The Prison Realm

Chapter 5: By the Firelight

Rosa:

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

I messed up. I definitely did. I got so caught up in self-pity that I forgot to pay attention to my surroundings.

I know better.

Self-pity is always a trap. Every time. Garin'thar gave me that chance and I fell for it immediately. I was supposed to be watching our movements, looking for landmarks, and memorizing the way back to the slave camp.

I jerked out of my ill-timed reverie just in time to realize that the sun was going down, and I still didn't know what I would do to escape the orc.

"We'll stop soon and rest," Garin'thar said.

I made myself straighten in the saddle. We were so close together in the seat that even that slight movement had my ass sliding right into his crotch. I jerked away immediately, which brought my thoughts to why I wasn't looking to go anywhere near that part of him.

If we stopped to rest, we would have to sleep. If he had already considered me his wife, he would want to consummate this marriage.

Of course, I knew that orcs use humans for sex. It was safe to assume that Garin'thar and I would fit together if that happened, right? This wasn't going to be horrific if it was consensual... right? I tried to shake off the anxiety because this was something that I'd known all along was going to happen. I had to be okay with this. Our freedom depended on it.

Fucking an orc was... well, it was weird. I get it. He's not human. That couldn't be normal, but who was around to judge me? Even if anyone did, I wasn't the only human who had been bought for such a purpose.

And it wasn't like I was all that demure in my home world. I'd had one long-term boyfriend in my adult life and had enjoyed a handful of one-night stands in my clubbing days. Maybe I was naive, but I always felt in control of the situation when I went home with a man. I didn't mind going to their place and then seeing myself out when he inevitably nodded off.

And they always fell asleep.

My heart stuttered at that realization.

They ALWAYS fall asleep.

Isn't that a thing? Men always get tired right after they come.

My eyes widened.

What if all I had to do was get this orc to come and wait for him to fall asleep?

I could be careful. I could slip away in the night. Again I was

Was it a half-assed plan?

Absolutely.

But a half-assed plan got me out of the cage. Why shouldn't it work? I found myself looking glancing over my shoulder to study the orc. It was the end of a long day. He'd bought himself a slave, a wife, and had been traveling all day with a traumatized human.

That would be exhausting for anyone, wouldn't it?

I scowled. Or maybe I was making up reasons to reassure myself that this horrible plan actually had a chance to work. But what choice did I have? I couldn't waste precious time trying to think of another plan. Tomorrow we would be that much further away from the slave camp, and my chances of actually surviving the journey back would be that much lower.

I looked at him, now trying to think of him sexually. He wasn't grotesque. He didn't have festering boils or a misshapen body like the slavers. Since he wasn't wearing much of a shirt, I could see the cut muscle of his torso, the short stubble on his cheek, and those glittering golden irises that were as bright as the sun.