Fake Dating an Orc Cowboy (Sweet Monster Treats)

5. Ostor

Chapter 5

Ostor

T he boob-ly pain was amazing, but I could tell it was having an impact on my mind. Thankfully, its buoyant effects didn’t last long, because those around me had stopped joining in on my song.

“More champagne?” the steward asked, stopping beside us with a smile.

“Only if you’d like me to keep singing,” I said gruffly.

“Any distraction is good, right?” He tilted his head to his left, where a toddler sat beside her mother. “She was fussy when she boarded, but your song worked a miracle.” He tutted. “Flying can be hard on little ones. The pressure hurts their ears. Some are scared. But you made take-off a breeze for her. Thank you.” He held up the bottle. “Are you sure I can’t talk you two into more?”

“Not for me,” Rosey said, and I murmured the same. While singing was enjoyable, I suspected those around me would not enjoy me doing so for the entire flight.

Singing had worked a miracle on me as well.

The plane continued onward, and I leaned over Rosey to peer out the window, my belly dropping away to nothing when I saw how far above the ground we were. But I was equally fascinated by the view.

“Orcs live beneath the ground, and it has its own beauty,” I told Rosey. “Iridescent insects cover the roofs of our caverns, and they generate light when they rub their back legs together. This helps us see our way. Like with your sun, they give us day and night. They rub their legs to attract a mate but only do so the equivalent of your twelve hours before resting and granting us darkness.”

“It sounds amazing.”

“A few random insects have not received the notification that they mustn’t rub all the time, and they’re our stars in the night.”

“Do they create white light?”

“Some. Others create every shade imaginable. I’ve seen images of your northern lights, and I suppose you could say they create ours.”

“Tell me about your family? You said you have brothers.”

“Ten brothers and six sisters.”

“Wow. That’s a big family.”

“It’s common with orcs. Our males have . . .” How could I delicately say this? While the youngling girl had fallen asleep in the seat opposite mine, others might take offense if they overheard. I leaned close to her ear and whispered, “We generate lots of cum.”

Huffing out a laugh, she looked up at me. “All guys say that.”

“It’s been studied. We generate at least three times that of a human male.”

“Because you’re bigger.”

“Not three times bigger,” I pointed out.

“Why so much?”

“To ensure fertility, I suppose.”

“Your spermies swim slowly?” she asked with a grin I found incredibly sweet.

“Perhaps. Twins are common with orcs as well. There are two sets in my family. Two of my sisters and two of my brothers are identical.”

“Your spermies split the egg, then.”

I didn’t know what that meant. I could only surmise what spermies meant. “You probably understand the science of this better than me. I’ve lived a simple life on my family’s sorhox ranch, and while I was educated as well as the next orc, our biology wasn’t something that interested me.”

“A ranch? Then you have experience.”

“My family has owned the same ranch since my parents mated. This is why some of my brothers chose to come to the surface and start a new business venture. I’m one of the youngest in our family and while we younglings could continue to work on our family ranch all of our lives, my older siblings have mated and they’re producing many younglings themselves. The ranch is enormous, a common thing when you consider how vast and lush our caverns are, but our family compound is getting crowded.”

“If you return to the orc kingdom, what will you do if there’s no room for you to work at the ranch?”

I shrugged, because I was not returning to the orc kingdom. My place was by my mate’s side.

There was no way I could leave her. My heart would be shattered forever.

I watched as we soared above the ocean, marveling about that as well, and pointed. “We have lakes and seas as large as this one, though our water is darker, richer, like the soil here on the surface. Our waterways harbor small creatures that give off light as well, which makes the water sparkle.” Large creatures as well. Dangerous ones, which I was sure I’d find here on the surface.

“It sounds beautiful.”

“Perhaps one day, I’ll be able to show you.”

“I can’t imagine what it’s like. Humans are only allowed in your kingdom if they’re on diplomatic missions, correct? I haven’t heard of anyone traveling there for tourism or to visit with friends.”

Only human mates could go to the orc kingdom.

Would she be offended if I told her we were fated to be together forever and that I adored her already? I ached to share the emotions growing within my heart. It was common for fated mates to fall in love fast. Who’d resist when they found the person the very fates themselves had chosen for them to love? They were our perfect match, and while love could also grow between those who weren’t fated, it must feel like a dimmer image of the affection roaring through me now.

