Page 21 of The Orc Chief's Baker
Would the woman be put off by his scars?
His stomach twisted with the thought. It wasn’t logical to think she might, considering she hadn’t been put off the night before. But when he looked back at his brethren, some of whom had far fewer scars and much more attractive frames, Brovdir couldn’t help but wonder.
Would he be compared to them? Would she change her mind about him?
“He’s up there griping. I just know it,” Karthoc said with a grin, bringing Brovdir’s attention back to the matter at hand.
He looked toward where Chief Ergoth was sitting in a cart at the front of the line. His white hair was braided intricately, and his posture was high and regal.
His voice was low, calculating, and too quiet for Brovdir to make out, but the tone was clear.
“He’s plotting,” Brovdir said quietly. He was trying to save his voice.
“He can’t do a fucking thing.” Karthoc’s grin was so wide Brovdir could see all his teeth. “The headman invited us personally. No getting around that.”
Behind him, Brovdir sensed all the other warriors were equally thrilled as they followed the dozen or so wagons that the orcs of Rove Wood were pulling to the trade. The carts were full of fruits and vegetables that should never have been able to grow in this late season. Sweet strawberries. Hearty potatoes. Corn and carrots and barrels of fish.
Brovdir’s mouth watered. The males of Rove Wood ate sowell. He was lucky to find an edible root in the outer forest. And half the time he was attacked while he was trying to dig it up.
“That woman—Viravia—must have a keen sense of negotiation.” Karthoc didn’t look even the least bit frustrated by the slow gait. At the rate the Rove Wood orcs were going, a dung worm would arrive faster than them.
“I wonder what she said. She wouldn’t even answer the door last night when I went to ask for aid. I was certain she was ignoring me on purpose. Almost burned my nose tobitswaiting. Just my luck the woman would be obsessed with sage.” Karthoc sniffed loudly and scrubbed at his nose with the back of his hand.
Of course the woman wouldn’t open the door. She was likely terrified. Warlord Karthoc was so surly he’d scrap with the air if it rustled his hair too hard.
Karthoc glanced at the warriors behind them, some of whom were getting rowdy in their excitement. Brovdir wished he was back there getting distracted by this talk.
But he had to follow the Warlord’s orders. That was his duty.
“Keep in line!” Karthoc barked, and the warriors quieted back down.
Brovdir gritted his teeth against the anticipation gnawing in his gut. What if the woman wasn’t there? What if she’d decided not to attend after all?
“She must not trust Ergoth either, or she would have questioned why I was trying to go around him.” Karthoc’s brow furrowed up. “Blasted odd, that. She was Tavggol’s wife after all. You’d think she’d trust her mate’s sire.”
It was an oddity that Brovdir’s tired mind did not have the desire to puzzle over.
Karthoc chuckled. “Though I suppose I can’t blame her. Ergoth is about as trustworthy as a snake.”
That was the truth. There was something odd in his uncle’s voice, a strange tension Brovdir couldn’t place. It made his hair stand on end.
He was so tired of worrying about it. The Rove Woods may have been peaceful, but Brovdir would have taken a hard battle over calculating manipulation any day.
His woman’s beautiful rounded face flooded his memory, and his tension quieted for a moment. Her sunshine scent flitted into his mind. The memory of her curves under his touch made his fingers twitch.
It had felt like the world had dimmed when she’d walked away.
But now, at this very moment, she was walking back to him.
He had far too much blasted hope. He begged the Fades not to destroy it.
Beside him, Karthoc snorted and Brovdir tensed up, glancing at his brother, wondering if he’d missed something.
The warlord scrutinized him with a hard look that made Brovdir resist shivering. He could feel Karthoc’s eyes burrowing deep into his mind, like he was reading it.
“Go join the ranks.”
Brovdir blinked in surprise at the sudden order.
