I snap my shoulders back and straighten my spine without even consciously deciding to do it. Suddenly, I’m back at our parents’ house in my mind, with my brother gazing at me, disapproving as always. The urge to rush over to him and apologize for making him follow me here is strong, because surely he came to criticize my rash decision to marry Marut and leave Ultrup all in the course of one day.
But as soon as the impulse takes over, a stubborn voice in my head rears up, refusing to budge. It’s new, this willingness to stand up for myself, but I lean into it and root my feet to the floor. Beside me, Marut lets out a low growl and steps closer to me. He’s still holding the plate of food in one hand but puts the other on the small of my back, and it’s that brief, gentle contact that grounds me, bringing me back to the present moment.
“You don’t have to speak to him,” he says hastily. “If you wish to leave, you can let Ozork know, and he will make sure your brother is escorted from the Hill.”
Ozork, who has been eyeing my brother with distaste, turns toward me at that. “Aye, your husband is right. Just say the word, and he’s gone.”
A rush of affection for the older warrior fills me, and I reach over to him and pat his arm. “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary.”
He looks down at where I touched him, then up at me and gives me a lopsided, craggy smile. We’re too far away for Huck to hear us, but he must see us hesitating, because his scowl deepens. He takes a step forward as if he’s intent on marching toward us. Then another man appears by his side, a human guard a head taller than him, and grabs him by the shoulder. He says something and tugs him back, and they both disappear through the doorway.
“Well, at least that one has some sense,” Ozork mutters as we head toward the other side of the hall.
“What did he say?” I ask, curiosity sparking. I didn’t recognize the soldier, and I have no idea why he’d have any sway over Huck.
Marut snorts. “He reminded your brother that they were guests of our king.” He sends me a sideways glance, his gaze sparkling with dark amusement. “And that we outnumber them a hundred to one.”
“That’s because he didn’t count the women.” Ozork grins. “I’d like to see him go up against my sister.”
We near the doorway leading from the great hall, and I realize that unlike the other entrances, this one leads to a parlor of some sort, not a corridor leading to other parts of the Hill. I notice my brother immediately, his colorful nobleman’s clothes singling him out against the others’ gray and brown clothing. He’s brought half a dozen soldiers with him, all wearing the Duke of Ultrup’s colors beneath their traveling clothes, though the insignia are subdued, a hint of yellow and blue ribbons here and there, as if they picked less conspicuous clothes for the road.
Behind the human delegation stand the king and queen. The king, with his iron crown and tall stature, seems calm and imposing, but Dawn’s face is pinched with worry. She glances from the soldiers to my brother, then to me and back. Several other warriors stand in the room—Ritta smiles at me, then crosses her arms over her chest and frowns at the human soldiers, her gaze tracking their every move.
“There you are.” My brother’s voice is a shade too loud as he walks toward me. “Took you long enough.”
He marches right up to us, then looks at Marut and stops, as if he realized just now how large my husband is. Marut hasn’t let go of me—and now, he moves to stand behind me, one hand on my hip. The gesture is significant. He’s allowing me to deal with my brother as I see fit and will support me fully. I don’t know when we became so attuned to each other, but he doesn’t need to say any of this for me to understand it.
I focus on my brother and swallow the urge to apologize. “We came as soon as we could,” I say, keeping my voice pleasant. “We were still sleeping.”
A sneer curls my brother’s lips. “At this time of morning? You didn’t use to be so lazy.”
A low snarl from behind my back is a warning, one my brother doesn’t seem to understand because he doesn’t back away from me. I lean into Marut’s touch a little more, hoping he’ll understand that this talk is of no consequence to me.
“Why are you here, Huck?” I cut to the heart of the matter.
He must notice I didn’t reply to his jab because he narrows his eyes, then says, “I came for you, of course.” He motions toward the group of guards waiting by the side. “We’ve come to rescue you from this hovel.”
A rumble of growls reverberates through the room. This time, it’s not only Marut who’s furious but the rest of the orcs as well. The human soldiers shuffle nervously, their fingers brushing the pommels of their swords. I look from them to the orcs who seem so very calm—but I know this room could explode into violence with one false move.
The king must sense this, too, because he subtly shifts his position so he puts himself in front of his queen. She nudges him in the ribs with her elbow and peers around his big body at me.
I have to defuse this situation before someone gets hurt.
“I don’t need rescuing,” I say as calmly as I can. “I married Marut of my own free will. I chose him. And I came to live here with him.” I address my next words to the tall man I saw earlier, because the pips on his collar single him out as the captain of this small company. “I wasn’t kidnapped or forced to leave my home.”
