Page 114 of The Orc Chief's Baker
“Brovdir, you’ve been here forless than a seasonand now you’re comparing your leadership skills to someone who worked directly under the former chief his entire life. Ergoth might have turned out to be a bad leader, but he was well loved until the end and Sythcol has spent a lifetime learning from him.”
“I was the warlord’s second,” he countered.
“Yes, you were. But, yet again, leading a band of warriors who seebattleevery day is not the same as being chief of Rove Wood. We don’t fight here. We barely bicker. And we’ve all known each other for ourentirelives.”
“All the more reason I should step back. My ways are too different.”
“No. That’s not true. You bring a fresh perspective that no one else could. Your insight is invaluablebecauseit is different. Not only that, but having you as chief when the warrior orcs arrive here is vital to things running smoothly. You’ll bridge the gap between their ways and ours.” She blinked in thought, as if she’d just realized this herself. “It... will be a disaster if you aren’t there to help bring our communities together.”
He’d never really considered that. He’d always assumed that the warriors would live separately from the Rove Wood Clan. They’d maintain a respectful distance from each other, despite the close proximity. Sythcol had said as much many times, even when they’d discussed putting some of the families into empty tree homes within the borders of the clan.
It was foolish to assume staying separate like that would ever work.
“Like you said, I don’t know this clan. There’s so little time to learn them.” How could he bridge a gap when this community was such a mystery to him?
“That’s why you have me here to help you.”
His heart soared as he looked into her determined eyes.
“I’m staying with you already, so it will be easy for me to give you advice when you need it. I’ll tell you who in this clan to put tasks to and who to keepfaraway from your projects. I’ll tell you who is sure to follow through on your orders on their own and who will need you to hover over their shoulder. I can even tell you what orcs do well working together and which ones would bicker until the Fades struck them down.”
He swallowed thickly. “Thank you. I would be honored to have your advice.”
Trinia shrugged as if she’d just offered him a strip of dried meat and not a solution to his most dreaded fear. “Of course.”
Brovdir stared at her like he was seeing her for the first time.Reallyseeing her.
She was so quick-witted and made everything seem sosimple. She looked proud, confident, and powerful. These were attributes he fought for every single day, but she wielded them soeffortlessly.
He felt like he was melting and sinking at the same time. He lost all the breath in his chest and yet he was also warm. Comfortable. Her vanilla sweetness curled in his nose and his fingers grazed her wrist gently.
She blinked down at his touch, and he quickly pulled back, only to have her reach out and clasp his hand. She held firm and looked back into his eyes. “You’ve been doing this alone for quite a while, haven’t you, Brovdir? You have Sythcol, but he isn’treallyon your side, is he?”
He lost his breath.
“But I’ll be on your side. I’ll help you figure things out. And I’ll try not to influence you too much.”
He wanted this to lastforever.
Fades, he was in love with her.
What was he going to do?
Chapter
Thirty-Five
TRINIA
The expression he’d made when she’d promised to help him turned all her insides to mush and she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to get them solid again.
“We... we should find something to cook.” Her voice sounded strained and breathless as she looked around the room. It was a fairly small storage space with shelving stacked up to twice her height and a long, clean countertop for prep work on the far side. There were no windows and only the one solid door, which could easily be blocked by the barrel of fish sitting beside it.
Biscuits and jam,whatwas she thinking? She was in here to figure out how to feed three hundred hungry orcs, not make a new one.
“L-let’s look over... um... maybe we could cook this fish? We just need to find spices.” She went to the drawers and opened the bottom one.
Inside was filled with spice jars, clearly labeled, organized by flavor. Spicy, savory, sweet... the next drawer was similarlycategorized. Above that were bundles of fresh herbs preserved by magic and then?—
