"Rowena," Khal said, ignoring them. "You should eat more." He pulled Tyralk's pack off, opened his own.
"Fine, be like that!" The browed one hollered. "Ignore me as soon as you find someone pretty…"
Someone had roasted some smaller birds, and Khal got me half of one. It seemed like we were continuing to converse with each other and leave the other orcs outside. The meat was hot in my fingers. "So there were many, then?" I said. "Back with your people?"
"Many what?" He took a bite of his.
"Other women."
Khal choked. About half the rest broke into laughter.
Tyralk was leaning on his crutch, gasping."Yes,Khal, were there many? Were they lining up?" His chortle sounded like he was wrenching up his lungs. "Were you among the conquests?"
"Shut up, Tyralk." Khal was not looking at me. "I don't tell Shirrah when you get the shits on a patrol." His cheek was darkening, and the back of his neck.
"Did I say something wrong?" I looked up at Gnarlak, back to Khal. "Is that not…how this works? With your people?"
Tyralk was still laughing. "Yeah, he had twenty wives and sixty concubines. Gods, Khal, what have you been telling her at night?"
"Orcs are like humans, little flame-thrower," Gnarlak drawled. "We take one mate, unless the worst happens."
"I misspoke," I croaked. "I meant courtship."
"They were fighting!" Tyralk yelled. "It was a blood bath! Five dozen of our women died?—"
Someone shoved Tyralk. He toppled off the crutch, and suddenly everything was chaos, yelling and pulling him up. While they rushed and pulled and yelled, Khal answered me.
"...no." Khal cleared his throat. "No, there were no…others."
Adrenaline coursed through me. "I meant no offense."
He spoke in the Ka Morth. "None was taken."
Things quieted, but the focus seemed to be off of us for a bit, a chance to take a breath.
"What about you?" he asked, still in the Ka Morth. "Was there someone else?"
A strange question for someone who'd had my blood on his body. "No," I said. "There was no one to love there."
I was less exhausted tonight, which was odd, with everything that had happened. Maybe I was getting stronger. Still the warmth here was drowsy, soothing. Something occurred to me. "How do you know the Ka Morth?" I asked.
He was setting the bones of his half of the bird in front of him, a pattern I didn't follow. "My father taught me." He laid the little wing bones out.
I leaned on my knees. "How does an orc chieftain know the old language?"
"My father isn't an orc chieftain."
“But you said…” What had he said? And why did I think it was my place to ask him?
“Myfatheris not a chieftain," he repeated. "My mother is."
I blinked, letting this sink in.
"I am Khal, Drazha's son."
"Then who is your father?"
It was his turn to blink. "You couldn't tell?" He gestured to his face. "My father is human."