“True,” King Gorvor agrees. “My clan has no quarrel with the duke, and we are not in the habit of kidnapping human women. They are content to be here, I can assure you.”
Dawn’s face flushes bright pink at that, and she bites her lip to keep from smiling. I quickly look down at my boots so I don’t catch her gaze, because we might both burst out in giggles if that happened.
“That’s unacceptable,” Huck snaps. “I won’t have a filthy orc defiling my sister. What will the people say?” He glares over my shoulder at Marut. “You have no pedigree. No connections. Will you drag her down with you to live in the dirt?” He spreads his arms. “Gods, you live in a hole in the ground. You really think you can take my sister without consequence? She doesn’t even like to be touched, and you put your grubby hands all over her.”
His words seem protective, but they’re all wrong.
Marut steps around me, his teeth bared in a snarl. “You have no idea what Violet likes.”
I hurry to stand between them again. I turn my back on my brother and press both palms on Marut’s chest, pushing him back. He retreats a little—and I know I only managed to move him because he agreed to it. He stares at Huck for a moment longer, then focuses on me, the fury in his gaze washing away as he places his hand over mine and squeezes my fingers.
“Marut,” I whisper. “Don’t listen to any of that. Please.”
My husband stares at me, then gives me a curt nod. He brings my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles, then closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. His shoulders drop a notch, and I’m so proud of him at this moment, my throat tightens. I blink rapidly, resisting the pull between us. I wish I could disappear with him, leave this room and let others make things right. But that’s not in the cards right now.
Behind my back, Huck sniffs, and I know he thinks he won a round based on Marut’s retreat. The small sound solidifies my certainty. I have to deal with this. With him. Once and for all, I have to make him understand.
I drag in a long inhale and let it out slowly, bracing myself for what must follow. Then I turn back to my brother, my hand still clasped around Marut’s.
“I won’t have you insulting the clan,” I say. “If you have anything more to say, you will be respectful while you do it, or these gentlemen will have every right to escort you from the palace.”
“The palace—” Huck scoffs.
“Huck!”
The name comes out sharp. I’ve never used this tone with him in my life, and I think he knows it, too. It startles him enough to stop him from saying whatever he wanted to say.
“Didn’t Mrs. Pimms show you the marriage certificate?” I demand. “And Amber—didn’t she explain I came by the house to pick up my things?”
He draws back his shoulders. “Yes, but you could have been coerced to sign those papers. That woman would do anything for the right price.”
I don’t comment on the slight toward the matchmaker who stood up for me and helped me make our hasty wedding a little more magical, because Huck wouldn’t understand.
“You think the magistrate was bribed as well?” I ask, glancing at the soldiers. “A high-ranking city official?”
The captain, a handsome, tall man with shoulder-length blond hair, gives me a curt shake of his head. “No, madam. I don’t believe that to be the case.”
Huck glares at him as if this is a grand betrayal. “Well, what kind of brother would I be if I didn’t try to save my only sister from the clutches of an orc?”
I narrow my eyes at him. If I didn’t know about his thieving ways, I might have been moved by this—the gesture of riding all the way to the orc kingdom, dragging along a half dozen guards, and all these protective words. But I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something else going on here.
He pulls a slightly wrinkled handkerchief from the breast pocket of his jacket and mops his shiny forehead. The longer I stare at him in silence, the more nervous he looks, and while I don’t enjoy seeing him squirm, I can’t help but feel a strange sort of justice.
“Would your trip here have anything to do with the fact that I took out the remainder of my dowry?” I ask finally.
Huck jerks back as if slapped. “What?” he blusters. “No, of course not. I only know you didn’t want a husband, and now you’ve settled on some orc and you—”
“I always wanted a husband, Huck,” I shoot back. “Always. And a family.”
He throws his hands up, exasperation clear. “Then why couldn’t you have married any of the men that old hag threw at you? There were noblemen in the selection as far as I remember. What? You mean to tell me none of them were good enough for you? You could be living in Ultrup, close to your family, in a mansion.”
At his question, Marut’s fingers twitch in my grip. I glance up at him to find him frowning at me, and it nearly kills me to see the doubt etched into his handsome features.
“I didn’t love any of them,” I say, still looking at him. “None of them were right for me.” I smile, tears misting my gaze. I blink them away and focus back on my brother. “Then I met Marut, and I knew.”
Marut tugs my hand, and I turn to him willingly, melting into his embrace. He wraps his arms around me, leans his cheek on the top of my head, and holds me tight. I clutch at the back of his shirt, fingers digging into the fabric, and press my face to his chest, blotting out my tears. We stand for a long moment, until an excited squeak from Dawn has us breaking away from each other.
