Chapter 27 #2
I ignore the dead and swim deeper. When I reach the creature, I slash my knife, not caring what part of it I hit.
Blood clouds the water in dark swirls. The creature recoils, its wide white eyes flashing with fear.
For a moment, it hesitates, looking from Hunter to me and back again.
Then it releases him and vanishes into the deep.
It feels too easy, but there’s no time to question it.
I grab Hunter’s arm and kick upward. We break the surface, coughing and gasping, then swim toward the shore.
I stumble on the pebbled ground, my dress heavy with water.
Hunter pulls me up and together we stumble away from the enchanted pool.
I grab my red cloak from where I left it on the stone while Hunter gathers his scattered clothes.
Then we run back to the road, barefoot and dripping.
We don’t stop until it feels my lungs will burst.
When I can go no farther, I collapse onto a pile of leaves and moss, just off the roadside. Hunter wraps his cloak over his bare shoulders. He’s shivering so badly he can’t put his shoes on. Eventually, he gives up and sinks to the ground beside me.
I sit hunched and soaked, a puddle forming beneath me. Hunter reaches for me and pulls me into his chest.
“Thank you,” he whispers into my wet hair. “Thank you.”
Water beads on his chest as it rises and falls. He looks mostly unscathed except for a thin cut near his elbow. Blood mingles with water in a slow, red trail down his arm. I must’ve hurt him during the chaos underwater.
“You’re bleeding,” I say.
He looks down, surprised, but then shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”
My teeth start to chatter. He turns me away from him and fumbles with the ties on my dress. His fingers are visibly stiff from the cold. “We need to get you out of this.”
I don’t protest. Even though we escaped the creature, the day could still end badly if I can’t get my body temperature back up.
Hunter helps me peel away my wet clothes, all concern for modesty forgotten.
His hands are gentle as they brush over my damp skin, like he’s touching something precious.
Something forbidden. He averts his eyes when my final layer drops to the ground.
All that remains is the silver moth necklace nestled between my breasts.
He reaches for his pile of dry clothes and pulls his tunic over my head. It’s long enough to serve as a chemise, reaching the middle of my thighs. It’s warmer than standing before him naked, but not by much.
Hunter pulls me down to the mossy ground.
I sit with my back against him, his knees on either side of me.
He wraps the red cloak around us, trapping what remains of our body heat as he rubs his hands over my arms. I turn my head and tuck my face into his neck, breathing in the comforting scent of his skin.
Slowly, the fear begins to ebb, loosening its grip on the edges of my mind.
Our shivers gradually fade, and our breathing returns to normal. But even once I know we’re warm enough to be out of danger, I don’t pull away. Instead, I savor the rise and fall of his chest behind me.
Today, I nearly lost him. I sniffle as the tears finally come.
“Shh,” Hunter whispers into my hair. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”
But we’re not. We’re really, truly not okay. And it’s my fault for forcing him to escort the Wolf north with me. Because I’m selfish. Because I’m willing to risk other people’s lives to get the one thing I want more than anything else—answers.
A shadowy thought crosses my mind: I may not be so different from my father after all.
A sob bursts from my chest. “You were almost eaten by a mermaid!”
Hunter chuckles, his laugh low. “But I wasn’t.”
“We got lucky.”
“There’s nothing lucky about it. You jumped in after me.”
“What if I hadn’t?” I whisper. What if I’m not strong enough to save you next time, I don’t say.
A small grin brightens his face. “I suppose you could’ve left me to live at the bottom of an enchanted pool with a sometimes-gorgeous water creature.
” He kisses the tip of my nose. “But no woman, magical or otherwise, could ever compare to a life with you.” He smiles and touches my jaw, lifting my gaze to meet his.
My stomach flutters. I wonder if he can feel my rapid heartbeat. Or if he noticed how my breath has become quick and shallow. Suddenly, I realize just how much I want him to feel my beating heart. We escaped death, and now I want to feel really, truly alive.
I sit forward, then turn on my knees to face him. He drops the red cloak and it slides down my back like a gentle waterfall, pooling around our hips. I climb onto his lap, wrapping my legs around his waist.
Hunter’s eyes grow wide, but he doesn’t stop me.
He hardly moves at all as I lift his tunic up.
The soft fabric brushes against my breasts and the cool air prickles my skin.
My hair, still damp, falls over my chest, barely covering my body from his eager eyes.
I toss the tunic onto the moss-covered ground.
“No woman can compare?” I ask, feeling brave. “Not even if our life is spent on the run, gutting fish in port towns and forgoing court life?”
“Even then.” His words are deep and slow, like he’s had too much wine, but it’s me he’s drinking in with those big brown eyes. It’s me who feels entranced, skin-to-skin out here in a forest with no one around to see us.
Slowly, I trail my hands over his wide shoulders and across his firm chest. I stare meaningfully into his eyes as my fingers explore lower, down his rippled stomach, pausing just above his hip bones. My breath catches somewhere in my throat as I wait for him to accept the invitation.
Finally, he gasps and brings his lips to mine as if he can’t hold back any longer.
He tastes just like I remember. Sweet, like golden honey, with a touch of earthiness.
His fingertips linger on my jawline, then glide down to cradle my neck.
He tilts my head, kissing me deeper, so slowly that it feels like a dream. But I need more.
I’m consumed with a sudden hunger to have him. Maybe it’s that I almost lost him. Maybe it’s because he seems too perfect in this forest filled with darkness. Or maybe it’s the way he’s looking at me. This is a terrible idea. But right now, I don’t care. All I want is him.
Hunter trails his mouth down my neck and over my breasts as I arch my back, looking up into the canopy of autumn trees above us.
The warmth between my thighs turns hot, insistent.
I want to touch every part of him, to trail my fingers over his skin until I’ve memorized every inch.
I want us to get so lost in each other that I no longer care that we’re in a dangerous forest, hunted by beasts and men.