Chapter 25
Thavros
It had been a week since the meeting in the war room.
While we had magical moments in the meantime, the weight of what we’d learned hadn’t left my shoulders for a moment.
Seraphina had been… different. Still her, still radiant and kind, but the shadows behind her eyes had deepened.
Nightmares clawed at her sleep, and I was helpless but to hold her through them.
And yet, she smiled. For me, for Callie, for the orcs who passed her in the halls with respectful nods. She smiled, and it gave me reason to breathe.
Tonight, though… Tonight was meant for joy.
The Great Hall was once again being decorated for a feast. There were long strands of dried mountain blossoms and woven lanterns glowing with soft amber light. A New Year’s celebration. Something we hadn’t done properly in many years. Not since the crystal dimmed. Not since our parents were lost.
But this year, it felt right to bring the light back. I’m not sure if it was to serve as a distraction, but whatever the reason, it felt good to be here celebrating in the mountains.
I was halfway to the hall when I heard boots behind me. Khuldruk caught up with that easy gait of his, always sounding like he was just about to challenge someone to a sparring match.
“You’re really doing it,” he said, nodding toward the faint glow of the lanterns. “Leaving your study without any provocation.”
I shrugged. “Felt like it was time.”
A long pause. “Is she the reason?”
I didn’t answer right away. My jaw worked, words sticking.
“She’s my mate,” I said finally. “I don’t know how it happened. It doesn’t make sense. But I feel it in my bones.”
Khuldruk clapped a massive hand on my shoulder, nearly knocking the wind out of me. “Took you long enough.”
I blinked. “You knew…”
“Of course, I knew, my brother. I’m not an idiot.
I saw the way you looked at her. I knew the moment you stormed into the dungeon claiming her.
I’ve been telling you as much, but you weren’t ready to hear it.
And let's not forget it has been less than six months since I found my mate. I know the signs.” He sobered a little.
“I’ll help you figure it out. We’ll protect her. ”
“Thank you,” I murmured. The knot in my chest loosened just a little. “Let’s go see what trouble they’ve gotten into.”
The scent of baked rootcakes and spiced meats hit me before we even reached the hall. Laughter floated down the corridor, warm and easy, and when we stepped through the archway, I nearly forgot we were a people teetering on the edge of war.
Callie was fussing over a stack of linen napkins near the long tables, laughing as one of the younger warriors tried to sneak a pastry.
But it was Seraphina who caught my eye. She was standing at the far end of the hall, stringing lanterns with gentle fingers, laughing at something one of the elder orcs said.
Her hair was braided back with green ribbon, her cheeks flushed with life.
She belonged here.
I felt it in the ache behind my ribs. She moved through the crowd like she’d been raised in the mountain, like she’d helped carve it from stone.
“She’s radiant,” Khuldruk murmured next to me.
I grunted in agreement, watching her turn and beam at something Callie said. She was all warmth and light. And she was mine.
Callie waved us over, dragging Seraphina with her. “Seraphina was just telling us about a tradition from her home,” she said, eyes bright. “It’s so lovely, Thavros.”
Seraphina tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a little shy but glowing under the attention. “It’s something we used to do on New Year’s Eve,” she said. “We’d write a wish on a strip of cloth and tie it to a tree branch. The idea was that the wind would carry it to the Gods.”
A few orcs around us let out low hums of interest.
“We don’t have many trees in the mountain,” I said, unable to help the smile tugging at my lips, “but I bet we could rig up something that would please the Gods just fine.”
Seraphina laughed. “I thought it might be nice. To have a tradition that brings hope.”
I nodded, heart tight. “Then it’s ours now, too.”
The Great Hall shimmered with candlelight and flickering lanterns. Tables overflowed with roasted meats, winter fruits, and honeyed bread. Someone had carved ice sculptures near the entrance—clearly Khuldruk’s idea—and children wove through legs and cloaks, shrieking with laughter.
I found myself laughing too, truly laughing, as Callie pulled Khuldruk onto the dance floor. He pretended to grumble, but his tusks gleamed with a grin, and they moved together like they’d been dancing for years.
Seraphina found my hand, her fingers threading through mine. “Is this normal for a New Year’s celebration?” she asked, eyes twinkling.
