Page 43 of The Orc Chief’s Baker (Orc Mates Of Faeda #4)

Chapter

Thirty-Two

brOVDIR

S he’d said yes. Yes! He could hardly believe it.

His steps felt light, and his mind was clear. His veins pulsed with pleasure. He should at least try not to look so pleased. He’d just told her about the prophecy, and she was still recovering from the shock.

“How... long will it take you to build my house?”

Forever. “How long are you willing to wait?”

Her brows arched in surprise, and then she looked away from him.

Her steps crunched in the ice at their feet and her fingers felt cold in his hand.

He should have brought her a cloak. In the distance, he could hear the orc sons chattering.

Elder Plog was with them. Maybe one of them would have an extra cloak for her to wear.

“Would it be all right to wait until spring or maybe...” She worried her lower lip, reminding him of how good she tasted.

“Would love to host you for spring. Summer too.” Every spring and summer for the rest of her life.

“It’s just that I was thinking of how busy you’re going to be with the warriors settling here and the sinkholes. You’ll need to put your duties as chief first.”

His heart swelled so much he lost his breath. She’d make a wonderful matriarch.

She picked up the pace. “And I’ll want to draw up some proper design plans for you to work from. It will make your task much easier. What are those voices?”

“Orc sons. Going to check,” he explained as he guided her off the path and into the dense woods.

“Right. They probably shouldn’t be playing out in the woods with the sinkholes opening up... but I suppose the clan isn’t necessarily safer, is it?”

He supposed not.

She hugged herself. “Nowhere is really safe now, is it? Everything is...”

He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. “All will be well. I vow it.”

She looked up at him with such trust his heart felt like it might burst. She edged in closer, nearly to his side. “I suppose I know for sure of one place that is safe.”

She said this so quietly he nearly didn’t catch it. With his head tipped in confusion, he asked, “Where?”

Trinia looked up into his eyes. Her smile was soft and her gaze was filled with such warmth he wondered if he was melting.

“With you.”

Was it possible to suffocate from delight? Because he could have sworn that was what was about to happen.

Trinia’s eyes drifted back to their path and then widened. “What... exactly are they doing?”

Brovdir stopped abruptly, suddenly realizing that they had reached their destination. Through the trees, he could see Elder Plog surveying a clearing and the sons were all around him working on... on...

On digging up the frozen ground.

“Hello there!” Elder Plog hobbled over with his same wide grin and his fresh demeanor, but the mischievous glint in his eye had Brovdir wishing he could turn tail and run back to his home. With Trinia.

One glance at his woman, however, had him rethinking his quick exit. Her expression was bright with curiosity, and a light smile played at her lips.

He would stop at nothing to keep her happy.

So, in the madness, they would stay.

“Well, don’t you both look about as pruned as a plum,” the elder said. “Little baker, you seem a little more prune than usual. Is something haunting you?”

Trinia’s face fell and Brovdir wanted to smack the male for reminding her of her troubles.

“All’s well. What is going on here?” Brovdir said decisively. Trinia squeezed his hand and gifted him with a grateful smile.

“Come to see our progress, did you?” the elder said with a beaming smile. “They’re doing well, aren’t they?”

“What are they doing?” Trinia’s eyes widened as a young male who could not have been more than seven lifted a rock the size of his abdomen out of the hole and chucked it onto the frost laden ground.

“Digging boar traps, of course!”

“Foolishness,” Brovdir muttered nearly at the same time. The elder shot him an amused look, which he ignored. “Stop this.”

“How will we prepare for the boar then?” the elder asked almost flippantly. “And besides, the boys are enjoying themselves. They need to practice their magic, you know. Otherwise, it will get as rusty as my old paring knife. They’ll be good for nothing but washing and flaking off rust in chunks.”

“Are you talking about the knife or the children?” The mirth in Trinia’s voice was clear and Brovdir’s irritation lessened.

“Both, I suppose. One and the same, aren’t they?”

“The children and your paring knife are one and the same?” Trinia asked.

The old male laughed heartily in response to Trinia’s question and then turned to Brovdir. “So! What brings you here? Have you got the skewers?”

“No,” Brovdir growled low. “Here to stop you. ”

The statement had the children all popping their heads out of the massive hole, which was much deeper than he’d thought.

“What? We’re stopping?”

“I don’t want to stop!”

“We’ve almost got it deep enough.”

The chorus continued as the near thirty boys all began complaining at once. They were covered head to toe in mud. Many had pickaxes and shovels, but a few were working the ground with their bare claws.

Brovdir felt like his head might explode.

