Page 183 of The Orc's Captive Bride
We were brought together for this. Across worlds. Across everything that should have kept us apart.
Coincidence? No. Destiny.
She’d spent her life as a skeptic. A scientist. Believing only in what could be proven and measured. Now she believed in gods. In magic. In fate.
Because I’ve seen it. Felt it. Become part of it.
The transformation was complete. Dr. Thea Monroe—the academic—was gone. In her place stood someone new. Someone who carried divine power and purpose.
And I’m not afraid anymore. Not of Lasseran. Not of failure. Not of anything.
Because she knew—with absolute certainty—that they would succeed. The goddess had shown her the future, shadowy and incomplete, but real.
We’re going to win. Restore the balance. Save the orcs. And maybe—just maybe—save the entire Five Kingdoms.
The thought should have felt grandiose. Impossible. Instead it felt… inevitable.
This is what I was brought here to do. What I was always meant to do.
She smiled and leaned back into Khorrek’s warmth. Let Lasseran come. Let him bring his dark magic and his enslaved warriors. They were ready.
Behind them rode Egon and Lyric. Baralt and his warriors. Friends. Allies. Family. Found family. The best kind.
Ahead lay Kel’Vara. Danger, but also a future worth fighting for.
“What are you thinking?” Khorrek asked.
“That I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
“In the middle of nowhere? Riding toward almost certain danger?”
“With you. That’s the important part.”
He pressed a kiss to her temple. Gentle. Reverent.
“I love you.” he said softly, almost hesitantly.
Her heart swelled so much it nearly burst.
“I love you too. So much it terrifies me.”
“Good terrified or bad terrified?”
“The best kind. The kind that means I have something worth protecting. Worth fighting for. Worth living for.”
His embrace tightened around her. Mine, it said, now and always. She let herself relax into it, into him. One crisis at a time. Survive the ritual. Stop Lasseran. Save the orcs.
Then we figure out what comes after.
But for the first time, she truly believed there would be an after. A future. A life together. And that was worth any risk.
We’re coming, Lasseran, and this time, you’re going to lose. The thought filled her with fierce, bright joy. She was done being afraid. Let the final battle begin.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The distant glint of the sea surrounding Kel’Vara appeared first—a dark expanse beneath a blood-orange sunset. Then the city itself materialized from the gathering dusk, stone towers clawing at the darkening sky.
Khorrek reined in his mount, the others stopping behind him. Four days of hard riding had brought them to their destination. Four days of pushing themselves and their horses to the limit. Four days of Thea nestled against him, growing more distant with each passing mile—not from him, but from herself.
