Page 28 of The Orc Chief's Baker
Had something held them up?
What if the male wasn’t coming?
Would he?—
A rumble sounded in the trees beyond the trade pavilion and her heart jumped into her throat as the first orcs broke through the foliage.
The faces were too familiar.
There was an almost audible sigh of relief from the folks around her as their green neighbors gathered in their usual way. They parked their handheld carts at the edge of the tree line and organized their crates of produce, barrels of fish, and a few furs.
Not much meat.
That lack didn’t go unnoticed by the men around her. Hermest, who was setting up his cheese and milk with narrowed eyes, went so far as to mutter under his breath about the orcs being liars.
“I don’t see the warriors either though,” Jock, his adult son, replied. “Perhaps they changed their minds?”
The relief and frustration that resulted from that statement was palpable in the air. For the last season, there had been constant complaints about the lack of meat. Govek was the lead hunter and since his break with Yerina he hadn’t attended any trades.
“There they are!”
Her heart jumped into her throat as the burly orc warriors appeared at the tree line.
Fades, were theydifferent!
The Rove Wood orcs were slender, regal looking with wispy hair, thin tusks, and graceful movements. These orc warriors were the exact opposite of grace. They were burly, with heavy brows and even heavier steps. Trinia swore she could feel their footfalls vibrating the ground beneath her.
The hush that fell over the villagers was punctuated by Headman Gerald’s exuberant welcome. He marched right up to one of the orcs without preamble. One whose hide was littered with scars and whose thick leather belt was lined with empty loops where weapons once hung.
Forged weapons.
Trinia’s hand clutched at her chest, and she went up on her toes as if that would help her see through the sea of green bodies.
She needn’t have bothered. Movement caught her eye, and there he was. The orc from the woods.
Headed right for her.
He still had no shirt on and his rippling abs looked like they’d been sculpted by the Fades own hand. The raised, puckered lines of his scars distracted her. He had so many.
She swallowed thickly and jerked her gaze back up to his face. His expression was unreadable, dark eyes shadowed by thick, flat brows. They hooked her right in the gut and stirred up her heart until it was fluttering. The scar on his neck looked even more ghastly in the shadowed lighting of the canopy.
This was it. He was here. She just needed to be confident and find the right words to convince him to trade with her.
She prayed that she could.
Chapter
Eight
BROVDIR
Fades help him. She was a beauty.
The vanilla scent of her was tinged with something warm and sweet. It wafted across the open space and curled in his nose like a vice, yanking him toward her unbidden. He knew he was moving too fast, the storming of his feet was too hard, but he couldn’t stop himself.
And the woman’s expression didn’t flicker at his rapid approach. In fact, she seemed eager. An actualsmileplayed at her lips.
When was the last time a woman had smiled at him?
