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I had no idea whether this was true or not. I had no idea if Abby wanted children or not. And I didn’t care. While I would enjoy little orclets to love and raise, I would also be happy with a child-free life as long as it was with Abby.

Eng recoiled, his eyes wide with horror. I felt victorious, and a little guilty that I’d so slandered Abby. Hopefully she would never find out that I’d said such a thing about her.

“Human medicine is very advance, is it not?” Eng asked. “Are there ways of overcoming infertility?”

Yes there were, according to my research.

“No,” I shot back. “Not this kind of infertility. She’ll never have children ever, so you’ll need to just find someone else to wed.”

Mountain gods, please forgive me for this terrible lie. Abby, please forgive me for this terrible lie.

I was sure I’d succeeded in turning Eng away from Abby, then he frowned and shot me a suspicious, narrow-eyed look.

“How do you know this? Humans generally do not volunteer their medical problems to relative strangers.”

But I wasn’t a stranger, I was a friend. And Abby had told me about her mother’s illness, confided in me so many things about herself. But Eng didn’t know that, and I knew confessing to him that I was in love with the human female wouldn’t dissuade him from pursuing her himself. In fact, it would probably just encourage him more. I looked over at Abby, my gaze lingering on her brown hair, so like a sgatma tree in spring.

“Ummm, Jordan told Ozar and he told me. That’s how I knew.”

It sounded lame.

Lame. That was another strange slang word here. What did a leg injury have to do with a weak explanation for something? Weak intellectual debate didn’t seem to equate to a weak physical issue.

Eng’s eyes narrowed. I knew he didn’t believe me, and that he was now even more determined to pursue Abby.

In desperation, I jutted out my chest and stepped close enough that my presence would be considered a threat to the other orc.

“You can’t have her. Find someone else.”

Eng smirked. “Or what?”

Once more, I saw red. Now I finally understood what the human term meant. Literally, my vision blurred, my anger truly coloring everything in front of me a shade of crimson. Before I could realize what I was doing, I’d hit Eng with an uppercut that knocked him clean off the bar stool and sent him crashing to the floor.

For a few seconds I’d thought I’d won. Then Eng scrambled to his feet and I braced myself to be beaten to a bloody pulp. Surprisingly I wasn’t afraid for my safety. Instead I was amused that Eng had a fried potato wedge stuck to the side of his head and dust clinging to his clothing.

Before the anticipated retaliation could occur, Ozar had grabbed Eng, pushing him backward and away from me. Glancing over his shoulder, Ozar whispered for me to run, while I still could.

I didn’t run. I was frozen in place, my hands still balled into fists with one of them aching like I’d punched a boulder. Damn, Eng had a tough jaw. How did that orc have such solid bones? It was absolutely unfair.

Humans and orcs were shouting. Humans backed away, while the orcs were rushing forward. Well, all the humans except for one were backing away. A curvy, beautiful brunette female was pushing past the orcs, her eyes almost slaying me with anger.

Just as Ozar had grabbed Eng, Abby grabbed me, her hands surprisingly strong on my arms as she pushed me backward.

“What are you doing?” she hissed. “Save it for the ice and the other team. You’re going to get kicked out of here, and that’s bad PR.” Abby let go of my arms and planted her fists firmly on her hips.

I felt myself deflate, become small and weak and so very embarrassed at my actions and what they might mean for this PR thing. “Abby, I am sorry,” I pleaded.

She tapped her foot, eyeing me expectantly.

“Eng was rude. He was…insulting a human female.”

Anger vanished from her eyes to be replaced by something that looked like…admiration? “You were defending a human female?”

“Yes.” I wanted to tell her it was her I was defending, but I worried that would require explanations of the conversation and the horrible things I’d said about her - things much worse than what Eng had said. The other orc had only intended to woo her, where I’d slandered her suitability as a princess and had made assumptions about her fertility.

“Bwat, that’s…that’s sweet.” She smiled and I melted. Then her expression turned stern once again and she waggled a finger at me. “Not that it totally excuses fighting in a bar. But I guess I could spin it if I needed to. Although paining Eng as a villain might not be the best approach. Or it might be. People love a good villain. I mean, look at Loki and Dexter. Although I probably shouldn’t compare Eng to a Norse god of chaos or a serial killer. Still, Bwat, Defender of Women, is a good take. I should go with that.”

Very little of what she said made any sense to me, but I smiled and nodded as if I understood her.