Page 134 of The Orc's Captive Bride
Another yawn interrupted her.
Khorrek made a low sound. Amusement mixed with exasperation. “Sleep, scholar.”
“But I need to tell you about the binding ritual and how the lunar alignment affects the reversal sequence and?—”
“Tomorrow.”
“—and the way the glyphs interact with the natural ley lines suggests that we’ll need to?—”
“Thea.”
“—perform the ritual at multiple sites simultaneously which means we’ll need to coordinate?—”
He kissed her. Soft and slow and thorough.
When he pulled back, her thoughts had scattered. Lost in sensation.
Cheater. Using chemistry against me.
“Sleep,” he repeated. Gentle. Final.
This time she didn’t argue. She sank down into the bedroll and let exhaustion pull her under.
Her last coherent thought was about runic patterns and lunar cycles and how they’d need to calculate the exact moment of?—
She woke to silence.
Not complete silence. Outside the tent, she could hear the low murmur of voices. Footsteps. The crackle of campfires.
But inside their small space, everything was quiet.
She blinked and adjusted her glasses, letting her eyes adapt to the darkness.
Khorrek stood at the tent entrance, a massive silhouette against the faint glow of firelight. Guarding her. He never stopped. Never rested.
She knew he wanted to protect her, but it was more than that. He didn’t believe he deserved to rest. He thought that comfort was for other people.
Oh, love. What did they do to you?
The bedroll rustled as she sat up. He tensed but didn’t turn.
“You should be sleeping,” he said.
“So should you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Liar.” She kept her voice soft. Non-threatening. “Come here.”
“I need to keep watch.”
“For what? We’re in the middle of Ulric’s camp. Surrounded by warriors. No one’s getting through.”
All she got in return was stubborn male silence so she tried a different approach. “Please? I sleep better when you’re next to me.”
That got him. He turned and came towards her with that fluid predatory grace. He lowered himself to the bedroll, but he was still tense. Still ready to leap up at the first sign of danger.
She tugged him down until he was lying beside her and tucked herself against his chest. He gradually started to relax, one muscle at a time.
