by Alana Serra
“We would have done what was needed to defend ourselves, Lady, but I had hoped to come away from this without any senseless deaths. There’s already been enough of that.”
Rhia cringed at the title he gave her, the mantle of the Dark God falling over her like a shroud, feeling like so many insects crawling beneath her skin. “You don’t have to call me Lady,” she said. “In fact, I’d prefer you didn’t.”
“I can’t make any promises. It’s deeply ingrained.” He paused a moment, then asked, “What should I call you?”
He was more well-spoken than she’d imagined orcs to be. More polite, too. “Rhia is fine.”
Behind her, she felt his body move slightly and looked over her shoulder to see him nodding. Bright amber eyes met hers, soft and warm, knocking the breath from her lungs. He smiled, his lips snagging on the tiny tusks that were barely larger than his regular teeth. Those weren’t fearsome at all. In fact, Rhia found herself wondering what they’d feel like if his mouth pressed to hers.
Get ahold of yourself, girl. You’re acting like a trollop.
“Rhia it is then.” She turned to face the path again, her cheeks heating. “Do you want the long story, or the short one?”
She looked up at the sky, at the sun just beginning to descend from its apex. “If we’re stopping at dusk, I’d say we have time for the long version. And I’d rather know the details if we’re going to be… working together. Which I also just… don’t understand.”
She wouldn’t have admitted that to Liam, but she got the sense that Karak wouldn’t judge her. Why the opinion of any of these men mattered to her, she didn’t know. They all worked for Aeredus in one form or another, and though they were there to be her guardians, their ultimate intent was to help her in achieving the Dark God’s ends.
It was a quick way to sour her opinion of the three of them, even if they’d rescued her from being burned alive.
“Several years ago, the humans began to attack our camps,” he began, and Rhia tried to shake the sudden bitterness she felt to at least hear him out. “I think they assumed we were a different orc clan. There was one more in the general area, much more violent than us and more willing to attack humans unprovoked. My clan were hunters. We lived off the land, built traps, bartered furs. We were nomadic, mostly following the elk as they moved throughout the seasons. We never thought to defend our camps beyond a few guards, and we never had a need to until they started attacking.”
Rhia’s lips twisted into a frown. This wasn’t how those stories usually went. Orcs were supposed to be bloodthirsty raiders who raped and pillaged for the fun of it. Not peaceful hunters who would have kept to themselves had the humans not intervened.
“We defended ourselves, of course, and when the attacks didn’t stop—even after we’d moved on—we set up a base camp and trained our guards into true warriors. Our trap-makers built weaponry to better defend our home, and we hunkered down to await the onslaught. The humans had killed several of our men and women in the past, but once we prepared ourselves, it was a massacre.”
That sounded more like the stories. In the ones she’d heard, humans needed to overcome overwhelming odds to match the brute strength of the orcs. Only this wasn’t some innate aggression on the orcs’ part. They were protecting themselves, defending their people. She could feel no sympathy for the humans who’d continued to attack for no reason.
At least not one she was hearing, beyond a case of mistaken identity. “Did the humans not figure out that you weren’t the orcs who’d attacked them initially?”
“I think so. I wasn’t as well-versed in the language then, despite my parentage. My mother died in childbirth and until I started to lead the training regimen, my people… tolerated me, at best.” She heard the strain in his voice and that suspicion she’d felt melted away, replaced by a sharp pang of sympathy. “By that point, I believe the humans were too invested in eradicating us to give it much more thought.”
The path grew steeper, and her horse stumbled somewhat, its hooves dislodging several little pebbles. Rhia watched as they rolled past, then looked behind her to see them bounce down the mountain. It was a stark reminder of how far up they were and how perilous this ascent still was.
“Keep pace,” Liam barked from ahead, not bothering to look back. “It’s too dangerous for you to lag behind.”
“And there’s not enough room for us to ride beside the two of you,” she snapped back at him.
Goddess, he was insufferable. But the other one—the leaner man with sandy brown hair and several days’ worth of stubble—snorted in amusement.
“He seems very…” Karak started.
“Obnoxious in a way that inspires one to want to strangle him to death with their bare hands?”
“I was going to say ‘abrasive,’ but yes.”
She looked over her shoulder again to see him grinning a lopsided grin. Her heart did a little flip, her stomach tightening as though she were a girl with a newly sprouted fixation. On a half-orc she’d just met. Who was only here and being kind to her because Aeredus had charged him with helping her take down the guild.
“Sorry, go on,” she mumbled, more flustered than she liked.
“The attacks actually stopped for a while. Almost a year, in fact. We left our trained warriors to guard the walls, but we took down the weaponry and were even beginning to plan a migration, as the herd had long since left the area. We let ourselves grow complacent, and we paid the ultimate price for it.” His voice tightened, a pain there so deep that Rhia could barely fathom it. “The humans had spent that year gathering the money to pay the guild to eradicate our clan for them.”
She sucked in a breath, her mind reeling. Of course she knew the guild went out and invaded the camps of the monstrous races, usually on behalf of vulnerable villages. But the way Karak described it, this was less a means of defense and more a feud the humans wanted to save face on. Something they were unwilling to let go, when the orcs had let them be.
