The headline punches me in the gut.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: Librarian's "Weird Attraction" to Orc Helper Raises Eyebrows
Lacy goes rigid against me. "What is it?"
I can't speak. Can't move. Just stare at the words crawling across the screen like insects.
While some applaud the cultural exchange program, others question whether romantic entanglements between speciescross a line. Yesterday's cozy photos of Ellis and her orc volunteer sparked heated debate. "It's unnatural," commented one concerned citizen. "What's next, legitimizing these relationships in our schools?"
The article includes photos. Me reading to the kids. Lacy's hand in mine. A zoomed-in shot of us standing close, her looking up at me with that soft expression I treasure.
Now it looks tainted. Wrong. Like evidence in some case I didn't know was being built.
"Let me see." Lacy takes the phone. Her face drains of color as she reads. "Oh god."
"It's fine." My voice sounds hollow even to my own ears. "Just a blogger. People with nothing better to do."
"Stone." She scrolls down. "There are comments. Hundreds of them."
I don't want to look. Can't stop myself. The words blur together, vicious and clinical at once.
Gross. Keep that stuff private at least.
I don't care what consenting adults do but do we really need to celebrate this?
My tax dollars funded a program so she could find a boyfriend? Unbelievable.
Orcs are fine but this is taking integration too far. There are boundaries.
My stomach churns. I set the phone down carefully, afraid I'll crush it otherwise. "I should go. Get ready for the review."
"Stone, wait." Lacy grabs my arm. "Don't let this get in your head. It's garbage. Hateful garbage from people who don't even know us."
"They know enough." The words taste bitter. "They see an orc and a human. That's all it takes."
"That's not all we are."
"To them it is." I pull away gently. "I need to shower. Clear my head before the meeting."
In the bathroom, I peer at my reflection. Green skin. Scars mapping my jaw and temple. Eyes that my mother once said were kind but humans see as threatening. I've spent years trying to be unthreatening. Gentle. Useful. Invisible when it mattered.
But love makes you visible. And visibility makes you a target.
The water scalds my shoulders. I stand under the spray until Lacy knocks.
"Tess called," she says through the door. "She's handling it. Putting out a statement."
Tess. Lacy's PR friend who still views me with polite skepticism. Of course she's jumping in. This affects Lacy's business. Her reputation. Everything she's worked for.
I killed that with one public display of affection.
Tess arrives thirty minutes later,laptop under one arm, phone already pressed to her ear. She's compact and sharp, dark hair pulled back severe, blazer crisp despite the early hour.
"No, I'm not commenting on speculation," she says into the phone. "The partnership between Ellis Books and the cultural exchange program is professional and community focused. That's the story."
She hangs up. Looks at me. "You're trending locally. Congratulations."
"Tess." Lacy's voice carries warning.
