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The orc guard looks confused, but I am building up steam and I continue, “Me, for example. Why can I not exist without some male claiming me? Putting the stamp of ownership on me and wanting to take away all my freedom and independence? And wrapping it all up in the trappings oflove.” I sneer at the last word, unable to keep my feelings out of my voice.
“That’s not what Claiming is. Or love,” responds Korovi, voice stern. His words are an eerie echo of Verrick's last night and they make me explode.
“Yes, it is! Do you think I don’t know whatclaimingis? I have had one male alreadyclaimme. He put his mark on my body and soul, shoved me into a backwater manor so that he could see me whenever he wished, do whatever he wished. Like I was a doll! Some object for him to put away or take out of a cabinet whenever he desired! Nothing was my own. I existed for his pleasure and nothing else! I was owned as surely as a slave, with as many rights over my body as one. And always as he took me and used me, he would speak of love! That is what claiming is! It is a prison without bars and without hope! I was only free when he died!”
My voice rings out through the empty yard, my voice having grown louder than I was expecting. But all my feelings rushed out like poison from a wound and I do not think I could have stopped it if I tried.
There is a small, awkward silence between Korovi and me, my words hanging in the air when Korovi says, carefully, “That may be what claiming is among humans. But that is not how it is with orcs.”
Deflated after my rant, I have no energy to argue with him. “What do you mean?” I ask, exasperated that he seems like he wasn’t listening.
But Korovi says, “Claiming among my people is an act of trust. It binds us to another person, not the other way around.”
“That makes no sense.”
The orc nods and continues, “That may be so. But it is true. When orcs Claim another, it makes it so that we can only have children with that chosen partner. If that partner leaves, we suffer the wasting sickness, but the non-orc is just fine. It makes us vulnerable in ways that we are not without the Claim. Even so, in our souls, we feel the call to do so. You could say that rather than us Claiming our mates, we are asking them to Claim us, to make us theirs. That is what the Claiming bite is.”
His words rock through me. I had heard of orc Claiming mates before, but never had the effects been laid out so plainly before me. Is he right? Is that what Verrick was asking? To be made mine, to give himself to me in an act of trust?
But Korovi is not done. “And love . . . itisa prison. But not one that you would ever willingly leave. It is a wealth of feeling that makes it so that you place another’s happiness above your own, where you would sacrifice all that you are and would ever be so that the one you love can be safe and happy. Whatever feeling that other male had for you . . . it was not love or he would have let you go rather than see you suffer. His words were lies, maybe even to himself.”
I feel like I can’t breathe. It’s like Korovi has looked into my soul and ripped open wounds I didn’t even know that I had. If Yorian’s love was a lie . . . if it wasn’t love, no matter what he said . . . does that mean that Verrick . . . does he love me the way Korovi described? Is that what he meant?
I think of Verrick feeling like that about me and I begin feeling a longing and . . . guilt. I rejected him in no uncertain terms. I told him that he was like Yorian, that his wanting to Claim me ruined everything between us. But if he meant it the way Korovi is saying that he did . . . it changes everything.
I open my mouth to respond, though I do not know what I am going to say, when suddenly Friza enters the backyard where we are, flanked on either side by two orcs I don’t recognize.Her eyes are ablaze and everything about her posture says that something is wrong.
She looks at me and points.
“Take her,” Friza orders and the two orcs hurry toward me, only to be stopped by Korovi. I shrink back, alarmed. What is happening?
“Stand down Korovi,” orders Friza, colder and with more steel than I have ever seen her.
“I’ve been ordered by the Warchief to protect the regent. I will do that even against you.” Korovi growls.
“Those orders are forfeit. Move aside, or I will move you.” Friza glares at Korovi.
I break in, trying to diffuse the situation, all the years of diplomacy that have been hammered into me coming to play. “Can we not sort this out peacefully? What is going on? I can help without being detained.” Internally, I am fuming. I reject Verrick’s Mating Claim and he sends Friza to do this to me? Was I wrong about him? So soon after Korovi convinced me I might have been in the wrong?
Friza ignores me, pulling out an ax, and Korovi does the same.
“My orders can only be countermanded by the Warchief himself. He made me swear an Oath, Friza.”
The orcress winces. “Be that as it may, I am taking the regent. Now.”
She launches herself toward my protector and steel rings out against steel. This is madness! What is making Friza act this way?
Korovi feints and attacks with the butt of his weapon, obviously going for a non-lethal blow, but Friza parries and attacks with the blade, not holding his same compunctions. Then the other two orcs join in and it is Korovi against three. He is skilled, one of the most skilled fighters I’ve ever witnessed, but even he will not survive such an onslaught.
“Stop!” I cry. “Stop it! I will go with you willingly. Korovi, stand down and let them take me!”
This halts the battle for a moment, long enough for my protector to be distracted and Friza launches forward, bringing the butt of her ax down on the back of Korovi’s neck, who crumples. I cry out, going toward him, but am stopped by the two orcs who are now on either side of me, grabbing my arms in iron grips.
“He needs a healer!” I exclaim, looking at Friza.
She regards me with cold eyes, eyes that almost seem to have hatred in them. “He’ll be fine.” Still, she glances at one of her companions and jerks her head. “Take him to the healer’s and then detain him when he wakes. I can’t have him interrupting.” Friza turns back to me. “There. He’s not the one you should worry about, anyway.”
“What is the meaning of this?” I seethe. “I want to see Warchief Verrick now! This is utter nonsense.”
