Page 40 of Alien Orc's Prize
She grimaced, making the pins fan out wildly.
“It’s… It’s not ideal. The kids are crazy and the mom is even worse. And the dad is…. I don’t know. I’m looking for a new opportunity. As soon as the right one comes along, I’ll take it.” She gave a mirthless laugh. “Maybe I should join the Starlight Brides program, too. I’d do it if I could get somebody like your guy.”
Before I got a chance to ask her more about what was bothering her so much at her new job, a knock at the door made us both jump. Lyric placed the last few pins in my hair then hurried over. She opened it a crack. My heart slammed when I heard her tell someone, “It’s bad luck for a groom to see the bride before the wedding.”
“Not for orcs,” came the gravelly reply.
God, even just hearing his voice was affecting me. I was a pathetic, besotted loser.
Luckily, it kind of seemed like he was, too.
Lyric twisted to look at me and mouthed, “Can he come in?”
I swallowed against a hot lump in my throat and nodded. She beamed, then opened the door wider, letting Galbrath in.
I stood to greet him and promptly forgot every word I’d ever learned. He looked so good that I was left astonished and speechless. His hair was oiled and braided, his face solemn and even more gorgeous than I remembered it. It was as if even that short time apart had dulled the memory of him, had softenedthe stark, virile, brutality of his beauty. And now he was here and it was all battering its way back in, stunning me into silence. He was wearing a leather vest I’d never seen before, inlaid with pearls that matched my gown.
“Well, I better go get dressed for the party! See you two down there!” Lyric distantly called before slipping out the door.
Alone, we stared at each other, close enough to touch. An entire ocean apart.
“Luna.” My name was a guttural sigh. Like seeing me caused him pain and relief at the same time.
“Hi.” That was all I could manage. He was so beautiful, and it felt so good, hurt so bad, to be near him.
Fortunately, he seemed to have prepared something to fill the silence. Though it didn’t start auspiciously.
“I am not a poet.”
“I, er, know? You told me that before.” I cocked my head at him. One of the loose waves of hair Lyric had left at the front shifted, and Galbrath’s eyes tracked it with something like devastated hunger.
“I have agonized,” he said, “these days without you, what I might say to make this better. I am at a loss. I have never been a garrulous man. And there’s something about… you… that seems to stop up my throat. Frankly, Luna, you make me stupid. The first time I saw you, I thought you were beautiful. And I promptly compared your face to cheese.”
That drew an unexpectedly genuine laugh from me.
“Tocheese?”
“The colour of your skin. Like whisky mixed into milk. To make cheese. My favourite cheese, just so you know,” he added gruffly.
“I’m glad you told me,” I said, smiling despite myself. “A man’s favourite cheese seems like the sort of thing his wife ought to know.”
“I know it’s a comparison that does not do you justice. I only use it to illustrate… How difficult this is for me. I want to get it right.” He took a deep breath and squared his magnificent shoulders. “The first time you touched me, when you put your hands on my head, I thought your touch was just like water. Cleansing rain. Your voice is music to me. And your scent… That I dare even the greatest poet of any world or timeline to describe.”
My eyes filled with tears. His jaw tightened.
“When I first saw you, I already began to love you. When you dared to flick me on the forehead, it deepened. And then, when I saw how much work you went to in the kitchens, trying so hard to help my people, I knew that I could never be without you. I respect you.” The declaration was like a sword through my chest. Left me breathless. “I admire you more than you could ever know.”
He raised his hands and did something I’d seen others do before. He pressed his thumbs against his tusks. But instead of letting them drop, he pushed harder and harder, until blood beaded.
“Galbrath!” I gasped, closing the distance between us and reaching up to tug at his wrists. He let me pull his hands down. “You’re bleeding!”
“It’s an orc gesture. It signifies the highest form of respect and devotion. Luna, stop looking at my thumbs. I need you to hear this.”
I held his bleeding hands gingerly in my own, and slowly raised my face to look at him. His eyes blazed.
“I love you.” Guttural. “I want to marry you properly, in front of my entire kingdom, because I am proud of you and I am endlessly grateful that you are my bride. I’ve run myself ragged making the preparations all so that it might please you. Everything is planned down to the finest detail. The decorations,the music, the food. There are honey cakes. Noona said you’ve never had one. And all your seaweed recipes, too. I’ve wanted to come to you so badly, but not until everything was ready.”
He bent his head. His mouth was so close to mine I felt his words on my lips, making me shiver.