Read Online Honor Among Orcs (Orc Saga) by Amalia Dillin - Free Book Online

one with wounds to heal, Princess.”
    “Yours are much worse than mine.” Though she was not certain it was her bruises he spoke of, and his gentleness confused her. She nodded to the bread, trying to ignore his obvious concern. “I will get a third meal this day.”
    And the thought of eating it beside Lord Alviss made her feel sicker still. The bread stuck in her throat. He had not been quite drunk enough, last night, in spite of all her efforts. He had demanded that she bare her body to his roving eyes. Her resistance had earned his ire, along with her torn gown and split lip. What would he ask of her tonight?
    “Bring him here,” Bolthorn said. “Let him stumble through the mirror and he will never touch you again.”
    “And how will you explain his corpse to the king?”
    He shrugged. “He has no understanding of the magic he uses. If the mirror does not stop Lord Alviss your father will think it only some flaw in the weaving.”
    She searched his face. “But it wouldn’t be, would it? I would have to be here, to will it.”
    Bolthorn met her gaze, steady. “Yes.”
    “Why?” she asked. “Why does it obey me?”
    “Better that you not know,” he said quietly. “Dangerous enough that you know it does at all while you are still within the king’s power.”
    “Oh.” She picked at her bread. “When the king is—is gone, will you tell me?”
    He went still beside her, his eyes intent. “You’ve decided to help me.”
    She brushed her fingers over his chest, careful not to touch the torn flesh. “Helping you is the only way I will ever be free.”
    If only she could will the room to heal him as easily as she passed through the mirror. But even if she could, the king would wonder that his prisoner did not still suffer from his wounds. She could do nothing for Bolthorn but this.
    She lifted her gaze to his. “It’s the only way I want to be free.”
    He closed his fingers around hers, just for a moment, and let her go. He was nothing like Alviss. Nothing like the king. And it had been so long since anyone but her sister had touched her so gently.
    She hadn’t realized how much she had missed it.

    He should have been discouraging her, Bolthorn knew. She was human, he was orc. What future did she really have, if she followed him into the mountains? But in the mountains, he could protect her. Guard her from fools and evil men. In the mountains, he could be sure she was safe. He should have been discouraging her, or at least telling her the truth about what it would mean, and instead, he had convinced her to help him murder her own father and abandon her people to the chaos it would leave behind.
    Because he had given her his word. Promised no harm would come to her, and she would not let him slip from the vow. He ought to have been angry, disgusted that she had trapped him so neatly. But he could not stand the thought of leaving her in a castle with Lord Alviss, even if the king was dead.
    “Perhaps it would be better if we allowed you to be found,” he said, watching her pack up the remains of their basket the next day. She had brought him another meal, given him another taste of freedom outside the mirror, and said nothing at all about the dark circles beneath her eyes. It was clear she was not sleeping well, if at all, and she moved more stiffly than he liked. Because of Alviss, no doubt. “It would be a simple thing to make it look as though you were taken. You could be rescued, returned home to guide your family—”
    “Guide my family?” It was the first time she had stared at him as if he were something odd, he realized. She had not even blinked when he had revealed himself that first time, had not hesitated to touch him in kindness. “My brothers will marry me off to ensure the loyalty of some noble as soon as it can be negotiated. And if that fails, and the noble seeks to use me to set himself upon the throne, they will not hesitate to have me killed instead. I will be in no position to