Page 25 of The Orc Chief’s Baker (Orc Mates Of Faeda #4)

Chapter

Fifteen

TRINIA

T he noise Brovdir made in the back of his throat was so thickly laced with exasperation that Trinia almost laughed.

Or at least she might have, had she not been covered head to toe in mud and grime, in a clan she wasn’t supposed to be in, with an orc who’d been carting her around all night, after having almost been sucked underground and drowned .

Elder Plog approached with a natural spring in his step. Trinia had known him all her life, and although his face had wrinkled and his slender body had hunched, his eyes had never lost their twinkle.

His penchant for mischief was well-known and she really didn’t need any more insanity tonight.

“Why Trinia, this is such a delight to see. You’ll be a wonderful mate to our chief.”

Her spine instantly straightened as the idea smacked right around inside her already scrambled brain. She didn’t even have the wherewithal to step away from Brovdir’s hands, which were warmly placed on her upper arms.

“Don’t mind me. I don’t want to meddle in your business. Being so late at night, I’m certain you have some glorious plans. Glad I’m half deaf.”

Trinia was at a complete loss for words. This biscuit-blasted male was an absolute blabbermouth and if he left with the impression she and the orc chief were together everyone would know it before the sun came up.

And she’d have to tell every single being here that the elder was still insane, and that was not what was going on.

And her sister would be fuming that she was becoming the clan matriarch and not her.

And her patrons would gossip constantly, never giving her a moment’s peace.

And she’d have to nail the bakery door shut to get anything done.

And . . . and . . .

And she didn’t have patrons anymore.

She didn’t work at the bakery anymore.

“Trinia?”

Brovdir’s warm hands tightened on her shoulders, and she looked up to his face, illuminated by the torches lining the dirt path. He was awash with gentle concern. His grip felt steady and reminded her of how safe she’d felt when she was in his arms. How cared for. How comfortable...

Her eyes widened as a dangerous, stupid, horrible idea flashed in her mind.

One that would solve all her problems in an instant.

Even though it made her knees buckle.

Even though it would make all the gossip true .

“Chief, I’m here about those boars we were discussing.”

Trinia blinked, so thrown off that she had nearly forgotten that the elder was there.

“You appear confused, Trinia,” the elder said. “Did our good chief not mention to you that hundreds, perhaps even thousands , of boars will be entering the Rove Woods within the next few seasons?”

Trinia went cold very quickly despite the warmth of Brovdir’s frame hovering right behind her. “ What ? Brovdir, how is that even possible? Does it have to do with the blight?”

First the bakery, then sinkholes, and now this ?

Had the Fades abandoned them?

“No!” Brovdir snapped so forcefully that Trinia flinched and his brow knitted with regret. “No, there’re none.”

“None what? Boar or blight?”

“Chief, I apologize, but it’s long past my nightly cap and my nose has already begun to tickle to say nothing of my hinter region.

” Trinia’s mind spun itself into knots, trying to both decipher and forget whatever it was the elder had just said.

“I just want to say a few quick things and then you can continue carrying her around to your heart’s content.

Or whatever it is you plan to do to each other. ”

She took a quick step away from Brovdir. “W-we’re not doing—I mean, I wasn’t planning on... er...” She actually had been planning that, hadn’t she?

She needed a house . . . a new bakery.

And a conquest to the orc chief could request those things in exchange for their service.

Brovdir moved in a little closer to her, close enough it felt like the sunrise warming her back after a long, cold night. The idea that she could so easily have back what she’d lost after a few seasons of carrying a babe was a revelation.

A revelation that made her stomach knot up and her skin go clammy and her mind quail at the thought of passing her tiny child over to the orc standing behind her and leaving the rearing of that child to him.

“I was thinking we could try to herd the boar toward one of these sinkholes that keep cropping up all around the clan,” Elder Plog continued, and it took everything in her to concentrate on what he was saying.

“The water rushing through them is quite deep and rapid, but the holes beneath the water surface that lead into the ground aren’t too big.

