A Reluctant Huntress: Tales of the Wild Hunt | Book One

by Knox, Graceley

  I glance at Isa, checking to see if she’s offended that we’re checking near her lands, but she only looks concerned for my father rather than any property boundaries. “You said Edern, as in my brother Edern called you back?”

  Why in the world would Edern halt the search for our father? Unless he wanted these men with him for our larger hunting party? But in order to reach them, he’d have had to send a messenger after them only hours after they’d left. Which would have been shortly before I arrived and had time to hunt for father. Someone else must have told Edern to order them back. Why else would he recall them? Something niggles at the back of my head, but before I can grasp it, it floats away.

  The hunter laughs. “I don’t question orders. I only follow them.”

  I roll my eyes, barely resisting the urge to smack him upside his head. I wave him away and slump back down into my seat. “Clearly not one of our brightest.” I mumble the words under my breath, eliciting a laugh from everyone.

  Isa leans into Gerant, her expression pinched. “Gerant, when you send word about your sister and Kapriel, please include a request for our best to check our side of the border. If someone is trying to use my lands as a means to upset you and your family, I will not have it.”

  I hold up a placating hand. “Isa, please don’t take offense. We’re checking each and every border to kingdoms adjacent to ours.”

  “Pssh, I am not offended by your efforts. I will be furious if someone is trying to create tension where there isn’t any, as I’m sure any other ruler would be should it be the case that your father has been taken and hidden in someone else’s kingdom.”

  “We’ll find him, love, don’t fret. We know that you didn’t abduct my father.” Gerant rubs a hand up and down her arm, and a bit of the tension in her shoulders dissipates.

  “Right? That wouldn’t make any sense, when you stole my brother’s heart, he was really your only ally around here.” I speak the words before I can think too hard on them, and Kapriel chokes on his water.

  Isa bursts out laughing, thankfully, and the rest of us give into the hilarity.

  All thoughts of joy freeze on my face like some sort of frostbite gone wrong when a voice annoying enough to shatter glass rings out.

  “Jinxy, my dear, can I have a moment?” Artagant waves a hand in the air, like it isn’t obvious he’s the one speaking to me. He’s the only one that calls me Jinxy. And it makes me want to barf every time he says it.

  Desperation coils in my stomach, and I grip Kapriel’s arm. “You have to distract him so I can get out of here. I just can’t deal with him right now, or I’ll kill him.” I try to duck behind Kapriel’s larger form, peeking out behind his back to track Artagant’s movements through the room.

  Kapriel snorts. “And that would be a problem why exactly?”

  “Because it’s not polite to kill others, no matter how annoying they are, unless it’s for a good reason, like say treason or something.” I huff a breath. “Are you going to help me or not?” I pout and bat my eyelashes at him, trying to look pitiful. “Please, Kap, pretty pretty please, I’ll owe you one?”

  “You look demented when you do that. Fine! I’ll help you.” He glances over his shoulder. “But you’d better hurry up, he’s closing in fast.”

  “Thanks for lunch, guys!” I hug Kapriel quickly before dashing off in the direction of the kitchens. If there’s one place Artagant won’t follow me, it’s an area where the “help” is. He’s always been a pretentious snob, and for the first time in my life, I’m thankful for that.

  I grab a clean cloth, toss in some cheese, wild berries, and a hunk of sweet bread, and hightail it to the back door out of the castle. There’s probably only one place that no one will be able to find me unless they use Ambush and Grave, so I head toward it, excitement pushing me forward until I come upon the hidden lagoon half way up the hills behind the castle.

  This little pool hidden behind trees and overgrown bushes has been my haven for as long as I can remember. I glance behind me to make sure no one followed me up here, and dive head first into the thicket, determined to sort through all my conflicting emotions and just get a little peace and gods damned quiet.

  15

  As soon as I’m no longer stomping through the brush like some sort of wildebeest causing a racket, the relative silence of the spring sings to me.

  The trickle of a slow-moving stream feeding into the cove, birds chirping back and forth to each other, and branches swaying in the wind, their leaves rustling, loosens each and every tense muscle in my body.

