Page 24 of Orc’s Promise (Knotty Monsters #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

TANSEY

“ A nd then the horse leapt over a giant tree. It felt like we were flying!” Ethan tells me for the hundredth time since he arrived yesterday.

He’s fascinated by the gorjas the orcs ride.

I’m grateful his ride holds better memories for him than mine.

I still shudder at the memory of Baloq slinging me over his back while riding the gorja.

Abject terror, both at what he’d do to me and that I’d never see Ethan again.

“Maybe we can visit the gorjas later today,” I say, ruffling his long hair.

“Yay!”

He’s sitting in my lap, bouncing now at the mention of visiting the gorjas, talking away a mile a minute inside the women’s quarters.

The women are all happy to see Ethan, even those who have never met him before.

Some didn’t even know I had a child because no one ever ventured to our little corner of the settlement, which is why I liked it there.

It was isolated and quiet. It felt safer than being with so many males in the main settlement.

This morning, the women—including Poetry, who spends most of her days inside—piled out of our quarters to give Ethan and me privacy to catch up…and to give me space to explain our situation to him.

They’ve been great about having Ethan here.

Last night, they babysat him while I retrieved what few possessions I own from Verig’s quarters.

A set of leather pants, a tunic, and the brush and comb he gave me.

I glance over at the ornately carved wood of the hairbrush and bone comb he gave me.

He must have spent a lot of time making them.

Damn, I don’t want to think about his good qualities.

I’m still fuming over what he did, which I can’t show in front of Ethan.

He’s confused about why I shouted at Verig shortly after he brought Ethan to me.

Ethan recounted every detail of his grand adventure, about how Verig woke him in the middle of the night, and then they rode on the giant horse with six legs and spines on its head and tail.

Verig impressed Ethan, which isn’t hard to believe.

He’s an impressive male. And he must have taken great care when he kidnapped Ethan so as not to scare him.

I appreciate that, but still, I’m so fucking angry at him.

How could he do this to me? To Ethan. He’s condemned my child to a life with people who despise human males.

Ethan pulls the fur pelt over us, snuggling under the blanket like we do at night for story time back home.

I didn’t read to him last night, not that I have any books here.

But I could have told him a story, and I didn’t.

I was too busy listening to him tell me about everything he’s been doing in New Earth.

He’s been working in the fields. The fields…What the fuck is Council doing over there?

One night, I left Ethan with Mary for an hour while I returned Holly’s book.

I never thought that would be the last I saw of him, that I’d get kidnapped.

Every day I spent here against my will, I consoled myself with the knowledge that Ethan remained in Earth’s colony.

I never once worried about what would happen to him.

I knew Mary or another family would take Ethan in and watch him until I returned. Or raise him, if I didn’t.

Instead, some asshole decided they could take advantage of a six-year-old boy because his mother wasn’t around. The bastards assigned him to carry water to the workers in the field instead of letting him attend school with the other children.

Or maybe none of the children have school anymore. I don’t know what’s happening there, but I’m glad Ethan’s safe, healthy, and happy.

“Come quick, Tansey,” Phoebe says as she runs into our quarters.

“Why? What’s happening?” I lift Ethan off my lap and rise from my pallet on the floor.

“Atox is back.”

“So?”

“He’s called everyone together to make an announcement. Kodex told me he’s fuming mad at Verig.”

“That makes two of us. Wait a minute. Since when are you talking to Kodex?”

“I’m not. But that doesn’t mean I don’t listen.”

“Uh, huh. Don’t fall into that trap, Phoebe. That’s how it starts. Paying attention to a man who will ultimately break your heart.”

“Never mind my disaster of a love life.”

Love life?

“Kodex is worried he and Verig will be exiled. For defying his orders and—” She stops short, looking down at Ethan, and throws him a quick smile.

He’s listening to everything she says, tone included.

“For…you know. Going where he wasn’t supposed to go,” she couches Verig’s transgression of entering New Earth and taking Ethan, which was against Atox’s orders as well as my wishes.

It’s hard to believe Paloma’s brute of a husband and I actually agree on something. But exile? A sudden jolt of fear runs through me at the thought of losing Verig. My emotions are all over the place, but he doesn’t deserve exile.

“Put your shoes on, Ethan,” I say as I do the same, lacing up my boots.

“What’s happening, Mommy?”

“Well, the orc king, they call him grak, is returning, and everyone is going to greet him and hear about his journey. The entire camp.” I’m not sure this will be appropriate for Ethan, but I won’t leave him alone in the tunnels where he could easily get lost, and I have to be at this gathering to hear what happens, good or bad.

VERIG

Kodex and I stand before Atox as we wait for the entire settlement of Mount Racha to convene, excluding the warriors on patrol.

I fully expected Atox to be here yesterday when I returned.

I do not know where he went or why. None of my warriors would tell me.

They must have had orders not to tell me.

Already, I’ve been cut off from full command. My future as neld is in question.

Atox hasn’t spoken to me since he returned an hour ago. I heard him ask Paloma where the human youngling is. Ethan. That means someone already informed him of where Kodex and I went, what we did.

