Chapter 16

Chapter

Sixteen

We walk ahead of Ozork and Willow, turning this way and that through the hallways. I lead the way, and Owen keeps pace with me, his hands tucked in the pockets of his pants as if he’s restraining himself from reaching out for me. I have to do the same. Now that I know how good it feels to touch him, I want to do it constantly.

Only a little longer .

Already, the illuminated entrance to the Heart of the Hill appears before us, and we turn into the corridor where four guards are waiting for us in front of the thick iron grate. Ozork unlocks the door, and the four orcs strain to lift it so we can slip through—I go first, simply because I’ve been here before, and the others follow one by one. Ozork remembers to take a lantern from the wall, so I take one as well and nudge Owen to do the same.

Willow picks up a small lantern, her pretty eyes wide. We set out into the darkness, the light from our lanterns casting flickering shadows on the walls. Owen keeps close to me, his elbow brushing mine, and I don’t move away—Willow and Ozork are too distracted with each other to notice any contact between us.

Then the corridor ends, and the Heart opens up in front of us.

I stop, remembering the first time I came here. The wide corridor we just came through wasn’t there at the time—it was excavated later, after we’d learned of the treasure hidden in this hall.

“It’s a natural cavern,” Ozork murmurs. “Similar to the one with the baths.”

I walk forward and keep my lantern low to avoid tripping. “We didn’t discover it until we’d already moved into the Hill.”

Ozork chuckles. “That’s right. I forgot you were the leader of the little gang that found it. How old were you at the time?”

I sense Owen watching me with interest. He must be remembering me saying I’d explored this Hill from top to bottom.

“I was seventeen, and it wasn’t a gang . We were just trying to escape Orsha and her exhausting training sessions.”

For a moment, I think Ozork will tease me some more, but Owen stumbles and curses under his breath, swinging his lantern wide.

“What is that? Why would someone leave this lying around…” His voice trails off, and I know what he must have found. He breathes a soft, “Oh,” and stares at the floor.

Willow hurries closer. “What is it?”

Then she stops beside him and lifts her lantern higher. I step up to Owen, adding my lantern’s glow so they can see better, exposing the trench of gold.

“Is that…?” Willow crouches beside the vein and brushes her fingers over it.

Owen rasps, “How deep does it go? How high?”

He walks forward, following the vein, illuminating its beautiful, buttery color. He seems in awe—just as stunned as I’d been when I first discovered it with Carrow and some of the other young orcs who disliked the combat training.

“Deep enough,” Ozork rumbles. “We won’t run out anytime soon.”

I follow Owen farther into the cavern, but Willow’s voice trails after us.

“How have you kept it a secret all this time? People would kill for this.”

I turn on my heels. “We know. Which is why we only tell those we trust with our lives.”

Owen faces me suddenly, his face illuminated with the flickering lantern light. “And you decided to tell me?”

I give him a secret smile, one only he will understand. Of course I trust him—I’ve given my heart over to him for safekeeping, after all.

But Owen is staring past me at Willow, and she straightens suddenly, as if struck.

“Oh. What if the duke orders you to tell him everything you saw here?” she asks.

My stomach drops, worry spreading through me. Would he really…?

A muscle jumps in Owen’s cheek, and I suddenly understand—he’s still bound by duty, at least until he resigns from his post officially. I didn’t think of this before I asked Gorvor to allow me to bring Owen here. I don’t think Owen would willingly betray us, but this puts him in an uncomfortable position of having to choose. He will either decide to honor his duty to the duchy where he’s been serving for more than half his life—or pick me, the woman he swears he cannot live without.

I bite my lip, wishing I’d considered this. For a man of such high honor, this must be torture.

“You could order me not to,” he blurts finally.

Willow frowns at him. “What?”

He rakes his fingers through his hair. “In Ultrup, the duke assigned me to you, correct? So if you are now my superior, an order from you would work,” he concludes.

Ozork’s lady sucks in a breath. “You’re forgetting that the duke is my superior. The chain of command is clear.”

But Owen grins, his gaze brilliant. “Not anymore. You married Ozork, did you not? And by marriage, you’re now part of the Black Bear Clan. Which means that if I serve you, I am, too.”

