Page 74 of My Orc Has Big Tusks
“Morning,” I said.
Drogar’s grin could’ve powered the entire facility.
Traig calmly sipped his tea.
Krem clutched his binder that he’d retrieved from underneath the table to his chest.
I caught the small upturn of Greth’s mouth.
Laina cleared her throat. “I’m going to examine Cooper. We’ve got our first school visit in a few weeks, so we should finalize which creatures we’ll share with them and put protocols in place.”
“I’ll help,” I said, standing fast enough that my chair scraped across the floor.
“Subtle,” Drogar said as I passed.
I ignored him.
Laina waited until we were in the hallway before speaking. “How much of that did I interrupt?”
“Enough.”
“Drogar mentioned claiming.”
“He mentions a lot of things.”
“Is that what we’re doing?” She stopped walking, forcing me to stop too. “Claiming each other?”
The question hung between us. In the kingdom, I’d know how to answer. Yes, with witnesses and gifts and formal structure. Here, I only knew that yesterday had changed something between us, and I wanted more of whatever that was.
“I don’t have the human words for what I want to say,” I said carefully. “When an orc decides someone is theirs, there’s a process. Steps to follow. Ways to prove worthiness.”
“It’s different from here?”
“I believe so.” I reached for her hand, our fingers tangling. “But I know I want you to be mine, and I want to be yours, and if your mother’s visit on Friday is part of that process, then I’ll face it standing beside you.”
My hand found the wall beside her head to steady myself.
“When an orc wants someone, there’s a word for it,” I said. “Kavresh. It means,the person whose happiness determines yours.The claiming bond is part of it.” I searched for better words and found none. “I don’t know what humans call it when someone becomes necessary to your breathing.”
“We call it a lot of things.” Her fingers found my wrist, circling it. “Most of them sound less intense than that.”
“Should I use less intense words?”
“No.” She tugged my hand down from the wall and held it between both of hers. “My mother’s going to ask me questions about you.”
“She’s going to want to know what my intentions are.”
“And what are they?”
“To keep you, if you’ll let me.”
Her thumb brushed across my knuckles. “She’s going to have questions about everything, not just your intentions.”
“I’ll answer them.”
“She’s going to judge this place. Us.”
“Then I’ll give her things worth judging well.”
