Page 107 of The Orc Warrioress and the Elf Lord

“I am Magnus,” said Adalir. “The one who took your orc woman, that was Malik. As you say, he is not entirely stable. He has too much of the pain in him. We rely on him to take the difficult parts of life, you see.”

Perhaps Iahir did see. Perhaps that sounded like a refuge. Perhaps he sometimes wished… well, perhaps everyone did this to a degree, created little personas. When Iahir was fighting, for instance, he wasn’t the same Iahir who was making love or the same Iahir who was begging his father to understand.

“I am the most together part of him,” said Adalir. “I am aware of everyone and everything. When things need to be kept in check, I am the one who steps in.” He tilted his head to the side. “However, you should understand that your father was correct, that there is no danger of the orc army coming.”

“No, I know. She told me.”

“You went after her.” Adalir looked him over. “But you did not bring her back.”

“How could I? This is no place for her,” said Iahir.

“You could have gone with her,” said Adalir. “Staying here is foolish. Father says—”

“I must stay here,” said Iahir. “Father is not capable of controlling you, and you are not capable of controlling yourself—”

“Staying here,” said Adalir, “is foolish. You will be in danger. You will endanger all of us.”

“I will endanger all of us?” said Iahir, shaking his head at his brother. “You are entirely out of your head.”

“Malik protected the family and protected the city,” said Adalir. “Perhaps it was needlessly, but he will put these things first. You, on the other hand, where are your loyalties, Iahir?”

“Here,” said Iahir.

“How could they be?” said Adalir. “No one in this family has ever prioritized you. Why would you ever think to put us first?”

“No one has put you first either!”

“Well,” said Adalir, “I have never been sent away, either.”

Iahir sighed. He walked away, leaving Adalir to gaze out at the ocean. He could not leave.

GATHREN MISSED HIM.

She had been through this before, though, a broken heart, a lost love. There had been a number of men who had not wanted her the way she had wanted them. This was different, but in some ways it was the same, and she knew how it would go.

She would think of him.

Constantly.

Every time she would think of him, it would hurt, so she would try to distract herself from thinking of him, but she would continue to think of him, and the hurt would go on and on.

She decided it was best to embrace the pain.

She needed to grow accustomed to the feeling of his absence, that was all. Once she did, it would hurt less, and then eventually, it would be commonplace, and it would not hurt unless she reminded herself that it was supposed to.

The next day, she was sent off with the letter from Hathrak and with another orc escort.

It was less than a day’s journey back to the capital. So, she wasn’t expecting things to go wrong.

When they stopped to eat their midday meal, the orc escort, whose name was Malrith, leered at her in that way that men sometimes leered at her, and she was tired, so tired of all of that.

“It’s been a while for me,” said Malrith, waggling his eyebrows at her.

“Well, I appreciate that,” she said. “But you must see that, for me, one of the few women in a company of soldiers, I would have more attention than I know what to do with.”

“Oh, well, then, what’s that to mean?”

“Only that I am very tired, and I don’t want to be propositioned right now, and that it is broad daylight.”