Page 19 of Loved By The Orc (Monster Orc Brides #4)

Varguk:

SHE’S TEAR-STAINED, sitting in a pile of broken porcelain, the floor wet, pieces of torn rope in her lap. But she’s never looked more beautiful.

She opens her mouth as if to scream but I silence her with a finger to my lips, then begin to softly shut the door behind me. At the last second, she raises a hand to warn me that the door locks, but I nod my head and again bring my finger to my pursed lips, then let it click shut.

She has no idea that there is a guard in the house that patrols the rest of the halls. He’s used to female voices, but he’ll also pay attention to whispers or if it seems she talks to someone.

I help her up off the floor, then guide her to the side window. More than likely, she would have been convinced to try to escape from the window in the back of the room, which is larger and lower to the ground.

But the higher, side-area is less watched. There’s not a passageway there and the guard will peer around the corner, listen for any sounds out of the ordinary, but won’t actually walk through to the forest beyond. We won’t either.

Right now, the partying is going strong. They think she’s safe, locked up and preparing herself for their drunken late-night attentions. There is one guard inside the house and only one outside patrolling the grounds.

The king wanted as many people as possible to join in the celebration of the winners—those with the honor of bringing down the Blackheart clan. Those who are looked upon favorably with a forced alliance.

The loser—me—has the task of convincing them that she’s happy and wants no contact, at least until she’s so broken that she’ll do and say as we please. Once she’s with child and the whelp is born, ‘tis easy to manipulate a female by keeping the infant while she visits her old clan.

The thought of what they’ll do to her makes me burn with anger. And that if she was gestating, no care would be given until the idiot king realizes that a miscarriage is less leverage. No physical infant to use as a bartering tool.

Quickly, I pull out my knife and cut away a section of the wall, showing the screws that attach the grate over the glass.

It’s dark, and I have to feel for each screwhead with my fingers.

There are a dozen. Might be easier to light a candle, but we’d run the risk of calling attention should the scent get out, or a glimmer of light be seen from the curtain.

It feels like an hour passes before I finally twist the last screw from the grate, and grab onto the center of the bars. I use all my strength to heave it forward.

Years of dust and paint have sealed it well. When it finally rips free from the rest of the wall, I toss it onto the mating bed and quickly lift the window.

No sense in calling more attention with the sound of broken glass.

Scouting the perimeter, I don’t see the patrolling orc, so I jump down to the raised ground and hold out my arms for her. She doesn’t hesitate to leap.

Catching her squarely in my arms, I let her slide down my body, then place my finger over her lip to make sure she understands to remain quiet. Taking her hand, I lead her toward the barred window of the basement.

I can feel her confusion clouding the air. Why aren’t we running?

I tighten my hand on hers, hoping she’ll understand to stay silent, before letting go. Then I kneel down and twist the bars sideways. The entire grate slides over—I’d already loosened one side, and left the top in place—and we slip inside.

Once I slide the bars back and close the window, it’s okay to whisper.

“Trust me, they’ll be searching and will find you before we ever leave the territory. My father will have every other nearby Southpeak clan looking in the adjacent villages. But here? We can hide out until it’s safe. I have food stockpiled and the kitchens aren’t far should we need—”

A hand sweeps through the dark and a stinging slap whips my head to the side.

“ Biernak !” she says. “You and your brothers planned to trap me.”

“Nay, my love.”

Her voice quivers. “Don’t you call me that! Never call me that!”

“Why not? It’s true.”

“Were you supposed to get me to fall in love with you?”

“That was my original plan. I know you’re upset…”

“Upset?”

“I was ordered to mate with you. But somewhere along the line, it became more than that.”

She scoffs. “Yes, it became kidnapping.”

“I would never have done that. If you weren’t interested in me, I would have understood your choice, Negan. Just like I understood my choice wasn’t to fall in love. It was simply to barter a mating contract.”

“Mission accomplished,” she says bitterly.

“But I fell in love with you first. From the first moment I saw you, you owned my heart, little mate.” I reach out and tug her hair gently and while she’s distracted, I take a step closer to her. “You have me wrapped around your finger.”

“Don’t play with me.”

“Never. I’ll only tell you the truth. I’ll always tell you the truth.” I pull her toward me and though she’s stiff, she allows it. I think she needs it. She craves my touch as much as I do hers.

Resting my forehead to hers, we both freeze. Our hearts are beating in tandem, and she fits against me perfectly.

“I’m not pregnant,” she whispers.

“I didn’t think you were. Not this soon. I figured you were queasy from the chloroform—our clan keeps that on hand—and used that to my advantage. I hoped it might be enough that my father wouldn’t give you to Leviton. Apparently, it didn’t work.”

“Leviton told me if I was pregnant, I’d lose it soon enough.”

I can feel every muscle in my back tense, and I force myself to relax my suddenly clenched fists. I have no way to know if he’s touched her. If he’s already hurt her on the way in. Her being unconscious wouldn’t deter him, either.

