Page 78 of The Orc's Captive Bride
Haltingly at first. Then faster. Like a dam breaking.
Lasseran’s ritual. The failed attempt with Queen Jessamin. The need for orc sacrifices. The casual, horrifying way he’d discussed murdering loyal soldiers. Being ordered to choose which ones would die.
She forced herself to listen quietly, her chest tightening with each word. By the time he finished, rage burned so hot she could barely breathe.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Khorrek’s mouth twitched. Almost a smile. “You?”
“Me. Vorlag. An army of angry orcs. I don’t care. But that man cannot be allowed to continue.” She gripped his uninjured hand. “Khorrek, you can’t let this happen.”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“Not for me. Not for what I am.”
“And what are you?”
“A weapon. A tool. What he made me.”
Hearing the absolute certainty in his voice threatened to break her. He believed it.
“No.” Her voice came out harder than she’d intended. “You’re a person. You have thoughts and feelings and worth beyond what that monster decided.”
“You don’t understand?—”
“I understand perfectly. He broke you when you were a child. Conditioned you to obey. Made you believe you were nothing without him.”
She rose and stood directly in front of him, looking down at this massive orc who could break her in half without effort, and who sat before her like a lost child.
“But conditioning can be broken, Khorrek. You don’t have to be what he made you.”
“I can’t disobey. Can’t even think about it without?—”
He stopped. His entire body tensed. There it was—the chains he’d talked about.
“Without it hurting? Without feeling like you’re betraying everything you were taught?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the chains talking. Not the truth.”
“The chains are the truth. They’re all I have.”
“You have me.”
The words came out before she could think better of them.
Do I mean that?
She examined the thought. Turned it over like one of her artifacts.
Yes. I do.
When had this orc warrior become someone she’d risk everything for? Maybe it started at the stone circle.When I looked up and saw someone just as lost as I was.
Khorrek looked up at her, his golden eyes holding so much pain that her chest ached. “You’re not mine to have.”
