The Prison Realm

Chapter 8: The Aftermath

Garin'thar:

The night had been one of the longest of Garin'thar's life. He'd never been so furious. He'd taken a risk on the human woman, had been ready to pay the price for her. And she had been manipulating him all along. His mind was a whirlwind of anger, his heart twisted in something that felt like loss.

He would not have thought he could lose anything else in this world.

Yet here he was.

The human was quiet, grunting uncomfortably with every one of Rinir's steps. He'd thought that punishing her would do something to relieve that turmoil and sense of loss. It wasn't, and that was only making him more enraged. They were lucky that no one had found their camp in the short time they'd been gone. He was a fool to leave it unattended.

But he was not ready to release Rosa.

Not when she'd taken his hope for a future from him.

He'd ignored her when she railed at him while he'd taken her down from his saddle. He couldn't hear her with Garin'thar berating himself for daring to dream beyond what his life had been. He was too old to be this naive about a woman. How could he have forgotten about the stories he'd heard as a child from the orc mercenaries?

Despicable to the core. They'd sooner put an arrow in an orc's back than pay them an honest wage for winning their wars.

Garin'thar couldn't even bring himself to look at the human in the firelight. So he carried her past the smoldering embers of what remained of the campfire, the spot where they'd shared a meal, and she'd given him more pleasure than he'd experienced in this world, or maybe any world, with just the barest hint of affection.

He set her roughly on the bedroll and stood above her.

She glared defiantly at him as though she had any right to anger.

He bent down to point a finger in her face.

"We have only an hour or so of night remaining. I'm going to rest. You are going to rest," he ordered.

Rosa lifted her chin stubbornly.

"Untie me," she ordered right back at him. Garin'thar felt his heart thud heavily with rage. He was done playing with this woman. Instead of obeying her command, he reached down and used her bindings to lift her and put his face into hers. She jostled with the movement, but her fear was only a brief flicker.

"I will not give you another chance to escape. You're likely to kill yourself if you make another attempt. I will leave you tied as you are for your own good. You may repay my kindness by granting me some peace," he snarled.

She sputtered.

"I will grant you as much peace as you deserve," she said. And by her tone, he assumed that she felt he deserved no peace at all.

"Must I gag you? I have a sweat rag in my saddle bag," he said.

Rosa was silent then. He took that as her petulant way of agreeing to his terms. He tucked her into the bedroll and didn't see how she was gritting her teeth as he did. Then he settled behind her and only then realized that he was holding her again. He hesitated at this, wondering why, even now, it felt right to have her in his arms-just as he had after they'd touched one another by the campfire.

I truly am a fool.

Garin'thar was silent, the memory of her cries of pleasure and the smug smile of satisfaction after she'd brought him to come still fresh in his mind. His anger ebbed just a touch at the memory, confusion warring within him as he started to relax.