GYDA

"No?" I looked at Orvar, who slowly lost his angry frown.

"No. Stay." He stood up, standing in front of me, blocking my path to the door. "Uh... Please."

"Are- are you sure?" I asked. "You seem angry with me."

He seemed to be enraged a moment ago. He'd raised his voice and growled at me while his hands trembled in anger.

"Yes," Orvar answered. "I mean yes, stay—not yes, I'm angry with you. I'll keep calm. I'm—I am sorry for barking at you..."

The last thing I wanted was to make a seven-foot-tall orc angry, but if I was honest, I didn't want to go home just yet. There was so much more he could tell me; things my family would never share or even knew about.

We both sat down again and a somewhat awkward silence fell, where Orvar scratched the back of his neck, and I didn't know where to look.

"Uhm..." I started. "Could you maybe tell me what you know about the history of the orcs and humans? Like, from the start. How did everything begin?"

"From the start..." Orvar repeated. "I think it all started when our orc women slowly disappeared, many, many years ago. It was when we still lived in harmony with humans, in houses under the sunlight. It is said that a lot of us even lived and mated with humans."

"They did?" I asked, intrigued.

"Yes. After all, we all descend from the same ancestor and we know we can interbreed. And orcs were probably more appealing to your kind back then..." He gave me this odd smile and I fully understood that he knew how women felt about orcs' appearances. "Then our orc women slowly became extinct. Nobody knows why it started exactly, and it was only an insignificant problem at the beginning. But because of that, more orcs had to turn to humans for offspring. The theory is that the female human gene was dominant in humans, thus more human females were born and the orc females slowly started to disappear. I can only imagine how frightening that must have been over the years."

"And then more and more orcs went after our women?" I interrupted.

"Yes. And probably not in the kindest way... Wars started, and because humans were physically much weaker than orcs, we killed most of their men."

"But that still doesn't explain why so few human boys are born today," I said. "Why is that, you think?"

"Well... that's when the problem for humans kicked in." This time, Orvar smirked. "The male gene is dominant in orcs. Who needs weak men if you can have strong ones?"

"Hm," I hummed, thinking about it all. I was thrilled with this new information—probably more than I should be. I didn't know where this fascination with history and the orcs came from, but it had always been in me. "And the breeding agreement?" I asked.

"Breeding with humans didn't seem to work all that great either. Women were stressed and their babies died. Then the peace accord came: orcs were to leave your women alone, and we all agreed to come together once a year. In exchange, the women would give us our sons."

"Yes, that is how I know the story as well," I answered. "But to go back to what you said about your women, you mentioned it was a slow process? I always thought they stopped being born, just like that."

"It wasn't that sudden," Orvar answered. "Even a few hundred years ago, an occasional orc female was born. It was rare, but it happened. Until none were born at all... That's pretty much the story from the beginning to the end, I guess," Orvar said, shrugging his big, blocky shoulders. "But I just know the tales that have passed down from generation to generation. I don't know if this is the actual truth."

I smiled at him. "Thank you for telling me. It's already so much more than I knew, so I'm glad you told me."

We talked some more about our history and different ways of life until I had to ask him about one other subject.

"And...uh..." I took a breath. "The children? How will that be arranged?"

"We're not allowed to visit your homes," Orvar replied. "So when a son is born, a family member of yours brings him here. A sister or an aunt. When none of your family comes, I know no son of mine has been born."

"And that's it?"

"Yes... You don't need to return here if you don't want to..."

That miserable feeling was back in my gut again.

"And what happens to the babies here in the mountains?" I asked, thinking about Amira's story. She'd said that the little ones were weak and the orcs often came to ask for her mother's help.

"We nurture the little ones as best as we can. They grow fat on goat's milk and mashed vegetables until they are old enough to eat meat with us. We have the elders and some women to help take care of them."

"Like Betsy?" I asked.

"Yes. She's been here for a few years now, living as Ston's woman. She's pregnant with their second one. Their first bairn died after birth."

"Oh..." I swallowed. "That's so sad."

