Chapter 25
Vienne
W e do manage to find our own home, in a back alleyway above a pawn shop with enough room for the baby and Izzy, too. That lizard has grown on me, and he’s even taken to laying around on my lap from time to time.
I expected more resistance from the owner to let us rent, given that we’re one human and one orc, but the woman seemed more annoyed than anything that we were taking up her time. We agreed to her price, and she surveyed each of us.
“I hope you work,” she said. “Your rent will be due at the beginning of every month, on the dot.”
“Right.” I bite the inside of my cheek, hoping I do manage to find something before then.
When she’s gone, Graz pats my arm. Don’t worry. Lo’zar will find us soon, and I have work I can do for Gusak.
We wait for this mysterious friend of his to appear. Some of my sickness eases, to be replaced by other annoying symptoms—aches and pains, sleeplessness.
Did you really have to put a baby in me? I grumble as we spoon in bed, Graz’s hand exploring me all over.
Sorry. But he doesn’t seem sorry as he winds his hand down between my legs, teasing me and tantalizing me until I’m ready for him. We start on our sides, but soon Graz insists on seeing my belly while he fucks me, positioning me on his lap so he can suck my nipples while I ride him.
Ah, filled up with my whelp, are you? he says, bringing me down on his cock until I’m whining and clutching him close.
Yes! I can barely think when he takes me like this. I’m so full with you!
Graz grunts with pleasure as he sinks deep inside me, rocking back and forth there as he touches me all over. He takes me like that until I’m muttering incoherently, then pushes me down and fucks me until I gush around him.
I’m starting to get rather round when there comes an unexpected knock at our door.
Hmm , an unfamiliar voice says. I thought this was the place.
You just knocked. Let’s wait a minute.
It must be them. Who else can speak the way that Graz and I can?
Graz throws open the door, and standing on the other side is a very tall, lanky troll with purple skin and even purpler hair, and beside him is a tiny woman with black hair and huge eyes. A little human toddler stands at her side, holding her hand, and another is slung over the troll’s shoulders.
“Ah!” the troll calls out. “Graz!”
I understand this, at least. The other woman and I both scoot aside so the two can hug in the doorway, then they start throwing words back and forth in Trollkin we can’t understand.
I hate when you do that, the woman with the dark hair says, frowning at her mate, who must be Lo’zar. What are you saying?
I have to laugh. We can understand you, too, I say.
The troll’s eyes jump to mine, and his mouth widens into an impossibly charming grin. Ah, the woman who broke my grumpy best friend. He walks over to me and grabs me by the shoulder. I knew he’d eat his words one day.
We welcome them all inside, and it’s sweet to see Graz and his old friend reunited. Rimi, Lo’zar’s mate, isn’t as talkative as Lo’zar is. She studies everyone as her twin toddlers sit meekly beside her.
“Two of them, huh?” I ask as our mates talk.
“Oof, they were a task, I’ll tell you what,” she says. “You’re sure you have just one on the way?”
I laugh. “I think it’s just one.”
It’s a delight to get to know her and hear her story, which is almost as wild as ours. We share what we know about magic, and it’s a relief to find someone else who’s been there, who’s witnessed it and what it can do.
“I think you made the right choice to seal it off,” she says thoughtfully. “Who knows when Riggamora will show his face again?” She pats one of her children on the head, and I wonder if she knows something I don’t.
* * *
Graz
Lo’zar couldn’t believe his ears when I told him that he might finally be safe from Gusak.
“I mean, don’t use me as a reference or anything,” I say quickly. “But it seemed like he understood where you were coming from.”
My friend settles his little human son in his lap as he leans back in a chair, one of the two we have on our new wooden porch.
“I hope so. I’d love to get to be landside, just for a while. I think the twins could use some hard ground under their feet.”
I nod in understanding. They’re easygoing children, as far as children go, but there’s something to be said for stability.
“I’m so happy you found what you needed,” Lo’zar says, clapping me on the shoulder. “And you got out from under the clan.”
“Gusak still has his claws in me.” I grit my teeth. “But I have to do what I have to do for my whelp.”
Lo’zar just laughs, and I hate how everything is a joke of some sort to him. “He can’t do shit to you here. Gusak makes you think the whole world is his, that he can hurt you wherever he finds you, but his claws don’t extend all that far. Just feed him a little information so he feels relevant and he’ll be happy.”
I wish I had my friend’s carefree attitude.
“Besides, it seems like everyone here protects each other.” Lo’zar lifts his drink, toasting the city from the balcony as the sun sets. “I can’t believe there are so many of us.”
