“I’m so, so sorry, Honey,” I whispered, feeling more connected to her than ever. “But things are going to get better for all of us now.”
“They will,” Grat promised firmly.
“We’ll take her with us, won’t we?” I asked, and he nodded.
“She saved your life,” he said. “I’m forever indebted to her now.”
He padded closer, crouched next to me, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
Honey darted a cautious glance at the big, scary orc, tensing a little. But she kept her head on my knee, trusting me to keep her out of harm.
“Shh, sweetie,” I cooed gently, petting her head soothingly. “Grat won’t hurt you. He won’t let anyone hurt us, either. We’re safe now, both you and I.”
“No one will hurt my girls,” Grat vowed.
I leaned against him, feeling warm, safe, and loved. Here at his side, I’ve finally found where I belonged.
EPILOGUE
GRAT
Two weeks later.
“Khala?” I looked around the corner of our house at the open space under an awning where my beloved bride had set up a workshop.
All her tools were here, as well as a few of the framed pictures drawn by Rolly, her late stepson. I had hung the rest of his drawings in the house for her.
Khala spent a considerable amount of time in her workshop during the day, forging and hammering metals, sawing wood, and doing whatever her heart desired. One of her first projects in the keep had been building a warm, spacious doghouse for Honey, our water dog that Khala found in the creek by our hunting cabin. She also named the dog’s sole surviving puppy Sugar.
Agor and I just shook our heads at those names. Between Khala and Becca, I started to believe that humans saw water dogs differently somehow. No orc would name their fierce predator dogs Honey, or Sugar, or Dumpling.
But it stuck somehow. Now, I couldn’t imagine any other names for either of them.
Honey was napping on a blanket by her doghouse. Sugar was playing with her mother’s tail when she saw me, then she went for my ankle instead.
“No, bad girl, Sugar.” I freed my pant leg from the puppy's sharp little teeth, then lifted her by the scruff and put her back with her mother.
As well-behaved as the mother was, her young pup still needed a lot of training.
“Khala?” I called again, but she wasn’t here.
The forge was cold, meaning Khala hadn’t even started it this morning when I’d left right after breakfast for a meeting with Agor.
Another place where Khala spent a lot of time lately was the bank of the river just outside of the keep. That was where I headed to next.
I found my woman by the water, sitting on a fallen tree trunk by a huge barrel erected on thick log stilts. An open scroll with a drawing was spread on her lap.
“There you are.” I slipped behind her and wrapped my arms around her middle.
She squeaked in surprise, then relaxed against my chest with a soft giggle.
“You found me.”
“I missed you.” I kissed her face. “What are you doing here all alone?”
“I wasn’t alone until just now. A whole bunch of people were here earlier this morning. See? We got the water tower up.” She pointed at the giant barrel on stilts.
“Looks good,” I said without really looking at the thing. Nuzzling her neck was much more exciting.
