Chapter 7 #2
The words were genuine and while her anxiety made her wish she could suck them back in, her heart felt good that she had said it.
Edine had always been a source of comfort for her because her view of her hadn’t been skewed by expectations or anything else.
There had been many times, even when Edine hadn’t walked yet, that being around her and seeing the light in her eyes when she looked at Kira…
There was something about it that made her feel like herself.
Their moment was drawn to a close when shouts were heard across the training ground. They straightened their postures and watched as the warriors chanted and hollered with their backs to them. Before long, the crowd parted to make way for none other than the Galbraith Laird.
Hunter was shirtless and sweat glistened off his muscles, telling her that he had been training alone somewhere else. He spoke to his men, but Kira couldn’t make out what was said. The men laughed and cheered, though.
Hunter paced to the center of the field and when he looked up, spotting Kira and Edine at the fence, his face tightened and his eyes narrowed. He stormed over, irritation, and rage clear on his face.
“Why would ye bring her here, Edine?” he snapped.
“We were on a walk and happened this way. Enough of that,” Edine warned.
It was a little amusing to hear Edine attempt to fuss at her brother for his attitude, but Kira was distracted by his words still.
She hadn’t even thought about it, but he was sort of right.
It wasn’t exactly a good look for Hunter to let the daughter of his enemy wander about with his sister, especially right in front of the men who were sworn to protect them with their lives.
Hunter’s eyes cut to Kira then. “And why did ye agree to come? Ye ken ye dinnae belong,” he bit out.
Annoyance flared in her. Perhaps it was all the reminiscing she and Edine had been doing that had her feeling a little more confident around him.
She surprised even herself when she quickly retorted, “I was simply too curious to see if ye had improved from yer childhood days. Ye were rather terrible back then.”
Tension snapped in the atmosphere between them.
Had they been alone in her chamber, she was certain she would have been backed into another corner with him in her face. He stepped closer but before he could so much as open his mouth, his eyes faltered to her necklace.
The lack of shock in his expression told her exactly what she had been wondering: it was Hunter who had found her necklace. Even with all that hate in his heart for her, he had searched those endless fields for her necklace.
“It seems ye cannae help but remember me,” she taunted.
His eyes narrowed to slits. “Dinnae speak of what ye dinnae ken,” he warned. He turned away but spoke as he walked off. “Very well, ladies. Stay and watch. Then I expect ye to return to yer chamber at once.”
When he reached the center of the field once more, he called out an order that Kira didn’t recognize. One warrior came forward, a tall, beefy man that looked as though he ate a day’s worth of food at each meal.
Hunter and the man circled one another, taunts muttered back and forth. And then they lunged for one another.
Fists were thrown and hits were dodged as they danced around, both fighting for dominance in the fight.
Kira noticed that there wasn’t a single misstep in Hunter’s rhythm.
While she knew nothing of fighting, in his younger days the awkward footing and stumbled steps were obvious to anyone watching.
He moved as though he knew not only the next move of his opponent but every subsequent move too.
The match was already planned out in Hunter’s head, and he wasn’t going to let it stray from course.
“Hunter never took training seriously until our parents passed,” Edine told her.
“For the month that followed their deaths, I dinnae think I saw Hunter anywhere but the training grounds. Rain or shine, he was out there. He even took his meals there. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he slept there from time to time.
I dinnae think he ever took time to mourn them. He only ever prepares for what’s next.”
Kira’s heart squeezed at the thought. She had tried for all of those years to not picture what those following days had been like for Hunter and Edine.
Until he kidnapped her, the last time she had seen him had been in his father’s study with death at her feet.
Even when he had been a clumsy boy, he had been strong and serious.
To picture him weak and wounded from their deaths had been too much for her.
A sigh escaped her as guilt panged in her chest.
After Hunter flipped the man onto his back, two more approached. Her eyes went wide for a moment, but Hunter was in full control. He slid out of the path of their lunges before sweeping a leg to knock one on his arse as he turned and locked arms with the other.
While locked in stance with his sparring partner, Hunter’s eyes flickered to her.
She felt heat creeping onto her cheeks. Something about it was embarrassing, though she couldn’t quite pinpoint why at that moment.
Again and again, he defeated his opponents as they approached in waves of attacks; some on their own, some in pairs.
He was a one-man army—no longer the awkward but serious young boy she had fallen for in her youth.
Her gaze had fallen to his chest and arms at some point, marveling at how well-formed he had become in manhood. It was only then that she realized what was so embarrassing.
Kira was aroused by watching him fight. The feeling was unfamiliar but not totally foreign to her, especially when it came to Hunter. But it was shocking, nonetheless. She would have thought seeing him so violent and well-trained because of his pain would sadden her.
He was all skill, all precision, all strength as he knocked down man after man. The only hits he seemed to take were strategic so that he could get close enough to the opponent to pull him in and land a devastating blow.
It was beautiful, like an art form all on its own.
And it was that skill, that passion, that made it so provocative to her.
Her pulse thumped uncomfortably in her veins and her core ached as she watched him, unable to take her eyes off him.
Occasionally, their eyes would meet, and the flames of desire within her were fanned.
Then, a lightning bolt ripped through all the admiration and arousal.
An idea, dangerous and sinful, came to her.
Was it possible that all of Hunter’s close encounters and his permission for her to watch him right then were because she affected him the same way?
She had assumed because of his obvious hatred, that it had all been taunting.
But if she did affect him in such an intimate way, perhaps she could try a new method to convince him to let her go. Or at least give her enough space, because she wasn’t sure she ever wanted him to let her go….