Orc’s Prize: A Monster Romance by King Celeste

Author:King, Celeste
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-01-09T16:00:00+00:00

18

Borak

Jaal’s door slams shut behind him, and the heavy bolt slides home just as I reach it. I strike my fist against the frame half a dozen times. “Jaal! Open the door, or I’ll break it down!”

Candice is not far behind me.

She protests with a hand on my arm. “Stop it,” comes her muted response.

I look down at her in stunned silence. Her hand is gentle but insistent as she tries to guide me away from the door. Frisson flares over my skin. What this woman does to me, I think, yielding to her far too easily for a Chieftain.

She catches the knob and leans her forehead against the door. “Jaal, sweetie, open up.” When he doesn’t answer, she lowers her voice. “Will you give me a chance to explain?”

He doesn’t respond.

My upper lip curls. “Do you see what I have to deal with?”

Candice glances back long enough to glare at me. “I wouldn’t open the door for you, either,” she says, her words unexpectedly barbed. She turns her attention back on Jaal’s door before I can respond. “Whatever you heard, I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding. Let me in.”

I scowl at the door, willing it to burst into flames.

“Just go away!” comes his response. “You’re already going to leave me!”

I issue a smug grunt.

But Candice doesn’t seem deterred. “Is that what you heard? That I’m going to leave you? Why would I do that?”

Her response is met with silence.

She waits when I would have raged. A calm expression smooths the worry from her features. “Jaal, everything’s going to be alright. I’d prefer to have this conversation sitting down, though. Won’t you come out?”

I don’t expect the argument will appeal to him but sure enough, there’s a shuffle behind the door, then the bolt slides open and he cracks it open. His yellow eyes are rimmed with red from crying, and his frown is deep. “Come in.”

All Candice’s attention is on him, and she beams, catching his face in her hands with adoration. “Thank you.”

Jaal looks at me, then his gaze slides to the floor, and he holds the door open wider. We enter together, with me taking up the rear. Somehow, she broke through his stubbornness, and he looks willing to listen, if not a little wounded.

Maybe Iron was right.

I keep that thought to myself as Candice sits on the bed beside him, while I remain standing. She rubs his back like I’ve never thought to do, and leans in. “What’s wrong, Jaal?”

He studies the lines of his palms. “I thought you liked me.”

“I do like you,” she says in turn. “You’re smart and funny and a really great kid. Why would you think I don’t like you.”

“Because you want to leave.”

“It’s not you, Jaal-” She stops herself short.

He sniffs back more tears. “It’s my father, isn’t it?”

I bare my teeth and hold back a laugh. “This is nonsense-”

Candice throws me a look that dares me to finish. I bite back my words and glance away, grumbling something incoherent even to me.

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