“I’ll go with Cora,” Krug offers, pulling a club from his back.
Bracken rolls his eyes. “Of course you will.” Even though he rolls his eyes at Krug, he winks at me to tell me he’s not mad. “Try to actually look around.”
Sniffing in indignation and trying my hardest to stifle my giggle, I look up at Krug. “Let’s go this way.” I lead him to the right, down a long corridor, while the others spread in other directions.
The old castle is not what I expected. If anything, it’s in pristine condition. Nothing has crumbled after all these centuries, and nothing is out of place. There isn’t even any dust coating the items on display along the walls—some things I recognize, others I don’t. I wonder at the kind of magic that holds this castle out of time and keeps it from aging and crumbling, despite there being no king.
“Have you ever been here before?” I inquire, glancing up at Krug.
He shakes his head. “I remember seeing King Kulmak from afar once, but I was young and he was high up. Kings didn’t concern themselves with young orcs.”
Biting my lip, I push open a large door, but it only seems to be storage, the room piled high with chairs and tables. “Was he a good king?”
Krug pauses and glances down at me. “Kulmak reigned over monsters, Cora. He was a strong king, a fair one, but was he a good one?” He shrugs. “We prospered under his rule, but he was cruel, and ultimately, it was his decisions that brought us to war.”
“But he fell in love,” I point out.
“Love does not diminish his duties, and he should have suspected what the human king was planning when he gave his daughter over as a gift. Falling in love is one thing, but pretending there isn’t trouble brewing in your kingdom is another.”
Frowning, I push another door open and peek inside, only then realizing that Krug is leaning over me to check for danger first. “I guess that makes sense, but love is a strong motivator.”
Inside the room, there’s furniture set up as if to accept company, but otherwise, there’s nothing important.
When I close the door and turn, Krug is looking down at me. “No matter what happens, Cora, I have a duty in this world. We all do. Just because I’ve been enchanted by you does not take away from those duties, and they must come first.” His words are coarse, harsh, and though they make me cringe internally, outwardly, I don’t react.
“I’ve never asked to be put first, nor, as far as I’m concerned, have I asked you to be enchanted by me,” I retort, looking up into his handsome scarred face.
Bright blue eyes focus on me and study my face. “You may not have asked, little human, but here I am, enchanted nonetheless.” He leans in and presses my back against the door, and the air rushes from my lungs at the sheer size of him. “You may not ask it of me, but I’d still consider giving it all up for you, just so you’d look at me just like this.” His finger comes up and strokes down my jawline.
“Like what?” I murmur.
“Like you’d love me just as fiercely as any warrior loves battle if I’d let you.”
I blink up at him, taking in everything from the honesty in his gaze to the small tusks protruding from his bottom lip. “I would never ask you to give up your duties.”
The corner of his lips curls up. “Which is why these feelings persist, despite my resistance,” he admits. “Because you, Cora the Fearless, are far more than simply the hunt.” He leans closer, his breath fanning across my check as he presses his lips there, his tusk scraping across my sensitive skin. “You are a queen.”
My heart seizes, and the vision I’d seen before of a crown on my head flashes in my mind as he leans back and offers me his hand. “Come. Let’s keep searching.”
I slide my hand into his and allow him to pull me along, searching room after room, hoping to find anything that could help. After we travel deeper into the castle, I remember I can follow my magic and see if it leads us anywhere. Focusing on the feeling in my veins, I close my eyes for a second before I feel a tug.
“This way,” I say, and Krug turns without any further prompting.
We follow the tug until we reach two large double doors, the wood carved in intricate patterns that I don’t recognize. Words roll across the top, but not in any language I understand.
“Knowledge is power,” Krug translates. “It’s the old language.”
The doors are taller than the orc and heavy. When he reaches forward and pushes one of them open, even he struggles with it, his muscles bulging as he opens the door just enough for us both to fit through. My jaw drops when he releases it, and the door closes behind us.
It’s a library larger than anything I’ve ever witnessed, and the shelves are completely filled with books from floor to ceiling, calling my name. The things I could learn in here that I wouldn’t need a man’s permission to learn…
“Wow,” I whisper. The room is far larger than I suspected, and it just keeps going. As we venture farther inside, more lanterns light up, leading the way. “I’ve never seen so many books.”
“We have a good library in my castle, but nothing like this,” Krug comments, looking around.
“The orcs have a library too?” I look at him eagerly.
Upon seeing my excitement, Krug steps forward and cups my chin. “When we return, I can show you, and you can read any book you’d like.”