  My face splits into a smile so wide it hurts my lips, and I start unbuckling my weapons, uncaring as they thump to the ground. I’ll polish them up nice and good later. Right now, I’m dying to feel the healing waters of the White Spring lapping at my skin.

  I pull my shirt over my head, cursing when it gets caught on the cuff I’d forgotten to take off. As soon as I’m as naked as the day I was born, I run into the water, splashing and tossing it up in the air, reveling in the droplets hitting my face and bare shoulders. I wade into the center of the pool, which doesn’t cover as much as I remember it did the last time I was here, only coming up just under my breasts when I’m standing up straight.

  I suck in a breath and duck under the surface, keeping my eyes open so I can watch the sunlight refract into a myriad of colors on the surface. I stay under as long as I can, until my lungs are begging for breath.

  I push my now tangled mass of hair off my face and look down at my body without glamour. It’s been a while since I last dropped every speck of illusion I’ve worn the past five years and even before then when my mother told me a proper lady shouldn’t have battle scars, and I’d hidden those too.

  I trace them with my forefinger, remembering each battle, each cut of the blade, and the sense of pride I’d forgotten I had in each and every mark. I’d earned these scars. They’re a roadmap of how I came to be the woman I am today, and for just a moment, I’m ashamed that I’ve hidden them from everyone.

  I quickly shake it off and make a promise to myself. I will no longer apologize for my flaws or hide the reminders of each and every battle I’d come out the other side of.

  I flip onto my back, floating on the surface and staring up at the clouds, finding shapes in their puffy forms. I’m not sure how much time passes, a few minutes or a few hours, but far sooner than I’d wanted, I hear someone approaching through the brush.

  “Fucking hells. Can’t a girl get ten minutes to herself to work on the tan on her girly bits?” I mutter the question to myself, letting my feet hit the rocks at the bottom of the pool. I cross my arms over my chest, hiding as much as I can of them without sitting down and looking like a buffoon.

  “You might as well just tell me who you are already. I can hear you coming.” I don’t exactly shout the words, but it’s loud enough that whoever is heading my way stops, and I hear a chuckle.

  A manly chuckle.

  “Kap, I swear to the gods, if you followed me up here, I will drown you in this pool and then continue swimming as you float about on the surface.”

  “Has anyone ever told you your predisposition to threatening bodily harm is terrifying, mala lovka?” Draven’s gravelly voice glides over my skin, making me shiver.

  I hope he can’t see my reaction through the bushes. I fire back at him, “Has anyone ever told you it’s not polite to watch a woman as she frolics naked in her favorite hidden spot? In fact, it’s liable to get you run through with her sword.”

  Draven pushes through the branches and grins at me, unabashed in his perusal of every inch of my bare skin he can see. No matter the species, males are generally the same when it comes to admiring a naked woman in front of them.

  “You didn’t think you were the only one that knew about this spot did you?” he asks as he starts to toe off his boots. “In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m the one that told you about it years ago.”

  “No, I found this on my own.” At least, as far as I remembe
r, I did. “Uh, what are you doing?” I cover my breasts with one arm and point at him with my free hand. “Don’t take off any clothes. You’re not coming in here with me.”

  He ignores me, taking off his shirt and folding it neatly to lie on top of his boots, and for a few moments, I forget why I’d said he can’t come in here with me. I could bounce a quarter off his abs and then scrub my laundry on them. Just as I’d thought, his bare shoulders look as though they’re perfect for resting your thighs on them. A shock of desire warms my core, and I shake my head, trying to dissolve the fog that has surrounded my brain.

  “Draven, I’m serious, you can’t come in here with me.”

  “And why is that? The pool is big enough for the both of us.”

  Because I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep myself from taking advantage of everything your naked body has to offer. “Uh…because…it wouldn’t be seemly.” I smile, proud of myself for coming up with a coherent excuse while tracing every line of his muscled body, inch by inch.

