Don’t be ridiculous. He’s an orc. A bloody orc!
And I didn’t know whether he was a good one or a bad one.
Don’t be silly. There’s no such thing as a good orc. They’re monsters… aren’t they?
I lifted my chin, teeth clenched, trying to ignore the magnetic pull.
He watched me, not leering, not hungry, but assessing, like he was trying to solve a puzzle.
“I want to go back,” I said, my voice hard.
He tilted his head. “To the keep?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll die if you go wandering out there on your own.”
“That’s not your concern.”
Something flickered in his expression. Amusement? Annoyance? Or was there a hint of desire, mirroring my own?
No. Not that. Impossible.
“You owe me a debt.”
I went still. “What?”
“Orc law. I spared your life. It belongs to me now.”
I gaped at him. “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
He didn’t blink. “Human rules are stupid. Orc laws are straightforward. You belong to me.”
My fists curled in the furs, longing to connect with his flesh, to feel his strength. I wanted to throw something—anything—to shatter this strange, intoxicating tension. My boots, the knife near his foot, the pendant he wore like a war token.
I imagined hurling them like a maniac.
Instead, I took a long breath and said, as calmly as I could, “What do you want from me?”
His eyes didn’t leave mine, and I knew, somehow, that he saw everything I tried to hide, every yearning that simmered beneath the surface. “Nothing you aren’t already giving.”
“Hmph. You have a name at least, don’t you,savior?”
“Gorran.” He offered it like a token, a small coin from the bag of a wealthy man, something precious but given far too easily.
Gorran.It was a strong name. An unfamiliar name. Orc, not human. It resonated deep within my bones, even though I didn’t want it to.
“And you?”
I considered being stubborn, withholding my name just to spite him, but that would be pointless. He’d get it out of me eventually, and for now, I didn’t want him to go around calling megirlor something equally stupid.
“Mira,” I grated.
“Mira.” He curled my name across his tongue, shaping it with his Orc accent, and suddenly, it was transformed into something less than ordinary.
For just amoment.
And secretly, quietly, I shuddered.