“No,” I said, squeezing her hand gently. “This is better.”
We stood together at the edge of the festivities, her body warm beside mine, her laugh occasionally bubbling up like music. She was radiant, not because of what she wore, but because of how she belonged. She belonged here. In this hall. With these people.
And by some grace of the Gods, with me.
“Would you like to dance?” I asked her with a curt nod.
“Oh,” she said as her cheeks instantly reddened. “I don’t know the steps.”
“Come, I’ll teach you.”
I took her hand in mine and led her out onto the dance floor. When the music picked back up, I held up her hand and gave her a little bow. She smiled, bit her lip, and peered up at me through her lashes.
I took her hand and showed her the steps as we weaved through the circle. The massive fire cast a warm glow over all of us as we danced to the drum's beat, weaving in and out of each other.
At first, she was timid, stumbling on the steps, her brow furrowed in serious focus.
But as we made our way around the fire a couple of times, she started to feel the steps.
With each journey, her confidence grew. Then she looked up at me and beamed as we both took turns weaving and stomping through the other dancing orcs.
I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a dance that much since I was a young orc.
When the beat changed, I pulled her hand out of the circle. She looked up at me with an almost disappointed look in her eyes. “Are we done?”
“No, little flame,” I said as I gently caressed her cheek. “We are just getting started. But I think I require a honey cake first,” I said as I pulled her towards the table.
“I think there should be more feasts,” she said.
“I agree.”
And I did. Although I didn’t need to tell her the next feast we had would be a mating ceremony, because that would require me to finally tell her she was my mate. I was almost positive she felt it, but I still found myself nervous to tell her.
The walk back to my quarters was quiet, but not uncomfortable. Seraphina held her shoes in one hand, her other hand still linked with mine. When we reached the threshold, I expected her to curl up in bed, full and content.
Instead, she stood at the edge of the hearth, turning to me with something softer, more uncertain, burning behind her eyes.
“That was so much fun,” she said as she flopped down in the chair next to the table.
“It was. The best feast in a long time,” he said as he removed his outer tunic. “Much better than the last feast.” Which had ended with her being thrown in the dungeon.
“When is the next one?”
I cleared my throat, because when I hoped the next one would be and when the next feast day was were two different things.
“At the return of the light,” I simply answered.
“A spring fertility feast?” she said, wagging her eyebrows.
“Then you are familiar with orc customs,” I said as I pulled her out of her seat and swung her around. She squealed with glee, and my heart was fit to burst.
I set her down to start to prepare some soothing tea. I have been giving it to her every night to try to stave away the nightmares, though I wasn’t sure how helpful it had been.
“You said something the other night... the night of the war council meeting,” she began, voice barely above a whisper. “About me. Do you remember?”
My hands stilled, and my heart kicked. “You heard that?”
She nodded, stepping closer, firelight catching the gleam in her gaze. “Did you mean it?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
She didn’t flinch. Didn’t question.
She stepped into my space and reached up and cupped my cheeks.
I froze. Just for a second, before I pulled back slightly, I gazed into her eyes.
I looked into her eyes, saw no fear—only hope and a fierce kind of longing. I nodded once, heart thudding. “Yes. I meant it. You are my mate.”
She didn’t run. Didn’t ask what that meant.
She surged forward and kissed me like she’d been waiting her whole life to do it. I caught her around the waist, lifted her, and kissed her back like a dying man finding water.
There were no soft steps, no careful retreat. Just the taste of her mouth and the heat of her skin and the sudden, bone-deep certainty that she was mine.
We barely made it to the bed.
Her fingers pulled at my shirt. I stopped briefly, pulling it over my head with a needy growl that sent blood rushing to every part of me. I kissed her throat, her collarbone, her breasts—biting gently, marking what was mine.
She climbed into my lap, dress hiked up, and ground against me like she already knew how to drive me feral. But it was not going to be that fast. No, not when I needed to worship this goddess before me, who had come in and woken my senses down to their very core.
She was at the core of me now. Even without the mating bond complete, I could feel her, smell her, taste her, and she was mine. Utterly mine.
I quickly flipped her to her back, tossing her dress over her waist.
I heard a muffled laugh. When I looked up, I saw I had thrown all her skirts up over her head.