“If you were pregnant by him, I’d love your brat like my own,” I say softly.

“I’m not. I threw up on him.” Her eyes grow wide and she takes a step back. “Oh, I never brushed my teeth.”

I chuckle.

“Not the most comfortable of places but I did set up a curtained area in the corner to use as a bathroom. Away from the window where we can light a candle and it shouldn’t glow through the rest of the room, despite coverings on the window.”

“You really didn’t plan this out with your brothers?”

“Nay. I was shocked that he was alive. When he was drinking at the party, he told me he regained his breath right before he was carried out of Creede. Mayhap the jostling of being carried.”

“He told me that the two of you planned his pretend death. ”

“He lies, Negan. I had no idea he was alive until I saw him on that stage.”

“So, what now?”

“I asked your Aunt Rosemary to send a message to your clan in Solaya, giving me time to return you. That we might be riding hard by then, but it will be safer in Solaya than in Creede.”

I don’t tell her they more than likely will imprison me until this is sorted out.

From outside we can hear raised voices, thumping, and then an angry roar into the night.

“Looks like my brothers got home and discovered you’re gone.”

Her eyes are wide; even in the dim light I can see the whites. “Will they find us?”

I pull her close. “Nay, my love. The outer room is sealed off with boxes stacked over the door. This was kept as a hidden room, most have forgotten about it. Even if they remember it exists, they know we couldn’t sneak in without jarring all the stuff to get through.

Should they try, it will give us ample warning to escape out the window and get to my next safe spot. ”

“So they don’t know about the window?”

“It looked safely sealed and impenetrable, right? They don’t know I loosened the bars a decade ago. I thought I might need a place to hide someday. Today’s that day.”

Because I want to distract her from the ruckus outside, I lead her toward the makeshift bathroom.

I pull aside the curtain, and then light the candle.

The soft, dim glow shows her the chamber pot, and a large bowl on a shelf with bottles of water next to it.

There are toothbrushes, soap, and a small towel.

There are also small holes in the soft dirt to bury our waste. Not the most romantic of areas, but we’re safe and we’re whole. I leave her to head back to the window to listen to the search.

When she’s done, she steps back into the open area .

“They’re still fighting?” she whispers, angling her head toward the pane.

“Probably blaming each other,” I say softly, reaching for her hand to lead her away from the window. I know she’s gotten used to the faint light of the candle behind the curtain and is not able to see as well in the rest of the darkened room.

“Are you hungry?” I ask.

“A little.”

I peer up through the window. They’re making their way out of my view, so I take the dark curtain and cover the glass, sealing the edges.

“If someone is close, they’ll see the fabric through the glass.

But they’re not bothering with this building, so we’re safe to cover the window completely and then light the candle. ”

Once the cloth is hooked into the side-nails, I open the bathroom area and bring the candle to the makeshift bed.

“I grabbed us food earlier. From… well, your mating celebration.” I grin.

She snorts, making me smile wider. There is that humor I’d missed.

“Was even a three-tiered cake,” I tease. “Not every day the sons of a king find a mate. Especially not those fools.”

“Willing or not,” she agrees.

She sits next to me and I hand her one of the fresh steaks and baked potatoes from the bag I stuffed before heading to her room.

I’d brought it into the basement earlier when I’d slipped away from the party.

I had to return quickly though, making sure enough people saw me.

When I heard Auglesh bragging to another about how they were going to take their mate together, I knew it was time to slip away before they headed this way.

No one except for the two idiots and their personal guards knew which hut she was held in.

Because just the few knew, the males were cocky, thinking no one would know where to find her .

I knew by reading my father’s lips when he told Leviton where to put her. No one but Negan could probably hear his whisper, but I didn’t need to hear when I could see.

“How did they get you?” I ask.

Negan takes a bite of her steak and begins chewing. “Someone pinged a rock against my bedroom window. I thought you were coming to visit. He motioned toward the back, so I went there. When I opened the back door, I thought it was you for a minute. But then Auglesh drugged me and I woke up here.”

My blood boils at my foolishness. They’d watched me sneak into her room. “I knew something was wrong. Felt it in my gut. Rosemary and Paul worried too. It’s my fault for visiting you through your window. You wouldn’t have been tricked by Auglesh if I didn’t make you think it was normal.”

“It’s not your fault. I’m sorry I jumped to the conclusion that you were in on it.”

We stay quiet while we eat.

“Leviton said if I was pregnant, he’d make sure I lost it and then get me pregnant with his. And you know the difference between you and him? When you thought he raped me, you said you’d love any child of mine, no matter the father.”

There’s a pause for a moment. She watches me with glittering eyes, so I nod slowly, showing her the truth of my statement. “My life for yours.”

“You promised that before.”

“Aye. ‘Tis the highest promise to receive with Southpeaks. You will always have it. I will always love you, Negan of the Blackhearts.”