Read Online Honor Among Orcs (Orc Saga) by Amalia Dillin - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Amalia Dillin
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no wish to be found by men, either. We are cousins, of a kind, and none would blame you if you found them to be fairer companions.”
“Fairer,” she echoed hollowly, her gaze returning to the window. “And those would be my choices. Remain behind, or go on to the elves.”
“It is a hard life in the mountains,” he said quietly. “Filled with bitter winters spent in darkness. I would not have you trapped among orcs when you might live more easily elsewhere.”
“Of course.” She leaned forward and began sorting the food left in the basket. Dividing it.
He frowned. “It seemed only right that you should know…”
“I didn’t realize you considered me a burden.” She wrapped a generous half of the food inside the netted cheese cloth and set it aside. “Everything you said—was it just to flatter me? To assure yourself of my help before you threw me away? I thought—” Her cheeks burned crimson. “Was it the night before last that changed your mind?”
“Never.” He reached for her hand, but she only shoved the bundled food at him instead.
“Not all wounds mark the skin, Bolthorn!” She rose to her feet and turned away. “Do you know, the king did not even warn me? Lord Alviss stole me away before dinner and backed me up into a wall. No one stopped him. The things he said, they sounded true, but the king—he could have just as easily punished me for believing it as he would for disobedience if I refused.”
“Arianna.”
She spun. “I should never have believed in you.”
The words cut him more deeply than any stroke of her father’s whip, overwhelming the sting of his chest, and he stood tall, his lips curled back. “You think me so cruel? You humans never could trust in anything so ugly as orcs. Because we were so twisted on the outside, you could not imagine anything but monsters in our souls.”
Her face paled, but she raised her chin. “Mirrors only show us what we wish to see. Perhaps your people did not look closely enough to recognize the truth.”
“A monster would not have warned you about your father, nor sheltered you from his wrath,” he growled. “A monster would not chafe knowing that when you leave him, you are being pawed at and he can do nothing to stop it. A monster would leave you here to rot, Princess, no matter how prettily you begged for escape.”
It silenced her, but the pain in her eyes only made him ache. That she could believe him so faithless twisted his heart, leaving him cold. After everything he had done. For nothing, if she could not trust him.
No—not for nothing. He had served his people, even if he had not served her. He still served them, though it comforted him not at all to know it when she looked at him as though he had struck her.
She had no choice but to replace his fetters and chain him again to the wall. Her father had not come to loosen his bonds, and so she did not dare leave him much slack. But even while she seethed, she could not bring herself to bind him too tightly. He stood stiff and straight and proud, watching her as she closed the iron cuffs around his wrists and willed it whole once more. She refused to meet his eyes.
No matter how prettily you begged…
Was that all it was between them? Pity rather than kindness? Desperation and manipulation and nothing more?
She left him inside the mirror and gathered her basket, taking the time to remove all trace of her presence in the tower room—almost habit, now. For a moment, she had believed in something else. She had thought that somehow she had won his respect, his approval. His warmth. For a moment, she had allowed herself to dream of a future built upon trust and freedom.
A foolish dream. They were too different, and she was too weak. He had made that plain with his talk of villages and elves. He did not want her but for the service she might provide him, freeing him from his cage. She was only an obligation upon his honor, a debt to be repaid as quickly as possible, that he
“Fairer,” she echoed hollowly, her gaze returning to the window. “And those would be my choices. Remain behind, or go on to the elves.”
“It is a hard life in the mountains,” he said quietly. “Filled with bitter winters spent in darkness. I would not have you trapped among orcs when you might live more easily elsewhere.”
“Of course.” She leaned forward and began sorting the food left in the basket. Dividing it.
He frowned. “It seemed only right that you should know…”
“I didn’t realize you considered me a burden.” She wrapped a generous half of the food inside the netted cheese cloth and set it aside. “Everything you said—was it just to flatter me? To assure yourself of my help before you threw me away? I thought—” Her cheeks burned crimson. “Was it the night before last that changed your mind?”
“Never.” He reached for her hand, but she only shoved the bundled food at him instead.
“Not all wounds mark the skin, Bolthorn!” She rose to her feet and turned away. “Do you know, the king did not even warn me? Lord Alviss stole me away before dinner and backed me up into a wall. No one stopped him. The things he said, they sounded true, but the king—he could have just as easily punished me for believing it as he would for disobedience if I refused.”
“Arianna.”
She spun. “I should never have believed in you.”
The words cut him more deeply than any stroke of her father’s whip, overwhelming the sting of his chest, and he stood tall, his lips curled back. “You think me so cruel? You humans never could trust in anything so ugly as orcs. Because we were so twisted on the outside, you could not imagine anything but monsters in our souls.”
Her face paled, but she raised her chin. “Mirrors only show us what we wish to see. Perhaps your people did not look closely enough to recognize the truth.”
“A monster would not have warned you about your father, nor sheltered you from his wrath,” he growled. “A monster would not chafe knowing that when you leave him, you are being pawed at and he can do nothing to stop it. A monster would leave you here to rot, Princess, no matter how prettily you begged for escape.”
It silenced her, but the pain in her eyes only made him ache. That she could believe him so faithless twisted his heart, leaving him cold. After everything he had done. For nothing, if she could not trust him.
No—not for nothing. He had served his people, even if he had not served her. He still served them, though it comforted him not at all to know it when she looked at him as though he had struck her.
She had no choice but to replace his fetters and chain him again to the wall. Her father had not come to loosen his bonds, and so she did not dare leave him much slack. But even while she seethed, she could not bring herself to bind him too tightly. He stood stiff and straight and proud, watching her as she closed the iron cuffs around his wrists and willed it whole once more. She refused to meet his eyes.
No matter how prettily you begged…
Was that all it was between them? Pity rather than kindness? Desperation and manipulation and nothing more?
She left him inside the mirror and gathered her basket, taking the time to remove all trace of her presence in the tower room—almost habit, now. For a moment, she had believed in something else. She had thought that somehow she had won his respect, his approval. His warmth. For a moment, she had allowed herself to dream of a future built upon trust and freedom.
A foolish dream. They were too different, and she was too weak. He had made that plain with his talk of villages and elves. He did not want her but for the service she might provide him, freeing him from his cage. She was only an obligation upon his honor, a debt to be repaid as quickly as possible, that he
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