“We tried to broker peace. There was no way we were going to be able to defend ourselves against a party of adventurers,” Karak said through gritted teeth. “But they wanted none of it. They brutalized our clan, killing most of our people in one night. No quarter, no mercy. It was a slaughter that never needed to happen.”
Rhia couldn’t breathe. The force of his words hit her harder than she would have ever expected. It was as if her mind and heart were primed to feel empathy toward this man, and she certainly felt it now.
“So you sought vengeance?” she asked in barely more than a whisper.
“No.” The word was spoken in a deep rumble, nearly a growl. “Though several of us wanted it, myself included. We didn’t have the numbers to go after the humans outright, and it wouldn’t have done any good. They were only indirectly responsible for the deaths of our people. So I made a plan to repurpose the weaponry, bring it with us to intimidate them into handing over information about the adventurers they hired.”
Rhia blew out a breath, her mind still spinning, leaving her with such a sense of vertigo. “That must be why you’re one of my guardians. Aeredus wants me to dismantle the guild.”
“What?”
She felt him tense behind her, and looked over her shoulder to see his eyes wide, his shock genuine. Had he not known? She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised the Dark God hadn’t given him any details on what he was supposed to be doing. She didn’t even know what his role as a guardian was or how he’d found her. He and the others had just… shown up.
“That’s… quite the task,” Karak said, still rigid. She turned back to keep her eyes on the path, unsure how much she should say to him. “I suppose it’s providence that brought us together then. I will help you in whatever way I can. My people will help you, too.”
For a moment she thought he might say more, but he lapsed into silence, and so Rhia focused on keeping her mare a close distance behind Liam’s and Wesley’s mounts. The pace was slow until they reached a more level pl
ain in the mountains. Rhia’s ears rang, feeling as though they were filled with water before the sensation finally eased. It was hard to breathe this high up, though, and she found the ride exhausting.
“We’re not riding straight through, are we?” she called up to Liam.
She hadn’t even asked where they were going, so eager to be away from the village of people that had tried to burn her at the stake like some malevolent swamp witch. That and—if she was being honest with herself—she had the strange sense that these men weren’t going to lead her into danger. That they couldn’t, by Aeredus’ design.
It was something she couldn’t even begin to understand, and she hoped one of them knew more about the whole guardian thing.
“Are your thighs sore, princess?” Liam taunted.
“Don’t be an ass,” Karak snarled from behind her. “We all need to stop. It’s impossible to breathe up here. I feel like I’m going to pass out at any second.”
“I thought it was just me,” she heard Wesley say, the words somewhat muffled.
“I intended to stop right before dusk, which we’re close enough to now. There’s no cover here, though. The camp will be visible from the path. This way.”
He guided his gelding off said path and Rhia followed. Whether he’d been intending to stop or not, she was grateful for the respite. Every step her horse took seemed to jostle her more and more. Though he’d joked about it, her thighs did hurt, burning with the exertion of keeping to the mare’s movements. The thin air made everything much harder than it should be, too, and she could feel a weakness overtaking her body like malaise.
Maybe it was just fatigue, but as Liam led them through a dense forest, weaving around the trees, she felt as if her muscles were no longer working properly. She had the mental sensation of falling before she realized that she was, in fact, falling. But not for long.
Karak caught her, his strong arm looping around her, pulling her tight as he lifted her back onto the horse. He braced against her, holding her to him, his thighs tightening at her sides.
“Easy,” he said softly, his voice rich and rough in her ear.
“Sorry,” she said, her cheeks heating anew.
He didn’t let up on his hold and she didn’t fight him on it. Weariness even saw her leaning back against him, his firm body a comfort she was willing to allow herself now. Even as she felt the hard ridge of his cock pressing through his breeches. Her breath caught, her whole body heating with a flush of desire and satisfaction in knowing she’d done such a thing to him.
It was a ridiculous thing to feel, and yet she couldn’t seem to care right now. Karak held himself away from her as much as he could, and she felt strangely safe with him. Somehow she knew deep down that he wasn’t going to do anything to her, and that allowed her a space in which she could feel these things she’d tried so hard to repress around Desmond, back when she’d feared he might not reciprocate.
Desmond. The thought of him, of his terrified features, was like diving headfirst into an icy lake. It made the rest of the ride something she did in a haze, her mind trying not to fixate on what had happened to her best friend after she’d been sent here. Though she felt a distortion of time, she had no idea how long it’d even been. Days? Weeks? Years? Maybe it didn’t even matter, because she was Aeredus’ plaything for now, and too exhausted in this moment to think of thwarting him.
All she could really think about was wrapping herself in a warm blanket and going to sleep.
Thankfully, she got her wish soon after. Liam chose a clearing that was lined on every side by trees, blocking the view of their camp from the path. Karak helped her down from the mare and set up his own bedroll for her to rest on, a thick fur nestled over her with such care that it made her heart clench in her chest.
