Jaina's eyes lit up. Blushing, she looked at Deren. "Go on, you man. You always have some devious idea."
Deren chuckled. "There are always accidents with interstellar Portals. Physical causes, Void storms, arcane interference, even deliberate sabotage. If something happened while the Orcs were being transported, they couldn't exactly blame you for being bad at magic, could they?"
Jaina shot to her feet, grabbed Deren by the collar, and leaned close to his ear, reeking of alcohol. "It would be an accident. An incident. Thrall could stomp around in rage, but he still couldn't recover the losses. Hahaha, he could only watch those Orcs get torn to pieces by spatial turbulence, utterly helpless."
She straightened up, smoothed her mage robes, tilted her head at Deren, and smiled sweetly. "I like that idea. You've done me another great service. What reward do you want, my Tactical Advisor?"
"Th-this... I told Oni I'd be attending a banquet tonight, so I still need to go back." Deren stammered out his refusal, helpless and resigned.
But Jaina coiled around him like a snake, sealing every reason for refusal inside his mouth. Then came a long silence and deep breathing.
Deren: --
That night, Deren returned home very late. The Black Dragon's vertical pupils glinted dangerously as she stared at Jaina, who had brought him back. With a dragon's distinctive growl in her voice, she said, "Dear, did the banquet really run this late?"
"No, the banquet ended early. We just discussed some more ways to deal with the Orcs," Jaina answered before he could.
Deren could only nod mechanically, indicating that this was indeed the case.
"Oh, so you two discussed more ways to deal with the Orcs. That must have involved thinking or acting like Orcs, right? It must have been terribly savage