  Draven snorts. “Since when do you care about propriety? If you try to tell me you’re saving yourself for marriage, I might slip on a rock and crack my head open in shock.”

  My top lip curls up at his inference, even though I’m not offended in the slightest. “Well alright then, if it will keep you out of here… I’m still a virgin, and I’m saving myself for my one true love in marriage.” I blink at him expectantly when he doesn’t topple over and instead unfastens his pants and starts pulling them down. I whirl around, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of watching me drool.

  The water rippling around me is my only warning that he’s entered the pool. For such a large man, he didn’t even make a splash.

  “I didn’t take you to be the shy type, Jinx,” Draven says from right behind me, and I suck in a breath, trying hard not to breathe in his intoxicating scent of earth and herbs and citrus.

  “I’m not shy, I’m just not sure this is really appropriate. It’s not like you’re my best friend or a brotherly figure to me.” I glance over my shoulder, determined to keep my eyes on his light peridot ones and not on the drops of water sliding down his chest. “Unless you think of me like a sister?”

  His mouth pops open at my question, and he shakes his head vehemently. “No, there are definitely no brotherly feelings happening over here.” He drags his gaze down my back before returning to meet my eyes. “Wait, do you think of me like a brother?”

  I would laugh at his appalled tone if I weren’t currently fighting both desire and annoyance. I’d come up here to clear my head and try to figure out what exactly was bothering me about the whole situation involving my father.

  “Are you going to answer me, Jinx?” Draven asks, taking a step closer to me.

  I refocus my mind and reply, ignoring the tightening of my stomach and the desire slowly winding its way through my veins. “Oh, what? Uh, no, I don’t think of you like a brother.” I start to face him but think better of it. It’s not like my arm is a solid barrier between us. “Listen, now that that’s out of the way, I came up here to think and clear my head, not be distracted by you.” I hike a thumb over my shoulder toward the other end of the pool. “So you go that way and do whatever it is you came here to do, and let me—”

  Draven takes another step closer to me. “I distract you?” he asks, his tone dropping lower.

  “Stop interrupting me, Draven.” I turn to face him, uncaring that he might get more of a view than I intended on giving him. I point toward a flat rock close to the waterfall that flows into the pool from further up the hill. “You, over there. Me, here.”

  Draven shakes his head, his gaze focused on my own, one corner of his mouth tilted upward in a confident smirk. “Nah, I think I’m comfortable right where I am.” He inches forward, closing the distance between us, his pecks pressing against my forearm covering my breasts. “In fact, I think I’m exactly where you want me to be.”

  I push at his middle, trying to create space between our bodies, but he doesn’t budge. “This isn’t a good idea, Draven. Tensions are high, and I really can’t afford to form any attachments right now.” Especially with the man who knows how to provoke me to bodily harm every time we speak to each other.

  He dips his head lower, his breath fanning across my face. “This isn’t me asking for your hand in marriage, Jinx.” He brings his hand up and rubs his rough thumb across my bottom lip as he talks, and I try my hardest not to sway into him and drop my guard and my arm.

  “Tell me you don’t want me as much as I want you, and I’ll walk away and leave you alone, Jinx.” He moves his hand down my cheek and behind my ear so he’s cupping my head, angling my face upward toward his.

  I open my mouth to tell him that I don’t feel anything for him other than exasperation, but the words my brain are screeching at me to say aren’t what come out. “I can’t.”

  As soon as the words drop from my lips, he crushes his mouth to mine, demanding entrance with his tongue. He wraps his other arm around me, tugging me close and trailing his calloused hand down my back to rest at the swell of my ass.

  I rise up on my tip toes, leaning further into him as I kiss him back, sipping hungrily at his mouth as though I’m gasping for air and he’s the only one who can give it to me. My hand tunnels into his midnight hair, clenching a fist of the silky strands between my fingers.

  He breaks away from my mouth, trailing kisses and nibbles across my jaw as he steps back an inch, letting my arm fall now that it’s no longer pressed in place between us. His hand at the back of my head moves down the back of my neck to my shoulder and my side, his thumb brushing the side of my breast as he continues downward.