“Rest well, Lady,” she thought she heard him whisper before exhaustion claimed her.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d slept, but when she woke again, each of the three men were awake. Liam was bandaging a wound on Karak’s arm, Wesley had a book open in his lap, and all three looked over at her as she roused. Had she made a sound, or were they just that attuned to her? She hoped it was the former. She didn’t know how she felt about three strangers knowing when she was awake or asleep.
“Didn’t any of you sleep?” she asked, pushing herself into a sitting position.
“It’s only been a couple of hours,” Wesley said. “I need a bit of time to wind down before sleeping.”
“The orc and I did a patrol of the forest,” Liam said, using his knife to slice through the end of the bandage. “He was bleeding all over everything, so here we are.”
“I didn’t ask you to help me,” Karak pointed out, his jaw clenched.
“If you’re hurt, you’re not going to do a very good job protecting your Lady,” the man said, his green eyes intense as he seemed to challenge Karak, red hair matching the fire she heard in his voice. “And then it’s all of our asses when Aeredus finds out.”
“So glad to know you care about my safety,” she muttered, wrapping the fur more tightly around herself.
It hadn’t been this cold when she went to sleep, but if she’d awoken in the middle of the night, that explained it. An icy wind blew from the north, as well, not helping matters any.
“You should go back to sleep,” Karak said softly. “We’ll arrange a watch schedule.”
As nice as that sounded, her mind was racing, plagued by questions she hadn’t been able to ask before. “I’m awake now, and there are things I need to know.”
Pulling the furs more tightly around herself, she stood and walked closer to the fire, sitting down on a smooth rock, the cold of it biting through her frock. No wonder she was freezing. She really needed new clothes, and had no idea how to acquire them out here. On the list of important questions, though, that one seemed less urgent.
“First question,” she said, trying to stop her teeth from chattering. “What is a guardian? I know Aeredus sent you, I know you’re supposed to protect me, but what are you beyond that? Are we supposed to have some kind of… deal?”
The surprised looks of everyone around her answered a question she hadn’t asked. Apparently she was supposed to know about these things.
“I’d always assumed every Lady would know about the guardians,” Wesley said, closing his book.
“Not necessarily.” That was Liam, being contrary as usual. This time she just happened to agree with him. “Aeredus likes to toy with the people he’s put in his debt.”
“He didn’t exactly grace me with a wealth of information, no,” Rhia said through gritted teeth. “I made a deal with him, he brought me here, told me he wanted me to bring down the guild, and sent me on my way.”
“For power, right? You made a deal for power?” Wesley seemed to have an interest in that, his blue eyes looking her over curiously.
“To save my friend,” she said, her tone defensive. “The last Dark Lady was attacking our city. He was dying, and I… couldn’t help him. So I asked for help from the gods, and Aeredus was the only one who responded.”
There was stunned silence all around. Even Liam stared at her over the crackling fire, his gaze boring into her as if he was trying to figure out whether or not she was lying.
“What? You can’t possibly be surprised that Aeredus made an uneven deal with me.”
“You’re not unique in that regard, princess.” She glared at Liam. In no world was she anything resembling a princess. “He made uneven deals with all of us, I’m sure. It’s what he does.”
“It’s not the deal, it’s the circumstance. Usually Dark Ladies are…” Wesley searched for a word.
“Consumed with an overwhelming lust for the power to crush their enemies?”
She snorted at Liam’s assessment. “That’s a bit dramatic.”
“It’s true, though.” Karak frowned. “Every Lady who ever approached our clan has wanted our aid to serve among her armies. She’s never wanted anything more than to destroy anyone who
opposed her.”
“Well, if that’s what you’re here for, I’m sorry to disappoint,” she said tersely.
Karak was quick to answer. “No! At least… that’s not what I’m here for.”
“And you two?”
She was feeling combative, put on the defensive from the moment they’d begun to talk about this. While she wasn’t keen on showing her hand yet, they needed to understand that she wasn’t going to be taking any armies into distant lands to destroy anyone who opposed her. Except maybe Aeredus, but that was a long way off.
“I don’t have a stake in whatever chaos you want to spread, though I’d prefer not to serve someone who would eventually be driven mad by power,” Wesley admitted. “I’m here because if I didn’t show up, Aeredus would have seen me regret it.”
The nods of the other two told Rhia they were all in a similar situation. All sent down a deadly river in a boat that was defective from the moment it was sold to them. Designed to crash against the rocks and shatter, then likely be built anew to be sold to the next willing victim. It was a brilliant grift Aeredus had in place.
“Is it the same for you?” she asked Liam, leveling a steady stare at him.
He stared right back, his face unreadable. “I’m here. That’s all you need to know about me, so long as I’m doing my job, isn’t it?”
Rhia’s teeth ground together and she resisted the urge to fire back a quick retort. It wasn’t worth it when she could get information from the others. “You still haven’t told me what exactly your job is.”
“To protect and serve you,” Karak said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“In accomplishing Aeredus’ desires.”
“In whatever you wish to do,” he countered.
That was still such a vague answer, but Karak wasn’t deliberately cagey in the way Liam seemed to be. Perhaps there wasn’t a better answer. Or perhaps he just didn’t know. Maybe this was something Aeredus hadn’t bothered explaining to any of them, either.