I kept my voice as light as I could because I had to tell her a fraction of what I was feeling, but I didn’t want to frighten her away. “Your hair flows like the deepest river in our caverns, dark but alive with veins of shimmering gold, resembling strands of a stone found commonly on our ground.”

“That’s . . . nice.”

Why were her eyes sparkling with humor? I was being serious, though perhaps, I hadn’t said enough to impress her. Tark was the poetic one in our family, but surely, I could come up with something that would show her what she was starting to mean to me already. “It also resembles the fires of Pyrathon that burn endlessly in some of our deepest caves. It moves and dances like gleaming shadows on dark stone walls. If I could, I’d bury my face in your hair and remain there until my dying day.”

“Ostor,” she croaked, and when she looked up at me, her sky eyes had darkened as if a storm lashed through her. “That’s incredible. I’m not sure what to say.”

“I hope I haven’t upset you by speaking like this.”

“Not one bit. It’s beautiful. It makes me hurt in here.” She pressed her fingers against her chest. “But in a good way.”

A good way. My tension eased.

“I can see why you can’t wait to return home,” she said.

Not if it meant leaving her. “I may choose to stay with my brothers.” They’d be surprised, since that wasn’t my original intention, but how could I leave Rosey?

“Some of your people have left your gorgeous orc kingdom to settle on the surface,” she said.

“To start a new life much like those who left your eastern shores many generations ago to travel across the vast, open spaces to build homes for their families.”

“There’s a lot to unpack about our western movement.”

“I’ve read about some of it, and it’s tragic.”

“Humans may try to do what they think is the right thing, but not all of us are good people.”

“Good isn’t an all-or-nothing thing. Each fragment of a person can be peeled away to reveal another facet, and some may be harsher than another, but that’s what makes us all unique.”

“You’re right.”

“All we can do is keep trying to be a good person and hope that others see the facet that shines the brightest.”

“You’re a deep person, Ostor.”

“You mean like our caverns?”

“I think you could make that comparison. I imagine there are depths in your world that still haven’t been explored, minerals and creatures that are equally wondrous and frightening. And each of them contains their own facets.”

“I believe you’re right.”

“Chicken, pasta, or the fruit and cheese plate?” The man who’d brought the boob-ly pain asked, standing beside us, holding an electronic device in one hand. “For your meal.”

“I’ll have the fruit and cheese plate,” Rosey said, and I nodded in agreement.

“Anything to drink?” he asked.

“Just water for me,” Rosey said, and I agreed with that as well.

The male moved on to the mother and youngling sitting opposite us.

Rosey and I talked as we ate, and the more I got to know her, the more I could see the fates had been right in placing me on her path. She would one day agree, or I’d wallow in my own, non-boob-ly version of pain for the rest of my days.

“What do you do to provide for your life?” I asked. “And do you have siblings? Tell me about your family.”

“I work as a radiology technician, which means in the medical field. We use equipment to take images inside a person to help diagnose them with various illnesses or to identify breaks in bones. I run that equipment,” she said proudly. “It’s a great job. Everyone I work with is awesome. And I like helping people.”

“It sounds like a wondrous career.”

Her smile grew. “As for my family, my parents are still together, and I rent the apartment above their garage, partly because they give me such a great deal but also because I like being close in case they need me. They’re still very active and they work as well, but I’m sure they appreciate it when I mow the lawn or weed the flowerbeds. I love gardening, and that’s my only chance to do it. I have one sibling.” Her laugh burst out. “ Not a twin.”

“Your sister—”

“Macy.”

“Who is marrying the male you hoped to form a mating with one day.”

“Yeah.” She stared at the remaining cheese on her plate before popping a round green item called a gripe into her mouth. She spoke around the bite. “I’m twenty-eight, and I thought I’d at least be in a solid relationship by now. Sometimes I feel like life is passing me by and if I could only leap onto the train, it would take me somewhere special. Instead, I remain at my job, living in an apartment that’s cheap but I don’t own, and the train keeps on chugging along, leaving me behind.”

“I’m thirty,” I said. “And I believe you still have a wonderful life waiting for you. One day soon, your mythical train will stop, and you’ll hop on board. What an amazing ride you’ll take after that.”