Page 99 of The Orc's Captive Bride
“Hmm?”
“Thank you. For everything.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Sleep, little scholar. We have a kingdom to save tomorrow.”
She wanted to argue, to tell him it wasn’t that simple, but exhaustion pulled her under. And for the first time in weeks, her sleep was peaceful.
Because she’d found the answer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Khorrek watched Thea sleep.
She’d curled into him, one hand fisted in his shirt, and her breathing deep and even. She trusted him, and he was going to betray the only master he’d ever known to keep her safe.
Because Lasseran would take what he wanted. Use Thea until she gave him the answer he sought, and then he would kill her because her knowledge was too dangerous. Her mind was too brilliant., and her conscience too strong.
She would never willingly help the High King enslave an entire people, which meant she was already dead in Lasseran’s eyes. Just a tool waiting to be discarded.
Like all of us.
His jaw clenched. He’d spent his entire life believing the lie—that he was special, that Lasseran valued him. But the truth had been staring him in the face for years. The casual dismissal of orc lives. The brutal punishments for minor failures. The way Lasseran spoke about his own warriors—the ones he’d raisedfrom childhood—with the same contempt he showed for the “savage” orcs of Norhaven.
We’re all disposable to him.
The knowledge was no longer devastating. Instead, it was liberating—because if he was already disposable, then he had nothing left to lose.
Except Thea.
He looked down at her sleeping face, peaceful in a way it never was when she was awake.
I won’t lose you.
The vow settled into his bones and became part of him. He’d spent thirty-five years serving a king who saw him as nothing more than a weapon. It was time to choose a different path.
Dawn was still hours away when he felt her stir.
“Khorrek?” Her voice was rough with sleep.
“I’m here.”
She blinked up at him. “Did you sleep at all?”
“Some.”
A lie, but a necessary one.
She frowned. “You need to rest too.”
“I will. Later.”
“Liar.”
He almost smiled. She could read him too well already.
“We need to talk,” he said, and she tensed.
“About what?”
