Chapter 5

Orzesh

Iturned back to Serena. My mate”s face was stony. She knew now of my failings as a leader. As an orc. They had lost me my freedom and now my mate.

”And are you… sorry that you did that?”

Tears welled in her eyes. I wanted to protect her, but it was me that caused her pain. To be mated to such a monster.

”I didn”t do it myself, but I am responsible for it. And I am sorry.”

She blinked and looked confused.

”What do you mean?”

”I did not do the killing myself. I passed out on drink. But some of my men did. Obviously I killed them all for it.”

Silence hung in the room. Surely I had lost her forever. The pain was worse than when a giant spider had clawed my guts open. She scrubbed at her face, wiping the tears away. She felt things strongly.

”So you didn”t commit any war crimes, you killed those responsible?”

”I make no excuses. It happened under my command. So the crime is mine and my shame to hold. It is right that I accepted the punishment and the least I could do to regain some honor.”

”So you admitted to a crime you didn”t actually do yourself?”

”It is our way. Orc law says the leader must punish those responsible in accordance with orc law, and then inherit their responsibility when it comes to the outside laws. I only tell you this as you are my Uk”lah. We don”t discuss our ways with outsiders.”

Serena slumped in her seat. She looked exhausted and confused.

”And I”m not an outsider?”

”No, not now.”

I also slumped low in my seat. I did not enjoy talking about this shame. The weight in my stomach felt like it would pull me into the ground itself.

”Have I passed the challenge of sharing my shame, Uk”lah?”

”Yes, Orzesh, you have passed my challenge. I don”t think you are guilty of these crimes. Killing those responsible is… extreme, but I understand why you did it. It is your own law and moral code. You tried to make it right the best you could.”

My heart skipped a beat. But before I could say anything more, she hit a button on the table next to her chair. The guards entered again.

”We”ll talk more tomorrow, Orzesh.”

She stood, and the view of her curves was magnificent. I stood too and towered over her. Our eyes met as the guards shackled my arms behind my back and my legs together. Electricity fired between us. Her smell filled me with need. I burned for her. Maybe there was still hope.

”Let”s go.”

The weedy hyena guard tugged helplessly at me. It didn”t move me an inch, and I allowed him a moment to realize that, before I stepped back and turned to leave the therapy room. The walk back passed in a blur as our conversation ran through my head over and over again. I found myself back in my cell almost by surprise. A complete lapse in attention was very unlike me.

My mate. I have found my mate.

She wasn”t anything I had expected. But it wasn”t a disappointment. How could she ever disappoint me? She hadn”t rejected me when she heard of my shame. She had declared me not guilty in her eyes. I had won her challenge of therapy today and done it honorably, with honesty. If this ”talking” was what it took to get us to the mating fight, then so be it. I would talk until my tongue bled and my throat cracked open.