Lord Frax’mo is offering me a way out. Clover can be his wife’s pet, instead of annoying me and haunting my fortress.
Something makes me hesitate. I’m not sure what it is, and that irritates me more than the girl herself. I’m not quite ready to send Clover away. I really am losing it as I get older. Maybe it’s almost time to relinquish this fucking crown.
“No,” I decide. “The girl was a gift. I can always throw her in the dungeon if I get tired of looking at her. For now, I’ll just keep her as a pet.”
“I considered dumping her in the sea before we made it to Uzrirgard,” Lord Frax’mo chuckles. “But I’m sure Gutha would have gone in after her.”
“Probably,” I admit. “Alright, that’s all I needed to discuss. I’ll let you know if I change my mind.”
I end the call and sip my coffee while I wait for the next meeting to begin. After that, I’ll have to make sure my fortress is still standing.
I hope I don’t regret letting her wander around unattended.
CHAPTER 12
Clover
I didn’t spend much time looking around Zrogmul before I went to the library.
That’s where I am now, surrounded by more books than I’ve ever seen in one place. You could fit every book in Troona’s library on one of the massive bookcases lining the walls. They stretch so far, I couldn’t read them all if I had several lifetimes to sit in this room and do nothing but flip pages.
A lot of the books are so old I’m scared to touch them. Most are in orcish, which is indecipherable for me, but there are plenty of books Icanread. I’m not sure why King Lix’tuk has so many books written in the human tongue, but I’m grateful he does.
I’m currently reading a book about King Lix’tuk, oddly enough. It was written after The Great War by a human author who clearly didn’t agree with the Reparations Treaty. He compares it to slavery, pointing out that humans abolished it centuries ago. Guess he didn’t live long enough to see it becomeactualslavery, which it seems to have devolved into.
“King Lix’tuk was offered his choice of brides when the treaty was signed, but he declined, stating he’d never allow one to sour his bed,” I read aloud. “Much less marry one.”
The next chapter goes into detail about how humans are treated in Uzrirgard. How they used to be treated, at least. The Reparations Penalty is mentioned. It’s described as horrific and barbaric. He compares it to public flogging for criminals. Something that was deemed too cruel and abolished, just like slavery.
“Now humans don’t even care if you’re a criminal,” I mutter. “They’ll whip your entire family if you don’t let them sell you as a slave.”
I’m not sure how much of the book is true, and how much is just the author’s personal disdain for King Lix’tuk. There’s plenty of that. Chapters upon chapters laying out orc cruelty and horrible atrocities, including The Salting. Strangely, it doesn’t mention anything about the virus humans released or the bomb that opened a rift to the underworld.
“Weird,” I say. “Even the books in Troona didn’t leave that out.”
I don’t finish the book because I get bored reading page after page of hatred for orcs. I return it to the shelf, choose another one, and flip through it. It’s a book with fairy tales, and I’m familiar with a few of them. Since I was the only one who got to visit the library regularly, I used to tell some of these stories to Abigail.
Thinking about my little sister makes me feel a twinge of sadness. It doesn’t take much more to open the floodgates and I have to wipe my tears away once I start thinking about Rose. I have no idea what happened to my best friend, but I don’t thinkshe found her happily ever after with a wolf shifter. She may be living in a nightmare much worse than Zrogmul. Property of someone who is crueler than King Lix’tuk.
And truthfully, today hasn’t beenthatbad. I thought I was headed back to the whipping cross when I accidentally spit blackroot coffee all over the most powerful orc in Uzrirgard. That seemed to upset him less than my mere existence has so far.
But he’s been merciful. I can’t deny that. He chose to spank me instead of whipping me. My bottom is a little bruised, but I’ll recover. Much faster than I would have recovered if he’d cracked his whip fifty times.
I’m not sure if what happened after the spanking was an act of mercy, curiosity, or something more. I felt how he reacted when I was squirming on his lap. Men usually want to do more than just touch a girl when they’re aroused like that. Maybe orcs are different. Or maybe King Lix’tuk hates humans so much I would just sour his bed. He’d rather keep me as pet than ever allow that.
I continue down the row of shelves, looking over the books. I don’t get the chance to choose one before the library door opens and King Lix’tuk’s enormous frame darkens the doorway.
“So, this is where you ran off to,” he growls, walking into the library. “I didn’t realize you were educated enough to read.”
“I wasn’t allowed to attend school because I was second-born,” I say, turning to face him. “But my mother helped me teach myself to read. There wasn’t much else to do in Troona. They didn’t even let me work in the cactus fields.”
“Not much else to do here, either,” he rumbles. “But at least if you can read, you won’t get easily bored.”
“No, I don’t think I would ever get bored in here,” I admit.
“It’s time for lunch,” he says. “I lost my appetite for breakfast after I got coffee spat all over me, but I’m hungry now. Think you can revive a sandwich? You know what a sandwich is, right?”
“Yes, King Lix’tuk,” I say, a faint hint of a smile appearing before I can smother it. “Sorry again about the coffee.”
