Page 199 of The Orc's Captive Bride
Right.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Thea found herself pressed against his chest, his arms wrapped securely around her.
Safe.
“The administrative questions can wait,” he said roughly. “You need rest.”
“I need answers,” she countered, but without much heat.
He was right. She was exhausted—physically, mentally, emotionally. The past few hours had been more intense than anything she’d ever experienced, even including her first arrival in this world.
“Tomorrow,” he promised. “We’ll find Vorlag, get you a proper advisor, start figuring out how this city actually runs. But tonight…”
He swept her up again—she was going to have to talk to him about his habit of just picking her up whenever he felt like it—and carried her toward the large bed.
“Tonight you rest.”
She wanted to argue. There was so much to do, so much to learn, so many problems that needed immediate attention.
But as Khorrek laid her on the soft mattress and stretched out beside her, pulling her close, she felt the last of her adrenaline drain away.
She was safe. Khorrek was alive. Lasseran was dead. The curse was broken.
Everything else… could wait until morning.
“I’m still terrified,” she admitted quietly, her cheek pressed against his chest, listening to the steady drum of his heartbeat.
“Good,” he said, surprising her. “Fear means you understand the weight of what you’re taking on. It means you’ll be careful.”
His hand stroked slowly through her hair, the gesture soothing.
“Lasseran was never afraid. He thought he was invincible, that he deserved absolute power. That arrogance made him cruel.”
“So fear is… good?”
“Fear balanced with courage is wisdom.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You have both.”
She wasn’t sure she agreed with that assessment, but she was too tired to argue.
Outside the window, the moon continued its slow arc across the sky, painting the room in silver light. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear the faint sound of celebration still echoing through Kel’Vara’s streets.
They were celebrating her. Their new queen.
Queen Thea.
The title still felt wrong. Too big. Too important. Too much responsibility for someone who’d arrived in this world just over a month ago with nothing but her glasses and confused terror.
But as Khorrek’s breathing evened out beside her, his arms secure around her waist, she found herself thinking about what he’d said.
She didn’t need to know everything. She just needed to care enough to learn.
And she did care. Despite never asking for this role, despite the terror and uncertainty, she cared.
She cared about the people in the streets who’d cheered with such desperate hope. She cared about the orcs who’d been enslaved by a corrupted curse. She cared about the balance that had been restored and needed to be maintained.
She cared about this strange, impossible world that had become more real to her than the one she’d left behind.
I can do this, she told herself, trying to believe it.I have to do this.
