"They respect you? Because you have power?"
I shook my head. "My father gave me in marriage."
Her eyes were spilling tears, and she clasped my hand. "I'm so sorry."
It was strange, having someone else cry over me. I hadn't cried. My father hadn't cried. A stranger shouldn't care more than me. Something tightened in my chest, but I couldn't break here, couldn't give in to tears in front of the orcs on the road. "I'm fine," I got out. "He's kind enough."
She didn't reply, just held my hand tight.
Khal strode back towards us. "We should get moving," he said. "They've already lost too much of the day, if they're going to reach the next town. We too will be traveling after dark."
The woman stepped in front of me. She was shaking. "Let me help the girl."
Khal frowned. "She's fine. We take care of her."
"Wherever you are going, she should arrive there dressed. Let me trade her a frock that'll cover her properly. Please."
Khal blinked, opened his mouth, shut it. I stayed very still. He looked at me. "If she wants, then."
Inside the wagon, two of the smaller children climbing around, and she opened a box. The dress there was blue, simple fabric, but clearly well-kept. I pulled off Thea's overdress, worn and earth-stained. "I'm sorry about the state of this. I hope you're able to find a use for it."
"Don't worry about that." Her mouth made a tight line. She pulled the blue frock over my head. It fit loosely over the bust, but I almost filled it at the hip. "There. You'll look decent, wherever you go." Her hand shook, just a little. "I suppose there isn't time to brush out your hair."
"I'll do it later. Thank you."
She nodded. Her eyes were rimmed in red. I fastened my belt around my waist, the pouch with the guard's stolen purse clinking against my thigh.
Moving again off the road into the trees, Khal was stoic, quiet. He was probably angry, but he didn't show any signs of using this dress for bandages, so I'd still be better off than I had been. One of the orcs had already bartered for rags for Tyralk. If my husband was still angry and I needed to grovel later…I tasted bile. No, I was doing well. I was escaping. I was so close.
"Rowena."
I startled. Khal was walking next to me. I couldn't read anger in his face. "Yes? Khal?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that among humans the standard of dress was…stricter."
"Is it different among orcs?"
"It is. It is not uncommon for our women to wear trousers if the situation requires it, or to have a skirt above the knee."
Perhaps this was the origin of some of the talk of them being unrestrained barbarians, if their people wore so little. I felt odd. Khal must have, in his life, seen a wide variety of legs, then.
"Regardless, I should have spoken with you instead of acting on my own. You are among strangers, and you…were not raised an orc." His brow was yet furrowed. A weight seemed on his shoulders, and I found myself wanting to comfort this man I'd been nauseous with fear of.
"I've endured worse," I murmured, and he flinched. "My life will not be defined by showing a few orcs my knees."
"But you should not be enduring anything from us." He hesitated. He went into the Ka Morth, and it took me a moment to catch up. "...my father keeps few secrets. My mother is one who shows her displeasure at once. It had not occurred to me that you might not be…ready to say such things to me."
I untangled that. “What do you want me to say?”
That seemed to bother him more. He looked up at me. “What you need to, Rowena.”
Up ahead, a yelp and a curse rang out. Tyralk had tripped. Khal ran to him. The younger orc was laughing, but there was pain in his eyes.
For his sake, we needed to reach the enclave faster. We? I chided myself.Theyneeded to reach the enclave. I needed to be long gone when that happened, away from their hostility and their laughter and Khal's confusingly gentle eyes.
He slung the younger orc's pack up on his back, on top of his.
My stomach growled. What was it he'd said, that powers awakening meant needing more food? What did that even mean? I felt like I could eat a draft horse, but that could be from all this walking. I'd never walked this much in my life. But I was getting stronger. I'd be able to fend for myself.