“I can.” I remember the last chamber we found, with many, many couples carved into the walls around us. “Once upon a time, I don’t think we were that rare.”
“Maybe even more will crop up as time goes on and find their way here.” He raises his arms high over his head as he yawns. “Would be nice to be a part of the welcoming committee.”
“Are you really thinking you’ll stay?” I ask, trying to keep the hopeful note out of my voice. Perhaps it’s been a long time since we were both children trying to survive on the streets, but seeing Lo’zar again... it reminds me of the old days.
“Sure.” He leans back in his chair to peer inside the house. Rimi! Should we stay?
I think we should stay, she calls back.
Lo’zar nods as if he expected this. “There you have it. We’ll stay.”
I grin and elbow him in the arm. “You have to get your own spot, though. There’s not enough room here for all of you.”
He winks. “Don’t worry about us. You know me. I always find a way.”
* * *
Lo’zar and Rimi park their boat at the dock, and stay there until they can find a more permanent place in Eyra Cove. Vienne and I introduce them to the other couples, though we keep some of the more magical elements of our past a secret.
That’s one we don’t need to share, not unless the future demands it.
As my mate’s body changes, I’m more than happy that Rimi can be there to support her. Vienne has a rather unpleasant pregnancy, and her belly grows larger and faster than any of us expected—except Telise, who just shakes her head and sighs.
“Just like Izzek. You’re having an orc baby, I know it.”
So I keep Vienne close to me at night, and bring her herbal teas when I can. As always, I tinker away, and I build a tool for Telise to make her stitching work faster. She’s so amazed by it that she asks if I can make a few more, which I then sell to other craftspeople living in the city.
Encouraged, I try to come up with a few more inventions that might be helpful to her, like a gadget that can scrape her hides, sparing her an immense amount of time and labor. Soon, other shopkeepers are seeking me out to see what I can make easier for them.
Vienne has to spend much of her time in bed, but her eyes are brilliantly mischievous as orders start coming in.
My clever orc, she says, bending over me at my work bench to kiss me on the cheek. Then she pries my goggles off my head and drags me away to bed with her.
There’s nothing in the world like my mate on my lap, swallowing my cock deep inside her, her belly full with my whelp and her breasts growing bigger every day.
I think that certainly, this is what happiness looks like.
* * *
Vienne
Telise is, unfortunately, correct. Our son is an orc, green all over just like his father, with a smattering of his thick hair. He has incredible lungs, which he wails with the moment he’s born.
Nazag. It’s an old-fashioned orc name, but I don’t mind it. He should keep that part of his heritage , I tell Graz. Even if, for the most part, we build him a new one.
I’m not in the most wonderful shape after the birth, as hard as it was, but Graz takes over his duties without missing a step. He lets me rest, keeping the baby with him at his desk while he works. But I know what I need, and it’s not to be stuck in bed any longer.
Finally, after nearly two months of healer-mandated recovery, I’m cleared for activity again. I almost couldn’t take it any longer, and the moment Graz puts the baby down that night, I tackle him onto the bed.
He laughs as I smother him, riding his belly and kissing him. Then he rolls us over so he’s on top of me, resting his weight on mine.
Oh, are you ready? he asks, smoothing his hands down my sides. Is your cunt hungry for my cock?
I giggle wildly. Hungry for everything. I drag his suspenders off his shoulders, then unbutton his pants so I can push them off, too. When that gorgeous cock of his is exposed to me, I lick it all over the way I might a piece of candy, just enjoying him, until Graz is gripping my hair and begging to put it all inside me. He’s so ravenous for me that he pushes me down on the bed on my knees, my ass in the air in front of him, and licks me all over before sinking himself inside me.
It’s all I can do not to cry out and wake Nazag as my mate fucks me for everything I’m worth. I ball up the blanket and stuff it in my mouth as he makes me hit my peak, over and over, before he finally lets himself break. Then he leaks out of me all over the bed.
When we’re lying together side by side, Graz runs his hand down my side in languid strokes.
I know this isn’t your last adventure, he says, nuzzling the side of my head and kissing my ear. What would you like to do next, once he’s a little older?
I smirk. He knows me well.
Didn’t Gusak send you a clue he found? Some ruins up in the far north? I ask.
Oh, I suppose he did. I did a very basic inquiry about it, but didn’t find much. Graz raises an eyebrow at me. You think we should go check out the source?
A smile spreads across my face. Why not? We can bring the kid along. It’ll be good for him.
Graz chuckles into my hair. If you insist.
I fall asleep that way, wrapped tight in my mate’s arms, dreaming about what other mysteries we might uncover.
* * *
Thank you for reading!
I hope you enjoyed Graz and Vienne’s story.