Page 59 of The Orc's Captive Bride
“Love isn’t taught. It’s felt.” She shifted, looking up at him. “And I think you feel more than you admit. Even to yourself.”
“Feelings are dangerous.”
“Living is dangerous. Doesn’t mean we stop doing it.”
His lips twitched. “You argue like a philosopher.”
“I am a philosopher. Sort of. Academic, anyway.”
“You’re magnificent.”
The sincerity of the compliment caught her off guard, and her face heated. “I’m really not. I’m just stubborn and too curious for my own good.”
“Exactly. Magnificent.” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You face down the most powerful man in the Five Kingdoms with nothing but words and courage. You refuse to cower. Refuse to break. That’s?—”
“Terrifying?”
“Inspiring.”
Now she really was blushing. “Stop it.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know how to handle compliments from devastatingly attractive orcs who keep rescuing me from my own stupidity.”
“You’re not stupid.”
“I quoted Lasseran’s words back at him when he was about to hit me. That’s pretty stupid.”
“That’s brave.”
“Brave and stupid aren’t mutually exclusive.”
This time he did smile, and it transformed his face. It made him look younger. Beautiful.
I’m falling for him,she realized.Falling for this complicated, damaged, beautiful male who was raised as a weapon and is learning, slowly, to be a person again.
The realization should have terrified her.
Instead, it felt inevitable, like recognizing something she’d been searching for without knowing she was searching at all.
“Sleep,” he said gently. “You need rest before you face the library again.”
“I can’t possibly sleep. My mind is?—”
But exhaustion pulled at her, the adrenaline crash after terror, and her eyes drifted closed despite her protests.
The last thing she remembered was the sound of his heartbeat, steady and reassuring.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
As soon as Thea fell asleep, Khorrek carried her into her bedroom, then forced himself to leave her there, even though she held out a sleepy hand to him.
He took up his usual position outside her door, but he couldn’t settle.
I almost attacked the High King.
The thought kept ricocheting through his skull, sharp and terrifying. Not threatened or made a strategic intervention. Attacked.
