Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
“The mating happened. The future lies with you, child.”
“But what does that mean?”
“Try not to worry. It will do you no good.”
I huff as I’m ushered along, trying to figure out why the future would lie with me. I’ve just lost everything, after I only just gained it, and—
Oh my God.
“My bus.”
It’s a wreck, flames dancing from the cracked and broken windows, paint peeling, thick black smoke rising into the air. One the side of the bus, they’ve spray painted in red over the name I put on the bus with my parents so many years ago.
Live and Let Live, now reads Live and Let Orc.
That was clearly the fire we could see from the woods, because the rest of the camp is in ruins but it’s broken, shot up and trampled, not burned.
“Mol wouldn’t let them take it,” Oran says. “Even when they started throwing flaming bottles at him, he fought them off. That was the last time I saw him before the JE arrived.”
My heart nearly breaks in two. “No.” I shake my head. “No, he didn’t have to do that. If he hadn’t he might not have been taken. It’s my fault.” I look up into Gathra’s eyes. “It’s my fault… And now he’s…he’s…”
“She’s right,” I hear from my left, somewhere near the bus. A low, grunting voice. “None of this would have happened if she wasn’t here.”
“None of this is Raven’s fault,” Gathra replies, stepping between me and the speaker. I haven’t even seen him. He was too close to the bus, the flames hiding him from me. I’m glad about that, I don’t think I could face their wrath, any of them.
I glance across at Oran, and he looks away. It is my fault. They all think it. “Gathra, I’ll go. I can look after myself.”
“Mol,” she says, turning and squinting towards the tree line.
For a moment, I’m confused, staring into her worn face. Has she gone mad? Is she going to just say his name randomly now, pining for the son she lost? The son I took from her?
Then I follow her gaze and my breath stalls in my throat. A huge shadow staggers from the woods, blood staining his green flesh black in spots and ragged stripes. For a second, nobody moves, dumbfounded by the sight. Then he falls to his knees.
And my legs move on their own.
Within a heartbeat, I’m flinging myself into his waiting arm, kissing his face despite the mess. One eye is swollen almost completely shut, his thick nose sitting at the wrong angle, but he’s alive and that’s all that matters. It’s like I’ve just been given the world. My world. I thought it was gone but I’ve got it back and I’m never letting go ever again.
“Selthe,” he mutters. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save your bus.”
I laugh, wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling my face into his warm flesh. “I don’t care about that. I don’t care about any of it. I have you.”
“Always.”
Gathra is there, helping him to his feet. “What happened?”
“They won’t be back,” Mol says, and something tells me they met their match, and met their end.
“What now?” I whisper, trying to maneuver so that I can help carry him under the other arm. Instead, I find myself lifted up against him, my legs settled at his hip.
“Now we rebuild,” he says. “Starting tomorrow, we salvage what we can and—”
“She must leave.” A massive orc blocks our path, his arms folded over his bare chest. “She’s the reason all of this happened, she—”
Mol growls and the orc falls silent, taking a step back, but more come to stand with him. Orcs I recognize from their group, but don’t yet know the names of. My face heats. I have Mol back, but for how long? Will he choose them over me? Can I blame him if he does?
“Rag’yah is right,” Oran says, stepping forward. “Mol, if it wasn’t for Raven—”
“She goes nowhere.” I feel Mol’s grip on me tighten, his hand scrunching into my ass exactly the same as it did when he carried me the first time. It’s neither the time nor the place, but I can’t help the way it tingles all the way up my spine, making me think of things we could be doing right now if we weren’t standing here having an argument. “She is with my child.”
“Wait, what?” My own voice echoes in my head.
Mol turns his battered face to me, and a grin widens his mouth. One chipped tusk digs into his tongue as he licks his lips. “Don’t tell me you don’t know.” He spreads his hand out over my belly. “Don’t tell me you don’t feel it.”
“Feel it, I—Oh my God.”
Something moved.
Something fucking moved inside me and it’s…it’s not possible. Not this fast. Even if I’m pregnant there’s no way that it could possibly…could it?