Page 31 of The Orc's Captive Bride
His Beast laughed, dark and knowing.You can’t resist.
Perhaps not, but for her sake, he could try.
He dropped the broken sword and headed for his room to clean up and don his formal armor. To bury everything he felt so deep that even his Beast couldn’t claw it free.
It was the only protection he could offer her—the only kindness a monster knew how to give.
Two hours later, he stood outside Thea’s door in full ceremonial armor, the black plates polished to a mirror shine. He looked every inch the High King’s perfect soldier.
He could hear the faint sounds of movement inside the room. She was awake—and probably full of questions that he couldn’t answer even if he wanted to.
He heard Lasseran’s footsteps, soft and inevitable before the High King appeared around the corner. He was now dressed in silver and white that made him look as if he were carved from ice—beautiful and cold and utterly inhuman.
“Is she ready?” Lasseran asked.
“I haven’t checked, High King.”
“Then do so. I won’t wait in the corridor like a common servant.”
He inserted the key into the lock and opened the door, then came to an abrupt halt.
She stood in the center of the room, bathed and dressed in a simple blue gown that brought out the blue tint in her grey eyes. Her hair was still damp, curling around her face in wild auburn waves. Her glasses sat slightly crooked on her nose.
She looked beautiful and utterly out of place in this den of vipers.
Her eyes widened as they met his, but then they moved past him to Lasseran and the fear that flooded her expression made his Beast roar with protective fury.
He stepped aside to let Lasseran enter, and took up his position behind the High King’s right shoulder. He became a statue, nothing more, but his eyes never left her face.
And when Lasseran spoke—that silken, terrible voice beginning whatever game he’d planned—Khorrek made himself a silent promise.
He would keep her alive, whatever it took—even if that meant becoming the monster she’d eventually learn to fear. He would protect her, no matter what.
Lasseran smiled at Thea, and Khorrek knew with absolute certainty that everything was about to get much, much worse.
CHAPTER NINE
The door opened, and Thea’s breath caught in her throat.
Khorrek stood in the doorway, transformed. Gone was the travel-worn warrior who’d carried her across leagues of wilderness. In his place stood a dark warrior, black armor polished to an obsidian gleam, and polished weapons gleaming at his hip. He looked even more dangerous than before, but it was the man behind him who made her skin crawl.
He had to be the High King.
No one else could command that kind of presence—the kind that sucked the air from the room and replaced it with something thinner and harder to breathe.
The worst part was that he was beautiful. Inhumanly, terrifyingly beautiful in the way that some venomous creatures were beautiful. Tall and slender and perfect, dressed in silver and white that made him look like moonlight given form, with hair the color of spun platinum and features so aristocratic they could have been carved by a master sculptor.
And eyes like chips of winter ice that held absolutely nothing.
She had spent her career studying history. She knew the darkness humans were capable of— raiders who’d slaughtered entire villages, medieval lords who’d tortured peasants for sport, conquistadors who’d committed genocide in the name of God and gold.
She’d read about evil and reduced it to academic terminology and historical context. She’d never believed in it as a tangible force until now.
The High King smiled at her, and every instinct she possessed screamedrun.
“Dr. Monroe.” His voice was silk over a razor’s edge, refined and absolutely terrifying. “How delightful to meet you in person.”
Her mouth went dry. She wanted to ask how he knew her name, not only her name but her title, but the words wouldn’t come. Her brain, usually so reliable, had frozen like a computer confronted with a logic paradox it couldn’t process.
