Page 80 of Till Orc Do Us Part

I pick it up with trembling fingers.

Settle into the armchair in the corner and begin to read.

“The Green Giant had strong hands but a kind heart…”

The words blur almost immediately.

I blink hard, but the tears come anyway—hot and unstoppable, trailing down my cheeks in thick, aching waves.

Page after page, line after crooked line, the story unfolds.

Hope. Courage. The belief that even the fiercest giants can choose to protect, not destroy.

That love can be a kind of bravery.

By the time I turn the final page—Jamie’s careful scrawl beneath a drawing of the lighthouse shining bright—I am weeping openly.

For the child who believes so fiercely.

For the man who fought for a chance.

For myself.

Because gods help me—I want that light, too.

When the tears slow, I press a kiss to Jamie’s curls, lay the book gently back on his nightstand.

And downstairs, beneath the stormy dawn light filtering through the front windows, I find the banner Liara made weeks ago—simple letters on soft linen:

YES TO RENOVATION WITH HEART.

With shaking hands, I pin it to the window where anyone passing will see.

A small choice.

But mine.

And it’s a start.

CHAPTER 24

DROKHAZ

The elevator hums like a distant drum beneath my feet.

I stand alone, tall and still beneath polished chrome and cold steel, the flickering numbers counting toward the top floor like a final summons. Outside the glass wall, the city stretches gray and infinite beneath a heavy rain. Streets gleam with water. Headlights carve paths through mist.

My reflection stares back at me in the metal doors—broad shoulders beneath tailored charcoal, face carved sharper than it was weeks ago.

Hard lines. Harder resolve.

I adjust the grip on the leather portfolio in my hand. Inside:

Jamie’s story, sleeved and weighted with more than words.

The compass from Old Man Cass, its cracked face now bearing Jamie’s crayon-scrawled reminder:“Find your brave.”

And the revised blueprints—drawn with sleepless hands and a heart I have finally chosen to follow.