Page 14 of When the Merchant Met the Orc

“Osric wants a life partner for companionship and business.”

The orc grimaces. “Like a contract in place of a romance?”

“I guess, yes. Yes, that’s probably a good way to put it.”

His silence is a weight pressing on the air around me. Finally, he sighs, and I realize I’ve been holding my breath. I don’t know why.

“Rychell, you aren’t going to sign up for that, are you?”

“I didn’t ask for advice, Halvard.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him nodding, his eyes stormy.

“No, you didn’t,” he says. “My apologies. If you want a loveless marriage for you and a cold father for your son, I will stay out of it.”

Heat springs to life under my skin, and emotions I can’t quite name boil in my blood. “What gives you the right to be angry about this?”

“I’m not angry,” he says.

“You sound very unhappy.”

He shrugs. “I am disappointed.”

“By what part exactly?” What do I want him to say?

“Never mind. I don’t have any right to feel anything about your decisions. I apologize.”

I blink.

He stares at me. “Rychell?”

I stare right back. “You apologized. Just like that.”

He tilts his head to one side. “I did, yes.”

“I honestly don’t think a male of any kind has ever apologized like that,” I say.

“I’m straight up, no chaser, Rychell. What you see is what you get. Granted, I don’t reveal everything I’m thinking or feeling because that is my business.”

The heat in me shifts into a pleasant warmth, and my stomach is oddly light and full of tickling sensations. What is wrong with me?

“I accept your apology,” I say firmly. I can’t stop staring at his sparkling copper eyes and the ring in his lower lip.

He nods and looks ahead. “We’re almost to the berry flats.”

“Maybe that would be a good place to do a little training and let Tamar catch her breath.”

“Agreed.”

I’m so glad he dropped his argument against my plan with Osric. I’ve lived many years on my own, and I don’t have the patience to deal with a friend who insists on butting their head into my every decision. I have my way of doing things. Practical. Efficient. A close circle that includes Nate and Kaya. That’s all I need. I have people that are right outside the edges of that inner circle—Tully the witch and Laini the weaver. I trust them, but I don’t reveal much to them either. They don’t see the true me, just the parts I wish to show.

When we reach the area locally known as the berry flats, we give Tamar the freedom to graze the low-growing grasses, and I pour her water from my waterskin into the bucket I bring with me on trips. I join Halvard in the meadow where he is rolling up his sleeves. The lines and movements of his forearms are mesmerizing. Then I realize he’s been talking.

“…and then you can try the move against me,” he says, looking expectantly at me.

“Oh, sorry. What were you saying?”

His grin belongs on the face of a handsome villain. “Take this.” He hands me a knife with a greengold wood handle.