Raine

"This is too much," I whisper to Mako as we sit in the dining hall surrounded by all the orc clan leaders and human governors in a hundred mile radius. Mako gives me an apologetic smile and squeezes my hand reassuringly.

Ever since my birthday party, Neera has been in full party mode as she desperately tried to get our wedding arranged before our child makes it arrival, but after I'd had a false labor nearly five days ago, she's finally decided that it was time and had sent out the invitations.

Over the past two days, hundreds of orcs and humans had arrived to the hive, and much to my surprise, some of them were mixed race couples like Mako and I.

While I knew that mixed race couples weren't uncommon with the Icebear Clan, I hadn't realized that most of the other clans do it as well. I also hadn't realized that there were so many different kinds of orcs.

From the white of the Icebear Clan, to the blue of the Trench Clans that lived on the ocean, to the dark green of the Treetop Clans that built large towns in towering trees, to the nearly brown orcs of the Swamp Clans. There even a few light green almost yellow orcs who lived in the rolling fields on the edge of the Icebear territory.

And today we had been meeting them all.

I'd lost track of how many we'd met, each one blurring into the next. Occasionally one would stand out, like the couple that was introducing themselves now.

The large male was a dark almost brown green, with scars running along his body. His mate is pale woman with pointed ears and lavender eyes, and she watches in amusement as her mate stumbles over his words.

"I am Brunk of the.. the Swamplands. Fernfitch Clan, to be precise. This is my mate Calla Stardew of the Rowan Tree elf Clan."

"Elf?" I ask excitedly. I'd heard stories of the elves but I'd never actually seen one and as far as I knew, nobody had seen an elf for nearly a hundred years.

Calla nods, "yes princess, I am half elf." She chuckled at the face I made when she called me a princess, "not a fan of the title?"

I shrug, "I've been called worse."

"As have I," she tells me. "But I've come to learn that words only have power if you let them."

Her mate puts a hand on her shoulder and with a small bow they both leave, letting the next hundred orcs and humans introduce themselves.

"Do they really expect us to remember all their names?" I whisper to Mako about an hour later. I was getting sore from all the sitting and have had to pee for the last twenty minutes.

"It's customary," she explains. "That way none can say they weren't at the royal wedding. There's only a few left and then we can move around," she tells me as she watches me shift in the chair. "And we only have to do that for an hour or so and we can make our exit."

"Or I could fake going into labor and we could leave right now," I only half joke.

"You'll do no such thing," Neera tells me as she appears from nowhere. "These orcs and humans are our guests. They are the your future subject, the key to your literal kingdom, and they'll be treated with the respect that they deserve."

"Yes ma'am," I mutter sheepishly as she moves off again and the next person comes to introduce themselves.

A human man steps forward and bows before saying, "hello peach."

I freeze as the voice I had hoped to never hear again washes over me.

My nails dig into her palm as my fingers involuntarily tighten around her hand and she turns to me, "are you alright?"

I'm not alright, not even close.

Khol stands in front of us, a sick grin on his face. He's wearing clothes that are much nicer than any he's had before and a jewel studded sword hangs on his hip.

"Yes Raine," he asks in fake concern. "Are you alright? You look as if you've seen a ghost."

My fear running wild as he takes a step forward I hear Mako breathe deeply before she growls, "who are you?"

"How rude of me!" Khol exclaims dramatically. "I'm the new governor of Oakrun. The names Khol, and I've come to get my wife."