Shared By Two Orcs

Chapter 1

Willo

“You’re quiet today,” I tease Jinnow as her pickaxe slams into the rock in front of us. She grunts, wiping the back of her hand across her pale skin. Honestly, it’s good she works in the mines because I worry that her skin would crisp off if she were in the fields.

“Not all of us like to sing as we work like a maniac,” she snarks, though the grin on her face betrays her.

I scoff, patting my thick curly hair to make sure my bun is still in place before wrenching the pickaxe over my head. “I don’t sing!”

“That’s funny. I’m pretty sure when I came down here I heard you singing under your breath.”

I quirk an eyebrow. “And what was it I was singing?”

“‘Today is the day I’m going to push Jinnow over the edge,’” she squeaks out terribly out of tune.

I fight a smile, and Jinnow herself giggles. Soon, we both break, dissolving into laughter. Before the people around us turn to glare, we clamp our hands over our mouths.

It’s not uncommon that others are annoyed with how loud we are. Apparently few others in the mining camp can find amusement in their forced activities.

“You’re going to get us in trouble,” Jinnow hisses, though she’s still giggling lightly.

I shrug a shoulder. “I’m boosting morale! I should get a reward for it.”

She rolls her eyes as she tries to focus back on her work. We both know what will happen if we fall behind. Gods know that I’ve been on the receiving end of those punishments too many times.

Though, in our small camp on Tlouz, the orcs try to break our spirit more than our bodies. Before I came to the camp, I remember hearing stories about both the orcs and dark elves.

Many said that the dark elves would use humans as their toys and it was best to stay away from them. But the orcs… They’d break your body and suck your bones clean.

I’m not sure if they were just stories to keep us in line, but it often worked. For most kids, at least, but not for Ciiro and me. It didn’t keep us out of the forest or home before dark, and we eventually paid the price for that.

But at least here they just starve and isolate you. There’s no sense in beating workers or they’ll just be down more product.

Though I think I’ve been pushing our overseer to his breaking point…

“How has it been with Ciiro?” Jinnow breaks through my thoughts, and I realize my face has fallen serious, too serious. Her eyes dart to mine as she watches me, and I know she is growing worried about where my mind is going.

“She’ll make it,” I answer, memories still tugging at me.

“You don’t think she’s upset that you decided to strike out on your own?”

I scoff. “She’s my big sister, not my jailor. She had to let go at some point.”

Ciiro has always looked out for me, and I know that it is mostly my fault that she was caught and brought to this camp. I’m the one who went farther than we were supposed to. I’m the one who refused to listen when she begged me to go back home. Even at the age of five, I was a bit rebellious.

At only three years older, Ciiro took too much responsibility trying to raise me. I guess someone had to, considering our parents couldn’t have paid us any more mind than they did a bug skittering across the road.

But I still hate that she was with me the day that the orcs trampled through the forest, spotting the two of us and dumping us into a crate full of children. Forgotten kids whose parents probably were relieved when they didn’t come home.

I shake the thoughts off. I’m not one to linger on the past. There’s no point in it, and I really don’t mind being here in the mining camp. I heard that the Cove was actually visited by a minotaur and destroyed by the dark elves that had a stronghold there a few years back.

I lucked out, really.

“Besides,” I say, pushing away the too solemn thoughts. I prefer to find the best in my life and focus on that instead. Protheka is dreary enough. No reason letting my mind make it more so. “I like having my own place. I can cook what I want, walk around naked–”

“Willo!” Jinnow squeaks and I chuckle as I watch her bright skin turn pink. She’s always been rather conservative, the youngest of four with three older brothers. I like to think her innocence evens me out. Or just makes me laugh. “Don’t say things like that here,” she hisses.

“We all get naked, Jinnow,” I say a little louder, not oblivious to the way heads turn in my direction. “You don’t have to hide it.”

She squeaks indignantly, even more embarrassed by the attention I am drawing. I don’t mind it. As I lift the pickaxe above my head, curving my back, heat pools in my stomach when I see how many of the men have stopped working to watch me bring it back down.

Ciiro, too, has always chastised me for how openly sexually I am. She says that to be pretty is dangerous and to be inviting is worse.

But I’m aware that, despite my manual work all day, I have nice curves down my body that catches the eyes of most people in the camp. I guess I am lucky that the orcs aren’t supposed to touch us.

Though sometimes I see them in the training area, shirtless and sweaty and I can’t help but wonder…

I drop the axe, reaching for my water. My thirst has suddenly become too much, and I remind myself that now is not the time for such thoughts.

I haven’t admitted it to anyone, even Jinnow, but it’s one of the reasons that I needed away from Ciiro. Not only was she worried about me fending for myself because she believes that I am incapable of doing so for some reason, but she was always way too into my business.

If I came home late, she wanted to know where I had been and with whom. If she caught me flirting with some guy at the canteen or giving a guard a look, she’d usher me home.

What fun is it being in a camp where everyone has incredible stamina if I can’t capitalize on it?

I huff, not realizing how silent the mines have been until now. Jinnow and I rarely pay attention to others, often spending our entire shift talking and laughing – and getting yelled at for it.

But…there has been only silence all afternoon. I just haven't noticed it until now.

Slowly, I turn to look at Jinnow, whose eyebrows are pinched together. “Is it…”

“Oddly quiet,” I answer, turning to look around us.

My eyes scan over the miners still at work, though some are looking around. Usually, Milug is marching up and down between us, shouting at us to get back to work before he buries the pickaxe in our head.

Truthfully, he’s all bark and no bite. I don’t say that to his face since he’s an orc and that’s practically the harshest insult that I could deliver. But I know that Milug doesn’t really mind us. I’ve caught him suppressing a grin as he watches Jinnow and I cut up too many times.

But I don’t see him anywhere. In fact, I can’t say that I’ve noticed any orcs down here all shift. Which is…odd. They like to remind us with their imposing presence that we have no freedom, no room to flee or otherwise try to live our lives.

Not that I ever really stopped.

“Just get back to work,” one of the guys, Robert, I think, hisses. “It’s been pleasantly quiet besides you two. Don’t fuck it up.”

I narrow my eyes at him, but he’s instantly back to striking his stone. I wave my middle finger at his back and grip the handle of my pickaxe.

Bent over, I feel a prickling sensation run up my body. It’s almost like someone’s eyes are on me. And if that’s the case, I might as well give them a show.

Smirking to myself, I curve my back, push up on my toes, and lift the pickaxe with such precision, you’d think it’s an art instead of manual labor. I make sure to swing it back enough that my chest is arched out, accentuating every part of my body as I slam the axe into the rocks before me with perfect form.

Only once it has struck, I toss a look over my shoulder to see who it was watching. Out of everyone, I don’t expect to find a pair of yellow eyes assessing my body. Thick black wavy hair down to his shoulders and a brutal scar down his left cheek only accentuate how fine this orc is.

And then there is the matter of his size. Holy Maws, all orcs are beefy, but this guy is massive in all the best ways. He nearly has to duck to fit in the tunnel and is so broad that his shirt strains to stay on him.

My mouth waters as I stand up straight, his eyes never leaving mine until I twist to face him. And then the orc drops his gaze down my body, running the length of me and back up.

Heat runs through me, making a slight sweat break out along my skin, and when he finally gets back to my face again, a slight grin jerks his mouth up to one side.

Holy fuck.