Gyda Lionrock thinks her visit to Asclan Peak is for one reason and one reason alone-to procreate and finally welcome that child of her own. She could have never guessed she would also leave something behind inside the mountains, but it was her hear...
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Waking up was hard. "Oh..." I groaned while stretching my sore body after this hellish, short night.
Just like with any other muscle ache, the discomfort was a lot worse the day after, and the place where the woman had punched me hurt more today.
It was no wonder I was in a worse state because if I said I'd slept for more than three hours, I'd be exaggerating. All night long, my thoughts and fears had kept me awake as my mind replayed everything that had happened yesterday, full of concerns for the future.
And then there was the strange symbol etched into the lady's ring that was haunting my mind. A human skull and three letters. I knew I'd seen it before, but I couldn't remember where, and it was driving me crazy. On the other hand, this tip-of-the-tongue thinking was a positive distraction from the worries and fears.
Last night, I'd been so afraid of blood loss... I think I went out of bed four times to check if I wasn't bleeding. To my relief, I wasn't, but I was so scared the entire night. I still felt terrified. The thought of losing this child was probably the biggest fear I had right now, especially since I came so close yesterday.
My family didn't seem to notice something was up with me after I returned home yesterday. At least, nobody had said anything. Except for Cici. Well, she didn't exactly say anything, but the one-year-old came for a cuddle and then refused to leave my side for the entire evening. She even fell asleep on my lap. It was as if she knew something was worrying me and wanted to comfort me. And it helped, even though she was just a toddler with a vocabulary of five words. She made me feel less lonely. Until night, that is. I don't think I'd ever felt so alone before.
As I sat up straight and I whimpered in pain, I wondered how Beatrice and Amira were doing. Beatrice had been beaten up pretty badly, and I could only imagine her body was in worse condition than mine.
I'd also thought about our conversation last night.
"I just don't want the orcs to stop coming here... It's nobody's business if I trade with them and they shouldn't interfere. I'm not bothering anybody by talking to the orcs. Honestly, I'm just so damn tired of following all these rules. And I don't want anybody else to decide things for me."
The biggest part of me agreed with everything she said, but there was still a little part that felt Orvar deserved to hear that the women in town disapproved of their trading. That they disapproved of it so greatly that they felt killing Beatrice was the solution. The thought alone was scary. I'd already known some of them were crazy, but this was something else.
It really bothered me and made me wonder what they would do if they found out I was seeing an orc. Actually being with him, romantically, not because we traded goods.
I sighed and whimpered in pain right after. "Fuck, I shouldn't take large breaths," I told myself right before a knock on the door had me startled.