I glance over at the queen, and she winks at me, her hand at her cheek, her eyes swimming with happy tears. She smiles up at her husband, who grins back at her, then draws her closer to his side, his arm around her shoulders.
Huck looks from me to my husband and back, confusion clear on his face. He opens his mouth to speak, but the door swings open beside us, and we all turn to see a beautiful orc woman bearing a platter filled with a breakfast spread. I recognize her an instant later as Mara, the steward, who ordered us a bath last night. She’s followed by several other orcs bringing refreshments for the entire party, but she stops at the threshold of the room, blocking their way in.
Her expression changes from a pleasant smile to shock, and her dainty nose twitches as she drags in a deep inhale. She searches the room with a wide-eyed gaze, looking from one orc to the next. Her eyebrows draw together in a frown, but finally, she focuses on the tall human captain.
It takes me a moment to realize what’s happening. Then the similarity to what happened with Marut and me hits me. That first day when he walked into Mrs. Pimms’ office, Marut looked like he’d been struck by lightning, and that’s the best way to describe Mara’s face just now.
The platter slips from her fingers and smashes to the floor. Eggs, bread, and bacon splatter everywhere, but most of it lands on the orc woman’s boots and pretty dress. She jerks to attention and glances down at herself, then flushes a deep green. Her face scrunches up as if she’s about to burst into tears, but before we can witness that, she pushes past the waiting kitchen staff and runs into the great hall, disappearing into the breakfast crowd.
For a long moment, everyone in the small room remains silent, shocked by what happened.
Then Dawn lunges forward, calling, “Mara!” She runs from the room in pursuit of the woman and is gone a moment later.
I glance at Marut, who shrugs and offers me a small smile, then focus on Ozork, who seems to be trying his best to melt into the background, his expression wistful. Was he holding out hope that Mara might be his mate? But no, he doesn’t seem sad about her in particular. He shakes his head, then crouches by the door and starts picking up the mess. Two more orcs join him, one carrying a broom, the other some rags to swipe up the spilled food. Conversation starts again, low murmurs between the orcs, as the kitchen staff finally carries in the rest of the platters and someone runs off to get a replacement for the food that Mara dropped.
In the mingling crowd, I find the human captain standing stock-still at the wall, his face slightly pinker than before. He seems shocked more than anything, and as I watch, he drags a gloved palm over his face. One of his men addresses him with a question, and he shrugs, but his gaze keeps going to the door, as if he’s debating whether he should follow Mara or not.
My heart twinges with empathy at his dilemma. He clearly doesn’t know what’s going on but perhaps he feels something has changed, like I did the day I met Marut.
Through all this, Huck has been silent, watching. Now he shuffles closer to me and asks, much more subdued than before, “Are you serious, Violet?”
I press my lips together to quell the surge of annoyance. “Yes. I’ve told you, this is the life I chose. The husband I chose.”
His throat works, but no words come out. Now that he’s not shouting insults at me and Marut, I take a moment to study him more closely. His clothes, though well-made as usual, are rumpled in a way he wouldn’t have deemed acceptable in the past, even after traveling all week, and he seems to have lost some weight.
“Huck, what’s wrong?” I ask quietly. “Why would you take all that money from me?”
His face reddens, and I think he might start yelling again, but he seems to collapse in on himself, his shoulders hunching. “I meant to pay it back, Vi-vi,” he mutters, using my childhood nickname.
A cold sense of foreboding grabs me. “Who do you owe?”
He grimaces. “No one you know. But they’re, ah, insisting that I pay them back.” He shakes his head, then straightens his shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’ll sort it out.”
I watch him, worry roiling in my gut. “Does Amber know? She seemed…different when I saw her last.”
Huck’s expression twists with distaste, but he covers it up with a blank mask. “She’s fine. She doesn’t care about my business so long as she has money to spend.”
I open my mouth to protest—because wasn’t he the one who told her to spend it? To make sure that everyone knew of their status? He’s the one who married a nobleman’s daughter used to a certain lifestyle. But it’s clear Huck isn’t interested in hearing my opinion on his marriage, so I nod toward the human soldiers who have now descended on the food the kitchen staff brought in, with the exception of their captain, who is standing apart from them, a bread roll clutched in one hand, still staring at the door.
“How did you get them to accompany you?”
My brother flushes again, his face turning splotchy. “I didn’t. They were on their way here with a letter for the orc king, and I caught up with them on the road.”
Ah. That explains why Huck obeyed the captain’s order to return to the room when he saw me in the great hall earlier. I glance at King Gorvor, who has taken a seat in a large chair and is reading a folded piece of paper. It seems that the excitement of my brother’s proclamation put a stop to whatever diplomatic mission the soldiers were here for.
