Vanya Cardan always knew she would marry a lord. But her mother died when she was just a girl, and her father had no interest in raising her properly. She had been left to her own devices for so long that Vanya had never considered the fact that she might be used as a political bargaining tool. Romance and marriage were never in her plans-but when the Lord of Rigan summons her to Aired, his orders must be obeyed. As the eldest bastard of the Lord of Rigan, Saros Aka has been all over his father's lands as his representative, bearing the lord's seal and carrying his authority. But even though he has been claimed by an elven lord, his orc bloodline haunts him at every turn. Playing escort to a spoiled daughter of one of his father's lords on the dangerous southern road was not a task he ever expected to be saddled with. He has a duty to protect her, but leaving her on the side of the dirt road wouldn't be a bad option, either. Protected by the Orc is a dark fantasy romance. It contains dubious situations, mature content, and graphic violence some readers might find offensive and/or triggering.