His lips peel back, baring not the tops of his tusks but their full lengths. I’ve never seen him this mad, not even at Ryko or Baloq, the only two warriors he’s ever exiled. It appears I will be the third.

I will not initiate conversation, nor will I lie to my grak when he finally speaks to me.

Kodex’s forehead ridges rise as he glances at me. I stand straighter and await Atox’s ruling, indicating he should do the same.

When Tansey exits the mountain, her youngling walking beside her holding her hand, my eyes find her and do not return to my grak. I cannot help myself. She is as air to my lungs. I cannot breathe without knowing where she is, how she is.

The ire in her eyes does not detract from her beauty. It accentuates it. I’ve never seen her look stronger or more beautiful…more orc.

Despite the anger she levels at me, there is a peace to her now that she has her youngling. I see it from here. The smile when she talks to him, the way she walks, carefree and with joy.

I do not regret my actions, only that I defied her wishes.

“She’s wrong,” I say aloud to the gods, even though I do not believe they hear me any longer. “I didn’t do this for me. I did this for her. For Haaka, Veeya, and all those who did not survive.”

Atox turns swiftly and punches me in the face, catching me off guard.

I fall to my knees, but do not reach for a knife. This is my grak. One does not draw a knife unless he intends to use it, and to do so against a grak means death.

The talking and noise of the crowd disappear.

Complete silence fills the base of our mountain as Atox grips me by my weapons harness and pulls me to my feet.

“How dare you put me in this position?” he whispers.

“And then invoke the names of those we lost. Those I lost because I failed to protect our people.”

“You were not responsible for the ships exploding. Your father’s forces were. Maybe the cendagi,” I reply, also in a whisper, as these are not words that all should hear.

“On this, you speak the truth, but that does not make their deaths any less my responsibility.” He thrusts me back in disgust, growls, and looks over the crowd of orcs and humans watching.

“All that happens under my rule, to any of my people, is my responsibility,” he says, loud enough that all can hear, but his eyes are squarely on me. “And now you defy me after I exiled Ryko and Baloq. I cannot afford to lose any additional warriors, especially my neld. Should I appoint another?”

“You will do as you see fit, Grak. As I did. This female needed her youngling as much as we need air to breathe. Imagine if someone took your younglings from you.”

“I’d fight an entire army single-handedly to get them back, and you vekking know that.”

“But you wouldn’t fight them alone. We would fight beside you.

Die for them, die for you, as is our honor.

The same must be for all of our people. Tansey is orc now, even if she refuses risha.

We are obligated to protect her and those she protects.

She never should have been taken from her youngling.

And you would not allow her to return to him.

I had no choice but to bring the youngling to her.

I do not apologize for what was necessary, though I regret breaking your trust in me, Grak.

I never should have disobeyed your orders, and yet I saw no other choice. ”

I fall completely silent. An orc does not beg forgiveness or leniency.

I knew the risk when I disobeyed Atox’s orders, and I’d repeat my transgression because it is what my female needed, even if she never speaks to me again.

I will accept whatever fate my grak decides for me.

His word is law, and as neld, I’m to enforce his word, even when I am the one being punished.

“No other words in your defense, Neld?”

I straighten my spine, draw a knife, and slap the flat of the blade against my chest. “There is no defense for disobeying my grak. I am guilty and accept the consequences, but I must inform you of another transgression before you pass judgment.”

“Speak, then,” he says with a growl.

“I let Warrior Kodex believe we left under your orders. He followed my orders as neld, nothing more. Had he known I was defying your orders, he would not have gone with me.”

Atox runs his eyes across Kodex’s face. The male hasn’t blinked since this inquiry began. He hasn’t spoken up in his own defense, because that would make him look weak before his grak.

“Does your neld speak the truth?” Atox asks.

“Yes, Grak.”

“Return to your duties.”

After slamming a blade against his chest, Kodex leaves us, entering the crowd to stand with the other warriors, watching and waiting to learn my punishment.

My eyes wander to Tansey, who holds Ethan against her chest. I see fear in her face, very un-orc-like, but then again, she’s not orc, despite my words earlier. That is what my people and I must understand and accept. We must make allowances for the humans’ ways, their strengths, and weaknesses.

And she does have great strength, this female. She will survive with or without me.

My heart sinks at the realization that she does not need me, not like I need her.

“I will not tolerate disobedience,” Atox says, turning to the crowd. “Warrior Verig im Neld, you are hereby stripped of your position.”

A few gasps seep into the air. The human females. The orcs, warrior and non, remain silent. Showing their surprise would be seen as disapproval of their grak.

My eyes stay on Tansey, not Atox. She bites her lower lip and holds her youngling tighter.

“You will remain at Mount Racha,” my grak continues.

“I’m not to be exiled?” I ask, definitely stunned by his leniency.

Black swirls in his eyes as his lower lip peels back, exposing the full lengths of his tusks. No, not leniency. He has something worse than exile in mind for me…