"M-hm," he growled.

"Do- uh..." I cleared my throat. "Do the mothers ever visit their sons?"

Orvar looked at me in question as he slightly tilted his head to the side. "No," he replied. "Why?"

"I don't know... It's just a question...Would women be allowed to, though? T-to visit Asclan Peaks, I mean?"

Orcs were not allowed to visit our towns, and I knew we could not set foot on their territory, either. We were told that we could only cross the borders once a year because the orcs didn't want us on their land. But now, I'd learned women actually lived here! And that made me question what my teachers and mother had told me.

"If you come in peace, I wouldn't know why you couldn't come to visit..." Orvar replied. "But nobody ever comes." I flinched when one of Orvar's fingers raised my chin so I had to look at him. "Would you?" he then asked, his eyes meeting mine.

"I... I don't know," I said honestly.

My mother would never allow me to visit the mountains on any other day than during a breeding moon. And she would certainly not allow me to visit my orc son. If I did, and other people found out, I would surely put shame on my family—maybe even ruin them. They could be shunned in town, or ridiculed. I didn't want that to happen.

Maybe I was being ridiculous, thinking ahead like this. Perhaps there was no child in my belly at all! Maybe Orvar was wrong. But still...what if I was with child? And this child happened to be an orc? At least now, I knew there was a possibility I could return here and see him.

And that idea felt good.

Because even though this baby wasn't even born yet, I already felt this desire to protect it. I'd felt like that ever since Orvar told me I was with child.

"Well, now you know you can come back. If you want..." he replied, releasing my chin. "I have a question for you as well."

"Oh? Please ask me."

"Why have you not come before?"

"The first three years I was of age to take part, I was in my bleeding week and had no chance of conceiving. Bad luck. The following years, my mother didn't let me. Her idea was that it would be easier to conceive a human son when I was older..."

Orvar scoffed.

"I guess it's the same thing as your idea about long hair."

"That is not the same," he replied, before suddenly folding his big fingers around my arm.

Before I could comprehend what was happening, he'd lifted me, turned me around, and planted me in his lap, facing him.

"Hah!" I gasped while my spread legs were pressed against his waist. "Orvar!"

"Gyda..." he whispered, his voice almost purring.

After a moment of staring at each other, I softly repeated, "Orvar?"

I pressed my knees into his hips while he stroked a strand of hair out of my face and attempted to tug it behind my ear. It was so short it fell back into my face again, and Orvar repeated the same motion over and over again. "I hate that damned bitch for cutting your hair. The first time I laid my eyes on you, I envisioned you riding my cock while this hair spilled over me like a dark golden waterfall."

"Oh"—I swallowed—"okay."

Just hearing the words caused a heated wave to travel through my body.

He smiled. "It doesn't matter, though. I never regretted my decision to take you as my mate tonight..." When my hair finally was secured behind my ear, he grinned widely. "There."

It was hard to understand how those teeth—rows of little sharp daggers—and those sharp claws of his hadn't at least left me with a few dozen wounds. This orc looked like a monster, capable of slaughtering me in a heartbeat, yet he'd been so gentle there was not a scratch on my body.

Orvar closed his eyes and let his head fall forward until his forehead rested on top of my left shoulder. His hands ran under my dress and stayed still when his palms were wrapped around my waist.

"It is a new day and I have no business touching you like this," he spoke softly. "But I want to." He lifted his head again and looked at me. "You're letting me?"

I swallowed and nodded.

"Why were you crying?" he asked. "Was it because of me?"

"What? No." I shook my head. "I was just...emotional after everything that happened. I wasn't unhappy about you..."

He cupped my face and pulled me closer, his tusks already bumping against my skin before his lips touched mine. My heart pounded within my ribcage, realizing I was going to kiss him again.

And I would have kissed him if it wouldn't have been for a tall, broad orc barging into the room. "Holy crap, I'm sorry, commander," he said, his voice even lower than Orvar's was.

"Fuck, Jarla!" Orvar hissed. "What is it?"

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