I laugh, unable to stop myself. “That’s some convoluted logic, Captain.”

He glances toward me but stands his ground, a soldier waiting for his orders.

Willow hesitates, then finally nods. “Captain Hawke, I hereby forbid you from ever speaking about the Heart of the Hill or any other clan secrets to anyone outside the clan, especially the Duke of Ultrup.”

Owen lets out a sigh of relief, his tense posture relaxing. He bows deeply to Willow. “Thank you, my lady.”

I must admit, Willow is growing on me, the longer I know her.

She groans and nudges Owen with her elbow. “We’ll have a difficult time explaining to my uncle that we’re now determined to remain here. And that we’ve both developed a case of silliness and can only report on how good the spiced cakes were.”

Owen’s lips twitch. “We’ll send most of the soldiers home tomorrow before they discover anything and we have to swear them to secrecy. You’ll have to write a very convincing letter to your uncle, or else the duke will send an army to try and save you from the evil orcs.”

Willow steps closer to Ozork, her expression sobering. “I’ll see what I can do.”

When we head outside, Owen and I walk behind the newlyweds, and I risk brushing my hand against Owen’s.

“Well, then, I’m off to bed,” I announce loudly, glancing from Willow to Ozork and back. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

Owen’s gaze is bright with amusement as he clears his throat and asks, “May I escort you to your room?”

Heat rises to my cheeks because he looks so wickedly handsome in that moment, with his hair all messy and his cheeks pink with excitement. “All right, then.”

I ignore Ozork’s satisfied grin when he lifts a hand in farewell, and then Owen and I turn the corner, finally removing ourselves from their view. I reach for him immediately, and he takes my hand, pressing a kiss to my fingers.

“I’m almost certain this was the longest day of my life,” he muses. “But I wouldn’t give away even a minute of it.”

I yawn, covering my mouth with my hand. “Aye, I know what you mean. It must be past midnight, though, so perhaps this counts as tomorrow.”

He grins down at me. “I think that word will forever hold a special meaning for us.”

The farther we walk from the Heart, the more the tiredness descends. I miss a twist in the corridor and only realize what I’ve done when we find ourselves in front of the carved double doors to the library. Cursing softly under my breath, I tug Owen into the opposite direction. I just want to get to my room and?—

“Hey.” Owen stops me and wraps me in his arms. “Stop. Tell me what’s going on.”

I stare at his chest, at the small triangle of pale skin visible above the collar of his shirt, and grumble, “I’m tired.”

“Really?” He grins down at me. “After the day we’ve had? How surprising.”

I pinch him lightly. “Joke all you want, but I think I’ll fall asleep the moment my body comes in contact with my bed. So we might not get?—”

“To fuck again?” He tips my chin up and kisses me softly. “I don’t care about that, sweetheart. We have all our lives to catch up on it. What I want to do is take care of you, and if that means simply sleeping beside you tonight, so be it.”

My eyes well with tears, but I blink them away before they fall. “All right. Come on, then. I swear I know the way back to my room.”

By the time my door appears in front of us, I’m not the only one flagging. Owens stifles a yawn, then grins at me ruefully, but he still helps me undress and kisses me soundly before he rolls onto the far side of the bed and draws down the covers.

I blow out the lantern, check that the door is locked, and make my way toward him.

“I can’t see you,” he complains. “Where are you?”

I crawl onto the bed and wiggle toward him until my back is flush with his chest. “Right here.”

“Oh.” He puts an arm around my waist and takes a deep inhale of my scent. “Gods, this feels good.”

“Aye.” I chew on my lip, then blurt, “Do you think you might want to spend all your nights here? We’ll have to tell Willow and the others, though, or it will look very suspicious if you’ll offer to walk me to my room every evening.”

Owen’s soft laugh ruffles the hairs on my neck. “If you want me here, I will move in tomorrow. I don’t want to spend another moment away from you.”

A glow of happiness spreads through me, lulling me deeper toward slumber. “You’ll have to travel to Ultrup in the spring, though.”

My mate yawns again, clearly unconcerned. “But I will return as soon as I can.”

“I know.” I take his hand from where it’s resting just under my breasts, bring it to my lips, and press a kiss to the warm inside of his palm. “I know you will.”