The Gardener and The Orc

Chapter 16

[Smut can be found in chapters 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, and 14! Feel free to skip around if that's all you're here for. I'll never judge.]

Lilith managed to spend the rest of the day avoiding Gareth but could not shake the feeling she was being followed and watched. Even so, she found time between her numerous farming-and-gardening-related tasks to give Baldr the tour she had promised the night before. They were atop the plateau on the far side that backed into the rooftop of the Estates some two stories below, overlooking one of many vast fields, this one having a line of nut and fruit trees to break the harsh elevated wind and dotted with livestock.

Baldr was incredibly polite, patiently listening to her explanations and how she felt the farming methods she used could relate to making Orc Mountain a productive mainstay of trade. She could even go into detail about her breeding programs -- although the word 'breeding' grated on her today -- and the traits she specifically selected to round out her herds without him seeming to grow bored of the levy of information.

Why couldn't it be this easy to talk to that other prick of an orc? It was always 'my pet' this and 'my pet' that -- and frankly they didn't talk much at all, only fuc -- Baldr cleared his throat, interrupting her train of thought. Lilith realized she had gone silent and perhaps looked or even smelled frustrated to him, "Ah, sorry, my thoughts got away from me."

She pushed her introspection aside and continued with their tour, advising that if the orcs could commit to expanding their Captain's Lady's horse stables into barns with grazing pastures she'd offer them future breeding pairs of young weaned livestock. This was an unprecedented proposal she had yet to make to any of Morrow's other business partners, but then again she never felt indebted to any of them as she did to the orcs.

"I know I had promised to deliver the books to you before breakfast, but things did not go according to plan last night or this morning," she sighed, the hairs on the back of her neck standing, still unable to shake the feeling Gareth was nearby and listening to every word. She avoided asking Baldr for confirmation, equally certain he would not lie to her as she was certain she did not truly want to know the answer. "I can retrieve them from my uncle's rooms for you right now if you would like to join me."

Baldr paused as if listening to something she could not hear, cocking his head to the side. "It would be best if Gareth saw to collecting the books -- he is Ka-Esh and most intimately familiar with our tomes."

Lilith bristled at the suggestion, positive he did not come up with it himself. "I'm not entirely comfortable with being in a room alone with that rake," her mouth set to a grim line, not wanting to endure the inevitable arguing that would ensue without company to keep them civil.

He paused again before answering. "Ach, yes, I can do this for you. Accompany you both."

Gareth was already waiting for them on the fourth-story veranda in front of her Lord uncle's doors when they returned, affirming what she had suspected the whole day. She took a slow steadying breath as they approached him, a mask of indifference keeping her features even. This would be all business and she was determined to not let him get under her skin.

She unlocked the doors with a large brass key, swinging them open into a gaudily-decorated room. Ornate rugs, large matching mahogany furniture sets, massive leather settees, and gold inlay anywhere that could be managed -- vastly different from how she kept her rooms, or anyone in the Estates kept their rooms for that matter. There was a tall library of wholly untouched books, but it did not contain the collection they sought. Lucien shared her difficulty in reading but more severely so with their letters often flipping or blending together making it appear a jumbled mess. All of these books were merely for show, much like everything else in his rooms given that he rarely stayed at the Estates.