I bet you the boars’ fat bottoms would be big enough to plug them up. ”

The mental image that the elder painted was so insane that it almost made her laugh.

“Then when we’re ready to eat them, we could fish them out. Somehow... Bolsan had a rope and pulley idea that was quite intriguing. He’ll be bringing it to you in various sketches tomorrow at breakfast.”

Brovdir looked like he wanted to cry, and despite her turmoil, mirth danced around in her chest. “No.”

“No? What do you mean?” The elder’s eyes widened, and he smacked his forehead with his palm.

“Ah, shitscoodle. I forgot we weren’t supposed to tell the villagers about the sinkholes.

This is why Sythcol won’t let me go to the trades.

” His pleading eyes caught Trinia up. “Don’t suppose you could forget everything you heard, could you?

Or pretend you’ve gone raving! I do that all the time. Barrels of fun.”

She blinked at him.

“She knows,” Brovdir said. “She’ll keep it secret.”

Would she? She glanced back to look at Brovdir with narrowed eyes, and he instantly shrunk back.

He really was eager to please, wasn’t he?

That... would make it much easier to bed him.

Was she really going to go through with this?

“Well, thank plumb for that,” the elder exclaimed with a grin that fell just as quickly as it rose.

“So, what’s the problem with my boar-stopper plan, then?

We can’t just leave them in the sinkholes to rot, you know.

Sythcol believes that these underground waterways connect to our drinking water.

Good way to get everyone knocking on the Fades door, drinking rotting boar water. Blech!” The elder spat on the ground.

In a flash, she was being hauled away from the wayward spittle, which was, in truth, nowhere near her. Her back hit a hard wall of muscle and an instant shiver coursed down her spine. Her toes curled in her wet shoes.

Brovdir let out a low rumbling growl that vibrated from the top of her head all the way down into the pit of her stomach. It took everything in her not to squirm.

Fades help her! She was in trouble .

“Careful.” Brovdir’s voice was hard and unyielding, and her face heated up.

The elder didn’t appear the least bit perturbed. “Sorry, young lady, forgot you were here. My eyesight’s not what it used to be, and you’re such a tiny thing.”

Trinia blinked in shock at this male’s lunacy. Of all the things she’d been described as in her life, tiny was not one of them.

“Anywho, I just thought you should know my idea. Just in case you wanted to bring it up with Sythcol, wasn’t sure when those boars were set to arrive so?—”

“There are no boars!” There was such desperation in Brovdir’s tone that her shock and dismay faded and mirth threatened to burst from her lips. She pinched them to stop her laughter.

“Have a good night, then. I’ll be sure to let the folks know to get their earplugs ready.” The male was gone before Brovdir could throttle him, but it looked like he wanted to.

“Did you really ask the elders for advice?” Trinia asked as she tried to get all her emotions under control. “No one warned you about them?”

He let out a ragged sigh, squeezing his eyes shut, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Trinia lost control of her laughter. Tonight had probably been the most horrible, terrifying, and devastating day of her entire life—save the day her mother had died—but this was the hardest she’d laughed in a very long time.

She wiped the wetness from her eyes as she finally got herself back in check.

When she looked up, Brovdir was regarding her with a warm, soft expression that made her stomach do flips.

Her heart hammered rapidly in her chest, her mouth went dry, and her mind reeled. .. and blasted burned biscuits...

She was actually going to do this.

She was going to try to bed this orc.

“I’ll... I’ll stay with you tonight, Brovdir. If you’ll still have me.”

He blinked, eyes going wide with surprise.

Then he nodded, far too eagerly. A huge grin spread across his face. He looked like he would have whooped for joy had his injured throat allowed it.

Her guilt mounted so high she was certain it would touch the stars, but this was her best chance to have a new place to live, wasn’t it? A new bakery...

Her eyes prickled with unshed tears, and her skin went clammy. Her heart clenched so hard in her chest it hurt.

She had a storm of emotions brewing inside her and she begged the Fades to help her keep them at bay long enough to become his conquest.