Page 34 of Ogres Don't Play
I dropped the book on my lap and looked up at Lanise, my head spinning like a top. “History of music in marriage traditions. What are ogre wedding traditions?” Is that what he’d thought I was doing when I’d put on his shirt, that I was trying to court him? What about the neck thing? Was that another courtship tradition from another, very obscure tribe I didn’t know about, but Rook did? What tribe was he from? Did he create a heart song? Was that what I’d played?
No, I’d played the most elaborate, obscure, complicated elven song I knew. Elven, not ogre. But when he’d sung it, I’d feltlike it was him, from his heart, and even now, the melody rippled under my skin like the tide, pulling me out to sea, where I would drown helplessly in the waves of love.
Her eyes narrowed. “Rest now. Read bad for eyes.” She shut off the light and left me blinking in the dark while my heart beat too fast and that song echoed in my chest in time to the pulse in my neck where he’d caught me in his jaws like he’d never let me go.
Chapter
Thirteen
Iwoke up feeling sluggish and weary, like I’d harnessed vast amounts of war magic the day before. After a battle, it was good to sit in a window seat in the sunshine with a harp and play and recuperate, but I didn’t have that luxury because the war had only begun.
I dressed in my elven light armor, which was as clean and crisp as the first time I’d put it on. I pulled a kimono over it, because I was the music master, not some elven princess who was too prissy to eat sausage rolls with her fingers. Today I was hunting down an archangel.
I shook my head while I secured my harp on my shoulder, then patted Yaga where she roosted on the vanity post. “Wish me luck, Yaga. Not that I’ll need it.”
She opened one eye and then shut it. Yeah, that’s what I get for having a chicken sidekick.
I went out and almost tripped over Lanise who was sitting on the floor, legs outstretched, harp on her lap. She glared up at me, taking in my armor and outfit. “Stay. Teach. Safe day.”
I leapt lightly over her legs. “I’d love to have a safe day, but I need to hang the fliers in Song for the Jubilee. Tiago should havethem ready. Maybe you should intern with him so that you can learn such essential skills as poster making.”
She snorted and rolled to her feet, gripping the harp like it was a weapon. She’d clearly used more than her fair share of weapons over the years. “Why not tired? Big magic. Big sleep.”
“I slept so well. Thank you so much for your concern, but I’m fine.” Particularly since I wasn’t going to do big magic for at least a month. I hurried to the stairs and went down quickly, then stopped abruptly at the bottom when I saw the ogre with white eyes in his extremely scarred face.
He bowed to me, then gestured towards the back door. “Car.”
“Ah. Lanise told you that I was going to the city,” or he was going to take me back to Rook again. I definitely didn’t have time for him when he wouldn’t answer any of my questions and would distract me with his pretty tusks. “What can I call you?” He had a lot of names, and I’d hate to use one that he found offensive, like, ‘Curse,’ or ‘Plague.’
He smiled, twisting his scarred face and showing off one broken-off tusk. “Driver.”
Well, that would work. “How fitting. Well, Driver, I want to stop by the respectable shops in Song and post my call for the Jubilee while Tiago takes care of Sing.”
“You in Sing. He in Song.”
“He has too much elven blood to go into Song by himself. He’ll accidentally go into war mode and kill everyone I’m trying to recruit.”
He blinked at me. “You war mode.”
I laughed and patted his arm like he wasn’t the most terrifying thing ever. “You’re too funny. I never apply more pressure than is necessary. Goblins need to see a show of strength or they won’t capitulate. Everyone knows that. Anyway, I have no intention of dealing with goblins today.”
“Wolves? Vamps? Ghouls?”
“Werewolves have extremely good voices, but no, I’m not going to directly focus on any particular species, just put up posters and talk to whoever I happen to meet. There are enough werewolves in the music hall already. We could certainly use more vampires, but they have trouble with the sunshine. I’ll have to arrange some heavy shade cloth to help the undercity civilians feel more comfortable at the Jubilee.”
“Forget Jubil. Stay safe.”
I studied him for a few seconds, the scars, the experience in every line and wrinkle. “Has anyone ever told you to stay safe? To me, that’s something you say to someone who doesn’t have work to do. Who doesn’t do work you value. You’re an ogre, so perhaps you don’t understand that music is a cause as serious to me as war is to you. This Jubilee will be a success, because I will make it so. It will bring out the voices of Song to mingle with Sing, and the city will be strengthened because of it. Everyone will be strengthened because of it. That is my war. And I will fight, because I am the music master.”
Three loud claps came from behind me, and I spun around to see Magr, the enormous ogre that I was going to make live eel soup for, and Tiago beside him, holding a scroll of posters.
Magr said, “Excellent speech. You are now warmed up for the day’s battle. Driver will go with you today, not Lanise. If he feels danger, he will bring you back here.”
I studied the huge ogre for a beat before I smiled brightly. “Of course. About the money from the goblins last night…”
“Cursed gold will need smelting.”
“Cursed gold?” I stared at him while my heart fell. “What kind of curse?”