Page 5 of Orn and the Real Girl

I took her hand, careful of my grip, and my breath caught at the feel of her skin on mine, like a bolt of lightning fizzing up my spine.

The fine hairs on my body stood on end, and I licked my lips, nervous and self-conscious despite Sara’s friendliness.

“I’m Orn—” I almost kept going, giving my clan name, despite not having had any claim to their kinship for several years now.

“Just Orn” I finished lamely. I busied myself with standing and fetching my other stool.

I should probably try to give Sara privacy and space now that she was settling in, but I was unable to tamp down the hope that she’d want to keep talking to me, to maybe even be something of a friend while she recuperated here with me.

“What, um...what brings you so far from civilization?” I asked.

She bit her lip, her gaze going flat and distant in a way that made me panic.

“N-not that you have to tell me your business!” I added hurriedly, my face so hot I was certain my skin was a moment from melting clean off of my skull.

“I was—um, that is, I was just curious. Trying to make conversation—“ Gods, did that high-pitched giggle come from me?

I was mere moments from throwing myself into a snow drift outside and letting Frichta guide my soul to the hereafter.

Sara managed a small smile, reaching out to grasp one of my flailing hands.

“It’s alright, Orn, I know you didn’t mean anything by it.

You’re a very kind and considerate person.

” She sighed, releasing me, and her snake Lena poked her tiny head out of the collar of Sara’s borrowed clothes, the rest of her following gradually to twine around Sara’s head like a strange hat, tousling her long dark curls.

“I’m just not...I-I can’t talk about it, just yet.

I swear to you though, I mean you no harm. ”

I nearly laughed at the last bit; since when did a lone human woman feel the need to reassure a fully-grown orc that she wasn’t a threat?

Her delicate limbs and soft human skin said that loud and clear.

But from Sara’s expression, she had clearly come from something bad, something that she was struggling to make sense of, so perhaps that was why she said such odd things.

I was troubled by what could have befallen her, angry that someone so beautiful and sweet should suffer, but I was also perversely glad that whatever had happened had guided her to my cottage for help.

Suddenly, her mouth split in a jaw-cracking yawn, and I surged to my feet once more, my eyes darting over my small home in a panic. Vitrin’s mercy, where would she sleep?

My gaze landed on my bed, and I decided in a flash that it was all hers.

But it was too far from the fire—I tended to run hot in my sleep, so I kept it as far from the hearth as possible—so I hurried over to drag it closer.

The feet squealed and scraped against my carefully laid plank floor, but the ironwood frame was too heavy for me to lift properly by myself.

Sara watched me, bemused, Lena’s little snub-nosed face turned to me and also watching.

I finished dragging the bed over, leaving enough distance between it and the flames to avoid errant sparks and embers, then pointed at it.

“You’ll sleep here,” I told her, taking the largest blanket from the unkempt pile and spreading it on the floor over some of Gehyta’s clean hay. “You should sleep now. Unless you need something else?”

Sara blinked, looking between me and the empty bed. “I can’t take your bed,” she protested, biting her lip again. “You’ve already done so much, Orn”

“Well, I’m not sleeping in it,” I told her, internally wincing when I heard how sharp that sounded. “And Gehyta gets nervous around strangers, anyway. So...so you might as well.”

She hesitated for another few seconds, then sighed and rolled her eyes, smiling at me. “Fine, have it your way. But I don’t believe you for a second,” she chuckled, sinking into the mattress and rearranging the piles of blankets around her much smaller body.

I settled into my new bed, Gehyta uncurling a little to lay her head on my chest, making contented little snorts and huffs as I scratched behind her thick, triangular ears and down her soft muzzle.

Even though I should have been exhausted, my body was too tense and humming with nerves to settle into sleep.

The whole evening felt surreal, like a fever dream, but even if my mind was struggling to accept the reality of Sara’s arrival, my body was not.

Every inch of me felt hot and oversensitive, my cock stuck half-hard no matter how much I tried to calm it down.

Something teased at the back of my mind, a vague memory that felt relevant to this situation, but whenever I tried to focus on it, it darted away.

I cursed silently, wishing I were still in the Fenns and could ask for guidance from my clan.

I may have been having trouble drifting off, but it wasn’t long before I heard Sara’s breathing slow and deepen into an even rhythm. And then, much to my surprise, she began to snore—loudly. The sound woke Gehyta from her own slumber with a disgruntled snort, but I only smiled, oddly charmed.

Eventually, sleep found me, though it was troubled by odd dreams that constantly shifted and changed. I didn’t remember any of them when I woke with the dawn.