I found Brovish in the medical bay.
He’d showered and pulled his damp hair back, which meant I could see the full line of his jaw and the way his tusks caught hisupper lip when he concentrated. He was reorganizing the supply cabinet—the one I’d already organized last week.
“Good morning,” I said from the doorway.
He turned fast enough that the cabinet door swung shut, making a bang. His eyes found mine and held, and the air between us shifted into a frequency I couldn’t name but felt in my teeth.
“You’re back.”
“I said I would be.”
“You did.” He set down the box he’d been holding, and I followed his hands, remembering how carefully they’d checked the twins and how they’d cradled my face before he’d kissed me. “I was…ensuring everything was prepared for the day.”
“You were reorganizing my cabinet.”
His ears darkened. “I thought perhaps a different arrangement would be more efficient.”
“More efficient than the system I set up already?”
“Yours was…” His gaze dropped to my mouth before jerking back up. “Very organized.”
I walked closer.
He didn’t step back.
We stood with the exam table between us, the scent of antiseptic filling the space.
“Brovish.”
“Yes?”
“Did you sleep much last night?”
His jaw worked. “Some.”
“How much is some?”
“Perhaps an hour.” He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, the gesture pulling his shirt tight across his shoulders. “Duchess Filandrawas displeased with your absence. She expressed this displeasure at length.”
“Just Duchess Filandra?”
His long sigh rang out. “Not just the duchess.”
My pulse kicked up.
“I kept thinking about the cave,” I said. “About waking up and you were—We were?—”
“Laina.”
“Yes?”
“May I—” He took a breath. “In my culture, when orcs court someone, there are customs. Gifts. Proper words. But I don’t know the right words for what I want to ask, and I don’t want to ask it incorrectly.”
“Ask anyway.”
He came around the exam table and stopped close enough that I had to tip my head back to hold his gaze.
“May I kiss you again?” His voice had dropped to a bare whisper. “Here, in daylight, when we’re not cold or frightened or tending creatures who need us. May I kiss you because it’s all I’ve thought about since you drove away?”