Warmth clasped around his fingers, and he shot his gaze back to Trinia. She rubbed her thumb over the back of his knuckles, quirked an enchanting smile, and murmured, “They look like they’re having fun.”

His brows pinched, but when he looked back toward the boys, he suddenly saw them in a different light. They were exhausted and filthy and performing a futile task.

But also grinning from ear to ear.

“Look at this one!” Vaiteg, Estoc’s eldest son, who’d been oblivious to Brovdir’s presence, popped up out of the furthest side of the trench. “Come help me! We have to get it!”

More than half the boys raced to Vaiteg and jumped into the hole. The others watched from the edge, clamoring and boisterously proclaiming their excitement.

And a moment later, Brovdir saw why.

The boulder these boys were lifting out of the ground was enormous . At least one and a half of his lengths around and nearly as tall.

How they were able to move it with just fifteen of them was beyond him, but move it they did. They heaved and hollered and hoisted the rock out onto the stable ledge.

“Good show, boys! Good show!” the elder exclaimed, quickly hobbling over. Trinia went too and Brovdir instantly followed. He kept a keen eye on her and the littlest sons, making sure they stayed clear of the boulder’s path.

They rolled it up onto the frozen grass with a final cry and then cheered so loudly Brovdir thought his ears would burst.

“Amazing!” the elder yelled above the celebration. “You did it! This one is as big as a boar’s behind, for sure!”

Brovdir was overwhelmed by the desire to smack himself in the face until he saw stars.

At least until he heard Trinia laughing. Then his whole body lit with delight. The sound was melodic and soothing.

“Let’s get back to it!” Vaiteg announced and the other boys whooped with vigor and jumped back into the hole.

“You see! They’re doing marvelous!” the elder said with a laugh as he returned to them.

“Sythcol says the ground isn’t stable,” Brovdir said.

“This ground is perfectly stable,” the elder said. “I communed with the Fades just a few moments ago. They want us right here.”

“The... Fades want you to dig a hole here?” Trinia asked carefully.

“They do, indeed!” The elder nodded. “Sneaky things trying to trick me into using my magic to blast the ground myself, but I know better. I know the success needed to be shared.”

“Not worth the risk,” Brovdir said. “The sinkholes?—”

“The sinkholes all give warning before they rattle open. We’re keeping a close eye out and are prepared to leap into trees the moment we notice the ground shaking,” the elder said with more lucidity than Brovdir had ever seen.

“I know you’re worried, Brovdir, as any good leader should be, but have faith.

It’s good for them to have something to take their mind off the chaos and change.

And besides, they are no less safe here than they are playing together in the clan or forest. The sinkholes could open anywhere , but at least here we are being diligent and I’m keeping a close eye. ”

Brovdir couldn’t fight that logic. These sons were always together. Usually without their fathers, since the Rove Woods were so safe.

Or at least they used to be.

But... “I should seek advice from Sythcol.” Brovdir felt a hollowness in his chest as he spoke.

The elder’s face fell because they both knew what Sythcol would want.

Trinia tapped his arm. “Can I speak with you a moment?”

He nodded immediately and followed her to the edge of the tree line. The elder went back to watching the children, as diligent as he promised he would be.

Once they were a good distance, Trinia turned to face him. She fidgeted with discomfort, but she was so Fades blasted beautiful, he couldn’t take his eyes from her.

“I understand this isn’t my place . . .”

“Please speak,” he assured her, desperate to hear anything she wanted to tell him.

“I don’t think you should stop them.”

He let out a long sigh that expelled much of his tension.

“The elder might act two apples short of a pie at times but he loves those boys, and he’d never put them in danger.”

Brovdir nodded, eager to hear her input on the dynamics of the clan.

Trinia continued with more confidence. “I also know that you warrior orcs don’t commune with the Fades much.”

Brovdir couldn’t remember the last time he’d done so.

“Communing isn’t the silly nonsense that some of your brethren say it is. I’ve seen miracles come from simple communions. The orcs of Rove Wood really do communicate directly with the Fades will through it. Or... at least they get messages from them.”

“Who?”

Trinia blinked. “Who?”

“Who disparaged against communion?”

“Oh . . . uh . . .” She fidgeted. “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”

“Not trouble. Correction.”

She blinked, and then nodded. “It was Ugeth and Ovig mostly.”

“I will speak with them.”

He watched her sag with relief as a grin flooded her lovely features. He wanted to burst with happiness over how easy it was to please her.

“So,” he said, determined to solve this issue and please his woman at the same time. “You think I should leave this?”

“This is the first time I’ve seen the boys truly happy since what happened with Ergoth.”

He considered this, mind working over the logic and always going back to one stark fact. His title.

Chief Brovdir.

“Then I will let them dig.”