orc-kin, that would’ve been enough. The knowing they all felt, it was a foundation to build upon. The beast knew, and the beast inside was their truest selves. It might be wrapped up in pretty, divine platitudes, but at its core, the beast was the intrinsic self of every orc-kin.
HeknewRavenna, knew she was for him.
Why wasn’t that enough?
Seeing his inability to answer, Asta groaned dramatically. “I swear, you and Eydis claim to be great lovers of women, but you hardly seem to understand them.” Gripping his shoulder hard, she rocked him back and forth, as if to gently shake sense into him. “You must reassure her,breddah.She’s a fae amongst orcs and must have a good reason for it. But she won’t tell you untilyou’ve earned her trust.”
If he hadn’t done that in the three years he’d known her, how was he to start now?
“My king!”
Vallek and Asta looked up to find Ulrich hurrying toward them.
Ducking under the awning, the lord commander rushed to say, “Forgive the intrusion, my king, but we just received urgent word from Toksfinge.”
The name immediately sharpened Vallek’s attention. Although not a large place, Toksfinge was nevertheless an important fishing village along the southern coast of Dyfan Bay. Toksfinge was one of a collection of villages and outposts that ringed the southern curve of the bay, marching up to the Spearhead, a squat peninsula overlooking the estuary that led from the western sea into Dyfan Bay.
Toksfinge was one of the southernmost of these villages and the nearest to Balmirra, about two days’ hard run away.
Already anticipating what Ulrich would say, Vallek asked, “How many?”
“One fae ship,” Ulrich answered. “It came ashore just west of the village.”
The fae and orc-kin had long vied for control of the bay, as well as the estuary leading into it. With the major strongholds of Kaldebrak, Holdur, and Balmirra all within just a few days of the bay waters, maintaining it was vital to the security of orcish territories. With the fae rimming the northern coast and their capital of Fallorian overlooking the mouth of the estuary, keeping control of the south, especially the Spearhead, was imperative.
No incursions could be tolerated.
“Find Mattias and prepare the berserkers,” Vallek ordered. “We leave by noon and we run through the night.”
Ulrich’s gaze flared with eagerness. “Yes, my king.”
“Vallek, you can’t just leave,” Asta insisted. “The beast won’t let you.”
