CHAPTER EIGHT（Untitled）Wranth

CHAPTER EIGHT

Wranth

All our talk of magic and doors cannot distract me for long from the thought that continues to plague me.

Sturrm told me how he made a mistake in not telling his bride what she was to him when they met, so I made sure to not repeat his error. Yet I too have failed, even if in a different way. I forgot the other thing the human women mentioned—that their culture doesn’t do magically matched marriages that they have no say in or don’t even know is happening.

My moon bound bride does not wish to be married to me.

I’m still unwanted, still unmoored. I may finally have someone who belongs to me, but I do not belong to her.

It seems all my dreams of finally being important to someone are just that, dreams. Disappointment eats at me. I’d grown used to my lot in life. To finally have hope, only to have it wrenched away…

Yet even if all I am to Naomi is all I’ve ever been to anyone—a strong sword arm ready to protect—then that is what I will be. I will stand between her and the soul stealers and any other being who dares threaten my bride. Unto my dying breath, I will protect her with all that I am.

If my dream of being more to her remains just that, a dream, I will still have her laughter and beauty in my life.

She laughs now, a rich, throaty chuckle that makes my cock twitch.

By the goddess, all my fine thoughts are lies. Being near Naomi will never be enough, unable to touch, to taste, to make her laugh with the joy of a well-satisfied woman.

A growl rumbles through my chest as the wind tickles Naomi’s glorious curls across my cheeks, filling my nose with her sweet scent. Holding her luscious curves this close is maddening, the press of her buttocks enough to test the very limits of my warrior control.

A wildness pulses inside me, and for once, it’s not rage-fueled.

“Tell me about those places we went,” my moon bound says, her voice husky, “where my magic first took us.”

So I do. I tell her of King Aldronn and the campsite she and I visited, how they were halfway between two of the orc villages.

“Wait. You’re one of the king’s guards?” She twists to look over her shoulder at me, her brown eyes inquisitive. “What were you doing away from him and your duty?”

“The Moon Goddess summoned me to find you.” My arm tightens around her. “There can be no higher purpose than that. Even the king would not gainsay my quest.” On the contrary, he was thrilled, saying that my summons meant perhaps the goddess wasn’t quite as fixed on Moon Blade Village as we thought. I didn’t point out that I had just spent a couple of weeks living in the village beforehand, too eager to leave quickly to claim my bride.

“Huh.” She faces forward, but not before I notice her lips purse in thought. “But I could have been anyone, and I’m certainly not more important than a king.”

“You are to me,” I say.

She jolts, the movement pressing her even more tightly to me, but before she can reply, the others chime in.

“The orc king is just that,” Zephyr says. “The orc king. He is a power, but he does not command all of the Wild Fae.”

“Never met him. But I do know he’s never opened the doors of Faerie like you just did.” Shadow grins over at my bride, his green eyes holding such interest that I flash my tusks at him. It does nothing to deter him from telling her, “You’re fascinating.”

I cannot disagree. “The Moon Goddess only brings witches of incredible power to Alarria.”

“Do any of the others tell a port?”

“What do ship berths have to do with it?” I frown. “And how do you speak to them?” Her world has no magic or at least none I could feel.

Her laugh sings in my blood, making my heart race. “Not that kind of port or that kind of tell. It’s all one word—teleport. It means to move from one place to another in the blink of an eye.”

“You certainly do that.” Pride fills me. My bride holds true power. Her ability to move around Alarria instantaneously is amazing. The fact that she can open the doors of Faerie, which no one else has accomplished in three-hundred years, makes her phenomenal. “No one else can do what you can.”

“Tell me about the other women, the human witches.”

She settles back against me as I tell her of all the moon bound brides brought to Alarria. Olivia, who conjures food, Ashley, who can fly, Taylor, who moves things with her mind, Grace, who conjures unique weapons, and Selena, who can heal.

“I didn’t realize there were so many.”

“You will not be alone,” I say. “They all live in Moon Blade Village. That’s the other place you took us to.”

“The place with the big trees? Do people really live inside them?”

“They do. Those are heart trees, and orc wood workers use their magic to carve cottages from the living wood.”

We talk about the village, and I surprise even myself, remembering more than I realized about my recent stay—hunting with Branikk, soaking in the communal baths, spending evenings down the pub with good ale and better company. I don’t mention the way orcs love to brawl and instead focus on the entertainment all the human witches love. “The pub’s even better now that Sturrm’s back from finding his bride. He’s a great singer, and Selena now joins him in duets.”

“All of that sounds wonderful, but you still haven’t explained the Whirling Swings ride.” She laughs. “I never expected to see one of those!”

“Grace conjured it. It actually keeps the sluagh from attacking from the sky,” I say. “Though most evenings it gets used for its intended purpose as a ride for the younglings, pixies, and sprites to enjoy.”

“Just be glad you didn’t have to listen to the so-called music ,” Zephyr says with a snort of disgust. “It’s enough to set your teeth on edge.”

“Now I really need to see this amazing contraption.” Shadow purrs a ratcheting laugh.

“I want to visit the village again,” Naomi says. “It’ll be nice to meet the other women.”

My mouth opens, and I barely stop myself from correcting her and saying she’ll live there.

Because I’m not even certain I will live there. As one of the king’s guard, I’m supposed to remain by Aldronn’s side, though perhaps he will station me in the village, as he did my friend Sturrm.

Even if I remain in direct service of the king, it might not be an issue, because my bride can travel the breadth of the realm in an instant. She can visit wherever I happen to be.

If she wants to.

If she wants me .

Yet all of these worries are dreams of a future that may not come to pass. I know in my heart why she used the word “visit.” My bride doesn’t plan to remain in Alarria at all.

An uncomfortable restlessness fills me at the thought. It’s not the rage that often overwhelms me, but it’s a close cousin. I bare my tusks in a silent snarl, needing to move.

“Zephyr, stop,” I bark the words when I can remain still no longer. “We’ve lost the sluagh for now. I must hunt for breakfast.”

“Breakfast sounds fantastic,” Naomi says.

“I could eat.” Shadow’s voice sounds like a laugh.

With no meadow or glen in sight, Zephyr comes to a halt near a dogwood tree. “I suppose this will have to do.”

A pang goes through me. My friend galloped hard to get me to my bride. Even with unicorn self-healing magic, Zephyr still pushed hard. I slide from her back and press my hand to her withers. “We’ll camp in a meadow tonight, so you can graze.”

She humphs and lips a cluster of tender green leaves, chewing them quickly as her jaw moves from side to side.

I lift Naomi down and can barely make my hands release her, my fingertips flexing against her lovely softness. She looks up at me, her eyes full of questions I don’t have the answers to.

Fuck, I don’t even know who I am—not really. I don’t know my parents or my true home. What can I offer her but a life of travel, half of it spent in tents instead of the comfort of a cottage?

It’s no wonder she doesn’t want to stay.

“I’ll be back,” I grit out through a tightening throat.

Then, I’m off, moving into the trees. I pause for several moments while my magic spools out of me, seeking a game animal to track.

There! I set off again, moving as quietly as possible, stepping over downed logs and skirting clumps of fern. My feet glide over the moss and pine-needle covered ground. I take another step—

An invisible hand picks me up and flings me across the world. I land on my knees, impacting a crouching Naomi’s back. She jolts forward, and quick warrior reflexes make my hands snap out to catch her by the shoulders before she can hit the ground. When I pull away, I can finally see her…

And her beautiful buttocks, bare and begging for my hands.