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“So your father did that on the chasing trip?”
Shaking my head again, I say, “It wasn’t that simple. How much do you know about the king before Rognar?”
Marvik shrugs. “Not much. Just that he was more warlike and ruled with an iron fist. There were rumors of tortures and executions like there were under Yorian in Adrik. His son was considered a gentler, weaker orc when he took the throne.”
I bristle a little at his words. Rognar isnotweak. He is one of the strongest orcs I know. He overthrew a tyrant and has undone decades of abuse in Orik, challenging the toxic ideals of his forebears. He has righted wrongs and brought peace and prosperity to a kingdom and people that knew only war.
I don’t have time to be offended though, as Marvik just shrugs again and says, “Obviously those rumors were wrong,since your king crushed our invasion with barely any effort. And there are more kinds of strength than force of arms; Adalind taught me that.”
I relax a little at his acknowledgement. I remark, “Well, your rumors weren’t completely wrong. Therewas a tyrant on the throne of Orik and the king before him as well. They got it into their heads that Claiming mates was weak foolishness, that orcs should be trying to have as many children as they could with as many partners as they could in a quest to have the strongest offspring possible and not risk the wasting sickness. They outlawed Claiming with the Mating Bite.”
Marvik raises his eyebrows. “But you said that it is something as necessary as food or air.”
“It is,” I say, moving on with my story, “and when my father brought my mother back he fought constantly against the urge, theneed, to Claim my mother. The punishment for ignoring the order of the king was . . . severe. After I was born, however, my mother got sick. She almost died from the illness and it took her a whole year to be well again. After that, my father decided he loved my mother and didn’t care about the consequences. He wanted to be as close to her as possible, that if they died without experiencing a full mating that it would be his greatest regret. So he gave her his bite. As soon as it was found out, he was immediately stripped of all his power and position and banished from the capital. So I grew up in a small village in the mountains filled with others exiled for the same reason. It was a hard life, a meager living, but it was full of warmth and support.”
“So no regrets from your parents?”
I laugh at the idea. “My parents are absurdly happy. All their years of scraping by in the exile village were nothing in the face of the contentment they found with each other. And when Rognar took the throne, all the exiled were pardoned and could return home again, though maybe not to the same positions as before. He didn’t want to ruffle too many feathers as there were other orc families that took the exiled orc’s place in their absence. Still, their story has ahappy end.”
Until they lost their only child, never to know what happened to her, I finish silently, guilt welling up in me again. But as I look at the man in front of me, safe and whole, I find the guilt quiets a little. There is solace in myAsh’ka’s presence, even if we aren’t mated. Now that we are not at odds, at least. Probably similar to the comfort my parents took in each other when they suffered their own losses. I was right. Talking of them, even with the twinges of pain and guilt, was cathartic and made me feel closer to my parents than I have in a while.
Marvik shakes his head and stands, wiping his hands on his trousers as he does so. “It’s a good tale,” he remarks, “and you tell it well. I would say that your father is a lucky orc in many ways.”
That brings me up short. ‘What do you mean?”
“You said he was lucky that your mother experienced the Recognition so they could be together, and he was, but I think he was equally lucky that they weren’t at war and he didn’t take her like he wanted to at first.”
“Why?”
Marvik gives me a bemused look. “Your mother sounds strong and stubborn. If your father had kidnapped her, I very much doubt she would have submitted to him, even once her Recognition hit.”
I absorb what he says silently. He is most likely right; my mother is stubborn and deceptively delicate-looking. Underneath her healer's hands she has the heart of a warrior. Certainly many other orc matings fail because they start with a traditional Bride Chase. My mind shifts back to Gunag, sparing a little pity for my friend and comrade. But I cannot help but read into what Marvik is saying. Is he saying that all relationships with a bad beginning are doomed to fail? Our relationship certainly had the worst beginning I can think of. I almost killed him, for fuck’s sake. Are we doomed to fail? Is this fragile bond we are working towards destined to snap and tear asunder?
Oblivious to my turbulent thoughts, Marvik holds out his hand and pulls me up to standing. Without warning, he kisses me, warm and sweet and my thoughts vanish for a moment like smoke in the wind.
He pulls back from me and says, “Thank you for answering all my questions, huntress. You’ve given me much to think about.”
Instantly my wariness is back. What can he mean? I want to ask and at the same time I am afraid of the response.
So, like a coward, I merely nod and say, “You’re welcome.”
My lover smiles at my words and then, bright and quick, kisses me again. “Shall we retire, then?” His words are clear in their double-meaning, but though I try to swallow down my unease and dismiss it as foolishness, I cannot.
I shake my head and say, “Not tonight. I find I am quite tired.”
Marvik’s face shifts to a look of concern. He brushes my hair back from my forehead and feels the skin there. I almost laugh at the gesture. Orcs run hotter than humans as a rule. If I had a fever, he wouldn’t be able to tell. “I thought that orcs do not get tired. Are you feeling ill?” His hands are gentle and his eyes grave as he looks at me.
I force a small smile and say, “I am well. Just tired, like I said. Any being of flesh and bone can get tired under the right circumstances.”
He looks at me searchingly for another few moments, then says softly, “You make me wish we had this Mating Bond, so that I can know what you are truly thinking. You are too good at hiding your thoughts, Dura.”
I take in a sharp intake of breath, his words shocking me. Surely, he cannot mean them. Shaking my head, I try to dismiss them with a joke. “That would be a shit reason to become forever mated, just so you could know what I was thinking.”
He smiles a little at the tease in my words, but then goes back to being thoughtful. “Perhaps,” he replies, giving my hand a squeeze. “Perhaps not. But for now, let us go to bed. I hear that my lover is tired.”
That makes me genuinely smile for a moment and I roll my eyes at him, before letting him lead me to bed.
Chapter 19
