Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

LILY

" O rcs at the entrance," one of the guards announces.

I look up from the pants I'm sewing and immediately spot Ryko. He's as handsome as ever, especially with his hair back down. I'll have to ask him why he pulled it back earlier. Damn, but I have so many questions, so many things to tell him.

My meeting with him earlier ended too soon, but I'm still flying high knowing he never intended to hurt or leave me. Owen moved my table while I was on break, and I'm back with Jessie who would turn me in if she found out about Ryko and me. She's the only reason I don't do a little happy dance. Although I bet seeing me dance for no reason would make Ryko flash his tusks.

I'd do anything to see that right now, to have that reassurance that everything will be fine. We have a second chance to make things right between us. The hurt is gone, replaced by longing and fear for Ryko, especially now that I see his grak baring his teeth at him .

I swallow hard and accidentally stab my finger with a needle. "Damn it," I swear before popping my finger into my mouth.

Ryko's not looking my way, so I let my eyes wander over him.

"Stop staring, Lily, or one of those monsters might come over here," Jessie cautions. She's sitting to my left, sewing a jacket. It's rare we both work the market on the same day. I guess she found someone to screw and adjust the schedule in her favor.

"What are you talking about?" I ask as Ryko's eyes finally catch mine. I don't see a monster. Only an honorable, sweet, brave man.

His ridges lift slightly. Every part of me fills with excitement, even though he doesn't approach. With a slight tilt of his head, I know he's asking me if I'm okay. He must have heard me swear when I stabbed myself with the needle.

I check to my right and left to see who's watching. Jessie's engrossed in her sewing.

Finally, I let my eyes rest on Ryko. He flashes his tusks at me. Damn, that's sexy!

I smile so wide, that I quickly shove my hand over my mouth to keep others from seeing. If Jessie weren't here, I would gaze at Ryko all day and get nothing done.

Suddenly, a thick male body stands in front of my table, blocking my view of Ryko.

Owen stares down at me with a knowing glint in his eye. "Why the fuck are you smiling at an orc , Lily?"

When I turn my attention to my sewing, he lifts my table up and slams it down, sending the contents skittering in all directions. My spool of black thread rolls off the table and keeps going as Owen glares at me.

"What orc?" I ask innocently, leaving the spool for Jessie to chase.

"Those two orcs by the tree." He points a meaty, dirty finger toward Ryko and his grak. "What have you been doing with them? "

"I'm sitting here sewing , Owen." I show him the finger I just stabbed. "If I smiled it was because I was thinking of a joke Paloma told me earlier. Do you want to hear it?" I scramble to remember anything funny that I can turn into a joke. Even a stupid one.

He grunts.

"Keep moving, Owen," Jessie says, coming to my rescue. "We can't sell with you blocking the table."

"I'll be watching you, Lily." Owen snarls at me as he moves off to harass the women at the other tables.

"Asshole," Jessie says.

"Quiet! He might hear you."

"He's not the one we have to worry about. Those monsters are watching us."

I'm afraid to look up because now Jessie's on alert, though she doesn't think I'd have anything to do with an orc.

Earlier, I hoped Ryko would break away from his grak and approach my table. Now, I'm terrified he'll do so and Owen will return. One foul comment from Owen, which is almost a guarantee, could set off Ryko. And while I'd like nothing more than to see him teach Owen a lesson, Ryko jumping to my defense will doom both of us.

"Just look at those filthy, disgusting beasts," Jessie says.

"They don't look dirty," I say, now that she's given me cause to look at them. "Well, the bigger one does, but maybe his horse threw him into a mud puddle or something."

"They're green, for fuck's sake."

"Give me strength," I whine. "You'd think after all our history back on Earth, and then the grud invasion, we'd learn to ignore skin color."

"You're missing the point, Lily! The orcs are monsters ." She thrusts her hand in the air toward Ryko and his grak who constantly scowls .

" Tusks , Lily. They have tusks . Like elephants." Jessie shakes her head. "Or did that little detail escape your notice?"

A shiver runs through me remembering the delicious tingle that spreads over my body when Ryko drags his long, sharp tusks over my lips, my throat?—

"Exactly. They're horrifying," Jessie says, misunderstanding my shiver. "I wish I'd never come to this horrible planet."

"If you had stayed on Earth, you'd be under coalition rule. And who knows what that would be like."

"Better than being bossed around by the men in our colony."

She has a point. When the Coalition conquered Earth, the cendagi, one of the races that make up the Coalition, gave a few thousand people the chance at a new life on Kovos, a planet with no cities and no intelligent native life. A place where we'd be free to rule ourselves.

They never told us we'd be sharing the planet with four other species. There are no planetary laws or treaties, only one central market designed to give the five groups a neutral place to trade.

Outside of Pen'Kesh, we don't interact with one another, and each colony governs itself. Which means that the fragile peace we enjoy can disintegrate with the smallest incident.

Like being discovered with an orc.

Ryko strokes his right tusk and the apex of my thighs heats. "Damn," I curse when I prick my finger again.

"You lose your thimble?"

"No, I just hate wearing it. It slows me down."

Ryko watching me is a distraction. A hot, exciting distraction, but still a distraction.

"At least we get to wear what we like." I twist my torso slightly so no one catches me giving the girls a slight lift.

"That's because we're the ones making the clothing."

"Precisely." I'm currently wearing a flowing skirt that reaches my knees. There's just something about wearing a skirt that makes me feel pretty. I don't normally change what I wear for anyone, but when I come to Pen Kesh, I wear a blouse that hugs my curves. I started showing off the girls after I met Ryko. These last three weeks, that didn't change. I guess I hoped I'd see him again, despite how hurt I'd been.

"Can you imagine if the men start telling us what to wear next? Like demanding we wear long sleeves or worse, some prairie-style long skirts? I'd melt."

I laugh, unable to picture Jessie in anything but the shorts and tank tops she wears year-round, even when the temperature drops. "I don't think the men care about what we wear."

"Just the same, if Owen spews any nonsense about a dress code, I'm gonna point out how he needs to worry about watching those orcs who keep staring at us."

With a nervous tilt of my head, I peer at Ryko. He's looking away again, but he's hanging out at the entrance to our sector. He's never done that before. He doesn't appear to be waiting for me, not with how he's avoiding eye contact as much as possible. Something's up and I get the sense that we need to be more discreet than ever.

A cold blast of reality strikes me. Even if Ryko's grak gives him permission to be with me, if I try to break away from New Earth to be with an orc, I could start a war between our colonies.