“The duke is sending a delegation from Ultrup soon,” the king announces. His expression is inscrutable, his dark gaze level as he looks from one soldier to another. “We have discussed this, though I didn’t think he’d be acting on his promises so soon. He writes that he would like his emissary to study our lands and the way we govern ourselves in order to learn how to root out the unrest plaguing his properties.”
Marut’s fingers twitch in my grip, and I want to ask what this is all about, but he subtly shakes his head, so I don’t question him. I have all the time in the world to learn about this world, and I don’t think the king would appreciate the interruption.
“Will your men be accompanying the emissary, Captain?” King Gorvor asks.
The captain snaps to attention. “Yes, sir. That was the idea, at least. We’re set to leave the capital in a month or so if all goes well.”
“Very well,” the king replies. “Tell the duke we’re awaiting your arrival.”
I try to get Huck to tell me more about his creditors, but he refuses to say anything more, and when I offer to help him with the debt, he goes red in the face again and denies needing my money. I could remind him that he was all too happy to take it before, but in the interest of saving what little remains of our relationship, I don’t say anything, and neither does Marut, whose show of patience I decide to reward with lots of kisses later.
To my surprise, the soldiers politely refuse the king’s offer to remain at the Hill for the night.
“We should return to the city.” The captain dons his traveling cloak again. “My men have families who will be eager to spend time with them before we leave again to come here.”
Dawn, who has returned to the king’s side, narrows her eyes at the man. “But not you?” she demands. “You don’t have a family? A wife?”
“No, my lady,” the captain replies, visibly taken aback. “I haven’t had luck in finding a wife yet.”
She gives him a sweet smile completely at odds with her earlier suspicion. “Good. That’s very good.”
The poor captain, still none the wiser, takes his leave, and with him, the rest of the soldiers. The king sends his mate an admonishing glare, but she simply grins and shrugs, unrepentant. I hide a smile of my own, thinking Dawn should meet Mrs. Pimms if she ever traveled to the city.
My brother clears his throat then, crossing and uncrossing his arms awkwardly. “Well, then. I better hurry after them, or they’ll leave without me.”
I stare at him, surprised. “You’re going already? I thought…”
I let the words trail off because I have no idea what I thought would happen. I didn’t plan for Huck’s visit, and we have nothing to talk about now that he has made certain I haven’t been abducted by vicious orcs.
He points a thumb toward the great hall, where the soldiers have stopped to accept some provisions for the road, prepared in the kitchen at the king’s request. “It’s better to travel in a large group. Brigands on the road, you know. This world is going to the dogs.”
I don’t know what to say to that. He certainly doesn’t count himself as a brigand, despite having stolen from me, and I don’t want to press the matter.
“Send my regards to Amber,” I say instead. I don’t insist that he should stay either, because it’s clear he’s still uncomfortable here.
“I will,” Huck promises. “And, ah, you take care, Violet.”
He gives me a curt nod and leaves without saying goodbye to my husband or shaking his hand. They hadn’t even been introduced properly, which only occurs to me now that I watch his back as he’s leaving. He doesn’t look back.
When my brother vanishes into a corridor, accompanied by the human soldiers and several orc warriors as escorts, I turn back to my husband.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur. “He was so unpleasant. I didn’t want you to have to listen to all of that.”
Marut tips my chin up and kisses my lips. His tusks scrape against my skin lightly, sending a shiver down my spine.
“None of this was your fault,” he says softly. “And now he’s gone.”
He stares at me for a long moment, his eyebrows drawn together.
“What are you thinking?” I ask finally, running my hands over his chest.
He clears his throat. “Do you want to leave with him?”
I blink, then smack him lightly on the shoulder. “Stop it. Do you really think I would have left everything behind and slept in a barn for several days straight and given up my entire life if I didn’t want to be with you?”
Chuckles from the orcs around the room bring home the realization that we’re not alone. Marut seems to notice them, too, because he scowls at Ozork, then swings me up in his arms and clutches me to his chest.
“Marut!” I yelp as he strides for the door. “What are you doing? Put me down this instant.”
But he only grins at me, because I wind my hands around his neck at the same time, clutching on to him tight. He carries me through the great hall where orcs I haven’t even met before call after us, wishing us a happy mating. I’d be mortified if they weren’t so cheerful about it—but apparently, a new mating is cause for celebration at the Hill, because their calls and toasts echo after us even when we leave the hall through one of the corridors.
I strain up to kiss the side of Marut’s neck. “Where are you taking me?”
My husband looks down, a soft smile on his lips. “I’m taking you home.”
