Page 76 of Faeling (Monstrous World #4)
A laugh, not quite hysterical, burst from her mouth. Her hands rose to cup his face, and she held him still so she could feather kisses along his mouth and tusks and chin. Her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs around his waist to hold onto him tighter than the limpets on the rocks.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she whispered against his check. “I love you so much.”
Vallek rumbled with a purr. “Sprite, there’s nothing in this world that will take you from me. You are my heart, my life.”
“And you’re mine.” Pressing another cold kiss to his lips, she hurried to say, “I should have understood that sooner. My father was right, Oberon was right, I shouldn’t have sought revenge. Not when I’d found you.”
“But then you wouldn’t be you,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck. “I enjoy how bloodthirsty you are. Besides, now you have me and your revenge.”
Ravenna shuddered against him. “But at what cost?”
“No price is too much for you, sprite. I would pay anything, give anything.”
“That makes me feel worse,” she groaned.
“You’ll find a way to repay me,” he promised. “You can start by not making me jump off any more cliffs to retrieve you.”
That pulled a reluctant laugh from her, which Vallek thanked the gods for. Anything to distract her from the cold water and her guilt. There was no need for her to feel ashamed. There wasn’t an orc he knew of who wouldn’t have sought vengeance and justice for the brutal slaying of their parents.
If anything, it only proved once more that she was a perfect queen to sit beside him. She may have wings and magic, but she was an orc through and through.
Between the rocks, the final sunlight winked out over the horizon in a spark of green, leaving just a few streaks of orange behind. The water grew darker, the sounds of waves crashing louder. Ravenna shivered against his chest, her teeth beginning to rattle.
Damn, he needed to get her out of the water and her soaked clothes.
“Hold onto me tight,” he told her.
His own limbs quivered, gone nearly numb with cold and exertion. He pushed onwards between the rocks, unwilling to surrender to the exhaustion. There would be time to rest later.
Water swirled around them in foamy eddies, receding only to crash against them and the rocks again. It was slow going, his nails scraping against the slimy underbellies of the rocks to keep purchase. The tide sucked at them, trying to pull them into the open water, but he resisted.
He couldn’t feel his hands or feet, but what he did feel was the racing beat of his mate’s heart against his chest. It was all the reason he needed to keep going.
Vallek aimed for the smooth limestone heights of the harbor wall. Perhaps there would be rungs set in the side to climb, and at least it would be something to follow back into safer waters.
He braced himself against the nearest rock as a large wave caught them, pressing his back into the craggy surface. His skin had long since gone numb, but he grimaced knowing something had been cut.
“Vallek…”
He hated the note of fear in her voice.
“I have you, sprite.”
They had come this far—he wouldn’t be brought down by the tide.
Cutting through the water, Vallek made a last push toward the harbor wall. He timed it with the receding water, letting it pull them further along the wall. There was less for his fingers to catch along the smooth limestone, and he felt several nails break as they scraped against the wall.
The water pulled them further, Vallek fighting to keep near the wall.
He was beginning to truly struggle when, high above, a familiar voice cried out, “They’re here!”
Vallek groaned in relief, flipping onto his back to see a waving green figure atop the harbor wall, backlit by dozens of torches. Mattias’s voice called down, “Grab hold!”
A coiling line slithered across the sky before falling down to slap the water near them. With the last of his strength, Vallek kicked to close the distance.
Ravenna reached out, grabbing the rope and pulling it towards them. Holding each other with one arm and the rope in the other, they secured it around their waists before Vallek put his foot through the noose at the bottom.
“Ready?” he asked.
She could only nod, her teeth chattering too hard for speech.
Vallek tugged the rope. “Ready!”
“ Heave! ”
They jerked through the water toward the wall.
“Heave!”
They slid up the smooth stone until Vallek got his free leg up against it, pushing to give them a little room.
“Heave!”
Up they went, heave by heave, water sluicing off them back to the sea. Higher and higher they were pulled, their feet skimming the white stone.
Then, with a final heave, a green hand reached down to take his.
Vallek clasped forearms with Mattias, and then there were many arms, grabbing him and then Ravenna by the shoulders, bearing them up onto the wall.
At the sight of their king and queen, the dozens of orcs along the wall cast aside the rope and let out a resounding cheer.
Mattias clapped his shoulder. “You are a sight for weary eyes, my king. ”
“Thank you, my friend.” Vallek nodded at his mate, being helped up by Asta. “See that the queen is tended to and fed,” he ordered before exhaustion finally dragged him into oblivion.