Page 123 of The Orc's Captive Bride
His Beast growled, restless and frustrated.
It wanted to fight, wanted to tear through the armies below and forge a path to safety through violence, but he forced it down. Barely.
No. Fighting gets us both killed and Thea needs us alive.
His Beast subsided, reluctantly.
Courage shifted beneath him. She was tired and hungry, ready to stop. He didn’t blame her. They all needed rest, but rest meant vulnerability. And vulnerability meant?—
Thea stirred and slowly blinked awake, pushing her glasses up with one tired hand. “Where are we?”
“The Fanged Gate.”
She straightened and stared at the scene below, her eyes widening.
“That’s… a lot of soldiers.”
“Yes.”
“How do we get past them?”
He sighed. “We’re going to have to look for a pass, but I’m afraid we might have to travel a lot further. Even the narrow passes are being watched.”
“There has to be a way,” she said slowly. “Some route we’re not seeing.”
“If there is, I can’t find it.”
Her head suddenly tilted to one side, a thoughtful expression crossing her face.
“What is it?”
“I had a dream while I was sleeping,” she said, her voice hesitant. “I saw a path, small and easy to miss, leading up and around the gate.”
“A dream.” He couldn’t keep the skepticism from his voice.
“I know how it sounds. But it felt… important. Like something was trying to show me the way.”
“Something?”
“I don’t know what. Maybe the curse itself. Maybe the land. Maybe I’m just desperate and projecting meaning onto random neural firing.” She twisted to look at him. “But that’s all we have. So can we at least look?”
The pleading in her eyes made his chest ache. She was so determined, so convinced she could find answers if she just tried hard enough.
Trust her. She’s been right about everything else.
His Beast rumbled agreement, and he sighed.
Fine. What was the worst that could happen? They’d waste time looking for a path that didn’t exist. It was still better than charging blindly into certain death.
“Where?” he asked roughly.
“Maybe a half mile to the east. There’s a narrow cleft in the rock, but it opens up and leads above and around.”
“You saw all this in a dream.”
“Yes.”
“And you trust it.”