  He captures my lips with his again before gripping my ass in both hands and hoisting me up. Immediately, I wrap my legs around his waist, my arms following suit around his shoulders to steady myself as he starts walking backward.

  I pull away from our kiss, blinking bleary eyed at our surroundings. He’s headed toward the rock I’d tried to banish him to. Both anticipation and trepidation war inside of me. We’re out in the open where anyone could stumble upon us, but honestly, I’m just about to tumble over the edge of caring.

  “Draven…” I sigh his name as he nibbles a trail down my neck to my collarbone, his hands gripping my ass, clenching when I say his name.

  He stops walking, and I quickly glance over my shoulder before he bends to lay me down on the smooth surface.

  I suck in a breath the moment my heated flesh meets the cool boulder, my hold around him tightening as though it will help me escape from the chill.

  “Give me those lips of yours again, lovka.” He moves his hands from my ass, one tipping my chin to angle my mouth where he wants it, the other gripping my hip, his thumb dangerously close to the apex of my thighs.

  I wiggle underneath him, trying to remove any space between our bodies, but he holds fast, pinning my hips to the rock as he pulls back from our kiss to trail his lips down my neck to my breasts, swirling his tongue around one pebbled nipple and sucking it into his mouth.

  “Mmm, that feels good.” I dig my nails into his scalp, unable to stay still as each and every tug sends waves of desire straight to my clit.

  “You taste like cinnamon mixed with sugar.” He growls the words against my abdomen as he moves down my body. His hand releases my hip, and instead, both hands trail down my thighs, breaking the hold I’d had around his body with them.

  He licks his lips as he glances at my center, his muscled body disappearing as he kneels down, and I can’t help but try one more time to stop this before we cross a line we can’t come back from.

  “Draven, this is a mistake, we can’t stand each other.” I mean, I don’t mind him when he’s kissing me, but it’s the every other time he’s not that he drives me mental.

  He tips my hips upward and pins me with his light green stare, blowing a cool breath on my heated flesh. “Do you really care right now?”

  I know I should, but I don’t. I
shake my head, every muscle in my body taut in anticipation of his mouth on my sex, but he doesn’t move an inch.

  “Answer me, Jinx, and I’ll give you what you want.” His thumb rubs across the sensitive flesh just where my inner thigh meets my center as he speaks, and I can’t take waiting any longer.

  “The only thing I care about right now is you putting your mouth on me.”

  He doesn’t waste any time in replying. Instead, he spreads my thighs wide, tossing them over his shoulders, his thumbs opening me up, and he drags his tongue up my slit to the bundle of nerves at the top and sucks on it hard, flicking his tongue against it.

  My back arches up off the rock, and I moan. “Fucking hell.”

  Draven hums against my clit, and each and every fiber of my being tingles with pleasure. He dips one finger into my entrance as he torments my clit, nipping and sucking and tugging at it with his teeth and his tongue and that wicked mouth of his.

  “Gods, you taste even sweeter than I imagined you would.” He glances up at me while he speaks, adding a second finger inside me before he pulls them back slowly, teasing me with the motion.

  “No talking.” I growl, and he grins what can only be described as sort of a preening peacock grin, and dips his tongue back into my folds, renewing his efforts at sending me higher and higher up the peak toward bliss.

  I bite my lip as I watch him lap at my folds, the visual alone enough to make my legs shake. I thread my fingers through his hair, needing to hold on to something as he pumps his fingers in and out of my entrance in rhythm to each flick of his tongue on my clit.

  “Draven.” I moan when he curls his fingers slightly inside of me, rubbing at that patch of nerves that makes my vision go bleary at the corners of my eyes. He adds a third finger, and my walls clench around them as my breathing speeds up.

  “Fuck, I’d stay right here forever tasting you so I could see that look on your face as I give you pleasure.” He pumps his hand faster, his thumb rubbing circles around my clit, giving me that added pressure I needed to topple over the cliff into bliss.