Page 15 of Brutal Birthright

Deeply bronzed skin poked above the waterline as she leisurely moved through the crystal-clear lake. Water droplets beaded on her shoulders and clung to her thick eyelashes. Her hair slicked in a long line down her back, with the way it had pulled back from her face somehow highlighting the perfect heart shape and angle of her cheekbones.

The girl was all sensual curves and a feisty demeanour. The kind of brash energy that belied her diminutive stature. How something so small could be so fierce was a mystery shrouded in what must undoubtedly be magic.

She was unexpected. And that unsettled him. Creatures that came rushing at him out of the blue usually wound up eating the sharp end of his blade.

Blood rushed to his cock as he soaked in every inch of her. Through the water, he could see she wasn’t naked, but he sure as shit didn’t make as much of an effort not to look as he should have.

Fuck. There were so many ways this little fae was off-limits. But his dick wasn’t getting that message, thickening in his trousers with every stroke she swam towards the shore.

Centuries too young. Friend’s sister. A student.

His student.

Swimming closer and approaching the shoreline, she looked up and spotted him by the water’s edge. Dark almond-shaped eyes rapidly widening, and flushed lips hanging open.

Now his cock was completely hard, pressing against the front of his pants.

He needed to move. Leave. Get the fuck out of here before she started getting out of the water, and he saw even more of her near-naked body. Fuck knows he’d jerked himself off enough times imagining her tits and curves bouncing on his lap.

Then, as quickly as she noticed him, her features shut down. Her mouth set in a firm line, and the softness that had been there just a moment before was gone. Instead, her dark eyes flashed with irritation. Pink stained her cheeks from the cold, but there was steel in her aura now.

Good. She should hate him.

More to the point, he needed her to hate him.

Her presence was just a distraction. A girl who was nothing more than a pretty package and a pain in the ass that he didn’t have time for.

“You shouldn’t be out here.” Alone. At all.

She hissed something inaudible in reply and ducked her head underwater before resurfacing.

“I was just leaving.”

Droplets rolled down her cheeks, caressing the soft skin before hitting the plumpness of her bottom lip.

Rowan sucked in a breath as he watched her tongue sweep out and lick away the excess.

“You’re going to be late for class.”

If she replied, he didn’t hear it. The pounding of blood in his ears and every effort to will his cock to behave drowned out everything around him. As she made her way out of the water, he stood rooted to the spot but dropped his eyes away, looking out over the calm expanse of turquoise water.

A sight he usually inhaled with fervour.

But instead, he couldn’t focus. Not on the deep shades of green coating the far shoreline. Not on the protruding rock face he so often swam to each morning. Not on the family of waterfowl ducking and diving for their quarry below the surface.

His every sense was painfully aware of her nearness. And if he gave in and stole a glance her way, well, that would be the least of his problems. Keeping his lewd thoughts about Oriana to himself was the only way he’d make it through this year.

But a flash of something out of the corner of his eye did him in. Instead of maintaining his focus—no, because he was every inch an asshole—he shot a glance her way.

Her back was turned as she dried off her smooth skin, and as his hungry eyes devoured how her curves moved, he took in the expanse of ink she’d been hiding away from sight.

A large serpent coiled down her right side, passing along her ribs, caressing the softness of her stomach and swell of her hips, before extending further down her right thigh. It was a simple design, one that suited her. Black outlined scales against her tanned flesh. The end of the artwork stopped abruptly just below the crease of her thigh, as if it had been interrupted.

She whirled around on him, shoving her top down and covering up those perfect tits before he could sneak a glance at those too.

Rowan tossed his shirt on the ground and crossed his arms. Careful to keep his body turned towards the lake. Fuck it. She knew he’d been looking, and he wasn’t about to back down from this argument, but he didn’t need her knowing how easily she affected him.

“Don’t stand there and judge me, you prick.” Her words spat out with venom. A rosy flush across her cheeks and the way her breath hitched made him wonder why she was so embarrassed. The girl had nothing but raw beauty to be proud of. He might be an unmitigated dickhead, but he wasn’t above acknowledging she was stunning.

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