"Let's get you out of these goddamn clothes.”
She stood, and I undid the laces of her dress before letting it drop around her. I turned her as she stood in a shift before me. I could just bite her. Literally, my tusks ached to sink into her supple skin.
Later, I reminded myself.
I slid the shift off her shoulders and watched it fall to the ground, pooling at her feet.
"You are a goddess," I said simply, with truth.
Then I trailed my hand up her creamy, soft thigh and sank two fingers right into her heat. She cried out as my thumb came up to circle her clit.
"Thavros," she cried out, her already slick heat clenching around my fingers.
"I need to taste you," I said, standing and pushing her to the bed on all fours.
"Like this?" she asked, shocked, looking back at me.
The sight of her on all fours, her ass in the air, dripping cunt peeking out, almost undid me. "Yes, like this."
I lowered myself to her core, burying my face in her wet slit. Her scent was like a drug I couldn't get enough of. I licked her from her clit all the way to the puckered rose bud I'd yet to explore. I put pressure on that tight hole with my thumb.
"Thavros," she half-cried and moaned.
"Remember, I do anything you don't like, anything, I stop. You just have to say so."
She didn't say anything, so I gave her ass a little smack.
"Yes, I will."
Then I continued to lap at her slit until she cried out as she came. I flipped her, pinning her to the mattress, lips devouring hers. She arched for me, opened for me, and begged for more.
And I gave it.
Notching my cock at her entrance, I slowly pushed into her, tentative at first. That was, until her legs wrapped around my waist and her feet pressed me forward into her. I let her push me in.
"Please, don't be gentle. I want you!"
Those words were my undoing. My hips began to drive every bit of me into her slick cunt, except my knot. Even if I ached to shove it all the way in, this was enough for now. I bucked into her with punishing thrusts because she seemed to need them just as much as I did.
She took every inch, every growl I offered. I took every trembling breath she offered. I made her come again and again. Orcish, claiming, and real. The kind of taking that said you are mine, and I’ll die before I let you go.
We didn’t just come together.
We collided.
Once we finally came down, I pulled out and collapsed next to her. She moaned again, followed by a groan. I couldn’t help the small chuckle that slipped out.
“Don’t you dare laugh. You’re the one who made this mess.”
I sat up and looked at her, knees still in the air with her feet planted on the bed.
I spread her knees and looked at her center, pink, perfect, and dripping with my seed.
I wiped some up with my finger and pushed it back inside of her where it belonged.
She moaned, and I thought I might be able to go again at the sound.
“You are perfection,” I said before turning to get a cloth.
I cleaned her up, and I fell into bed next to her. We lay tangled in the blankets, her soft breath cooling the sweat on my chest, her fingers tracing the curve of the tattoos on my chest like she was memorizing me. I didn’t want to break the moment, but it needed to be said.
"Are we mated now?" she asked.
“That wasn’t the bond,” I murmured.
She lifted her head, brows furrowing. “It wasn’t?”
I shook mine. “The bond, when it happens, there’s magic to it. A joining deeper than the body. It leaves a mark on the soul.”
“Is it… dangerous?”
I cupped her cheek. “No. Not with you. But it is powerful. And once it’s complete, it can’t be undone. When you finally take my knot, I will also bite you. When that happens, you will be marked. And you will be mine.”
She went quiet, biting her lower lip like she was weighing her whole world.
“But there’s no rush,” I added, kissing her forehead. “I’ll wait. As long as you need."
Even if the waiting makes my bones ache, I would not rush her. I would not rush this.
"I don't want to wait too long, my mate," she said up at me with her eyes sleepy and her face still flushed from our fucking.
"Gods, you are perfect," I say as I press another kiss to her lips.
She lay her head on my chest again, curling in close like she was made to fit there. My arms wrapped around her without thought, instinct guiding me where reason had long since given up.
The fire crackled in the hearth, casting long golden shadows across her skin. My little flame, I still don’t know how this is all going to work out, but I know one thing for certain: she is mine.
Let the Westerly Clan scheme and whisper. Let their plans churn in the dark.
They hadn’t counted on this.
On her becoming mine.
And that mistake…
That mistake would cost them everything.