It takes Korr a while for his knot to release, and when it does, we both require a thorough cleaning, which has me blushing and Korr humming appreciatively as he sees his cum running down the insides of my thighs.
“I will give you many babies,” he tells me, his expression solemn. “As many as you’d like.”
He turns away from me and picks up his washed shirt before I have a chance to respond, and I’m left staring at his back. He moves around the small room, setting it to rights before our departure.
Babies.
It’s a thought I haven’t allowed myself to consider, especially not in the year since my husband’s death. I’d always thought we’d get them eventually, but when it didn’t happen in the first six months after our wedding, he turned to another woman.
I didn’t know if that was the cause, I only told myself it was. But now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I believe he would have been unfaithful even if I’d given him a whole house full of children. He just wasn’t loyal to me, and I’m glad we didn’t bring a child into this world who would have had to mourn the loss of his father with me.
But to be thinking of having babies with Korr… It’s much too soon.
The moment we arrive at the Hill, I will have to seek out their herbalist, Taris, not only to learn the secret of her healing balm but to ask her for the tea that will allow me to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. I’m too close to my monthly courses right now to worry about what Korr and I just did, but I will have to take care of it in the future. If the orcs don’t use the tea, I’ll mix the herbs myself. I only hope they have all the ingredients.
Biting my lip, I wonder what to say to Korr about this, then decide on the truth.
“Korr?”
He turns to me, his pack ready in his hands.
“I have to tell you something,” I say.
He drops the pack and steps closer to me. “What is it?”
“I don’t want children. Not yet.” I clench my hands in front of me. “I’m not even certain I can have them. With my husband, it never happened. I mean, it might be different with you, but I’d still like to wait. A while. Maybe years.”
I’m speaking faster and faster, trying to get the words out and bracing for his censure and disappointment at the same time. If he wanted a mate to give him a family, I might not be the woman for him after all.
But Korr only smiles and reaches for me.
“Oof.” I find myself pressed to a hard chest, the laces of Korr’s tunic tickling my cheek.
“I will gladly have only you,” he says. “Forever, if that’s how you want it. Do not worry about this, little witch. Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”
Gods, I wish I had his confidence in the world. I don’t believe for one moment that things will go my way, but I hug him back anyway and cling on to him for strength.
When I eventually pull back, I duck my head to hide my wet eyes from him. “How far will we have to walk to reach the Hill?” I ask.
Korr lets out a long breath. “It will take us most of the day. But you will not be doing any walking.”
I jerk my head up. “What?”
He motions at my legs, which are bare apart from his wool socks and sticking out from under his tunic, then hands me his wool jacket. “Until we find you something better to wear, I will carry you.”
I splutter and protest, but by the time Korr shuts the tree hut against the elements and lowers me to the ground using his climbing rope, I realize there’s no point arguing. The fresh snow reaches past my knees, and the air is bitter cold. If I tried walking without shoes, I would not only slow us down but lose all my toes to frostbite.
So I allow Korr to wrap a blanket around my shoulders and heft me into his strong arms. He grins down at me, then takes off into the forest, his gait steady. His legs eat the distance easily, his big boots sinking deep into the snow.
“Will I meet your family at the Hill?” I ask.
Korr is silent for a long while before he replies, “Yes, you will meet my brother. Marut. I have no other family.” He pauses a little, then adds, “Well, I have some cousins. You will meet them, too, but Marut is my closest relative.”
Marut. I repeat the name in my head, not wanting to forget it.
“Are you two close?” I prompt when he doesn’t say anything else.
Korr’s exhale steams in the air between us. “No.”
“Oh.” I don’t want to pry, but I’m also curious, so I ask, “Which one of you is older?”
“He is my twin,” Korr says. “Older by minutes, though.”
“That’s good,” I say. “Twins have a special bond.”
“Not us,” he retorts, his expression dark. “We never got along well.” He pauses and looks down at me. “He is the one who chipped my tusk.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I always wished for siblings, but my mother couldn’t have any more children after me.”
She was well past thirty when it happened, too, even though she’d married my father at twenty-six. It’s one of the reasons why I think I might not be able to have any of my own—or why it might be difficult for me to conceive. My parents called me their surprise baby, and they’d loved me. So much.
“Siblings can be difficult,” Korr says glumly. “But I have many friends who will be happy to see I have found a mate.”
I squeeze his arm, not wanting to delve deeper into a topic that seems to be painful for him. Despite Korr’s reticence, I hope I’ll meet Marut, if nothing else than to observe how they interact. I want to know what makes Korr tick, and his relationship with his brother must be a large part of that.
As the day wears on, I get colder and colder in Korr’s arms, to the point where he decides to stop and make a fire for lunch, allowing me to stretch out my stiff limbs and get warm. He eyes me with worry and fusses with my blanket, then sits at my back so I’m surrounded by his heat.
“I will have to make sure you are well protected in the Hill,” he murmurs, lips pressed to my hair. “Or I will worry constantly when I’m away.”
I half turn to peer at him. “Will you be away a lot?”
Korr tightens his arms around me. “It is my job, little witch. I’m a hunter. A tracker. And I travel with the caravans when they head to the capital to trade.”
It takes me a moment to process this. “So you would leave me at the Hill?”
He rubs his cheek against my temple. “Not by choice. I would keep you by my side always. But life on the road isn’t suitable for a human. Especially not in the colder months.”
Frowning, I disentangle myself from him so I can look him in the eyes. He seems conflicted, but there’s a stubborn tilt to his eyebrows, and he clenches his jaw so hard a muscle pops in his cheek. Something is going on, but I can’t figure it out if he won’t tell me about it.
Still, I’m not certain I have the right to interrogate him—and even less to demand that he change the way he lives his life because of me. He saved my life, twice, and now he’s taking me to his home.
“There is much to like at the Hill,” he says, clearly wanting to soothe me. “You will meet Mara and Dawn, and all the other women. Make friends. You said you were an apprentice healer, yes? You could work with Taris or Samm, our human surgeon.”
I nod, because what else can I do? But a lump forms in my stomach, a ball of tension that grows with every step Korr takes toward the Hill once we start on our way again.
I thought we’d be in this together. He said he’d never leave me, didn’t he? Now it seems he didn’t mean that literally. Once more, I’ll be unmoored, left without protection, and despite Korr’s assurances that I will like the Hill and its inhabitants, I have no way of knowing whether they’ll accept me any more than the villagers who knew me since birth did.
My throat closes up, and I barely keep the despair away.
I’ll be alone again.
