Page 56 of The Orc Warrioress and the Elf Lord

“Oh, so I’m not good enough for you now?”

“The opposite,” he said. “I want an environment worthy of it. We’ve… it’s been… I’ve wanted it for so long that I want to do it justice. And you deserve that as well. You deserve comfort, not the cold ground at your back and my prodding at you. I can do better than this, warrioress.”

Her nostrils flared. “That’s an odd answer, my lord.”

“What if I…?” He leaned forward. “Attend to me, you are different than any woman I’ve ever met—”

“Which is why you want to fuck me,” she said.

“Yes, but also… I like being around you,” he said. “What if I was in love with you, too?”

“You’re not!”

“Well, I’ve never really been in love, I don’t think,” he said. “I might not really be aware of what it feels like, but I…” He lifted both of his shoulders. “I have been rather following you around, have I not?”

She got up and glared down at him. “What is wrong with you, truly? Why must you be so very, very horrible, Iahir? You could not be in love with me.”

“I could,” he countered, standing up, gesturing with the crust of bread he had left. “You think I’m incapable of it?”

“By your own admission, everyone is incapable of it,” she said.

“Yes, but then you pointed it out, didn’t you?” he said. “That people do manage it, your ashreg and his wife, after all. And I have seen it, too. I have seen it even amongst the nobility. It is rare, but there are men and women who are devoted to each other.”

“Well, we cannot… there is no future between us,” she said.

He thought that through and realized how entirely right she was. He ran a hand through his hair. “Perhaps we don’t do it at all, then. I think it might only end up very painful in the end if we do.”

She gasped at him. “You are serious?”

He reached for her. Realized he was holding the crust of bread. Tossed it. Reached for her again.

She flinched from his touch.

He let out a noise of frustration. He picked up her braid instead. He ran his thumb and forefinger over it. “You could… I do keep women, of course, all sorts of women.”

“I’ll not be your whore,” she breathed.

“No,” he said. “No, you certainly would not.” He let go of her braid.

“You are not in love with me,” she said. “And after you fuck me, you’ll see that. It is because I resisted you for too long, that is all. Once you have had me, you’ll get bored, as you say. You say all men get bored.”

He let out a breath. “Let’s focus on finding your mother. I’m certainly not doing it now.”

“I think I could convince you,” she said, coming closer, putting her hand on his crotch.

He stopped her. “Warrioress.” Perhaps he was mad, because his cock did twitch, and he was tempted, but…

She jerked her hand back. “Truly?”

He did not know what to say for himself. He felt stupid and strange and… and deep down, sort of frightened of losing her. He would rather have her company than her cunt, as strange as that sounded. “Not here,” he finally settled on. “And after we find your mother, of course, we shall be occupied, and… and… perhaps we leave this discussion, truly, and try not to dwell on it.”

She gave him an odd look, a rather terrified look, and she sat back down in front of the fire and began stuffing bread into her mouth and chewing.

GATHREN WAS A bit worried that he meant it.

She did not think he was really in love with her, but she began to worry that perhaps he really thought he was in love with her.

It might seem as if there was no distinction between such things, but what Gathren meant by it was that she knew he would never treat her the way she wanted to be treated, regardless of how in love with her he thought that he was. Of this, she was certain.