Page 29 of A Kiss of Embers
“You are three years my senior.”
He pushed a branch aside in time to witness the tail end of her surprise before her expression became an emotionless mask once more.
“You fight too well to be barely a man.”
“Now you are insulting me.” Bastien leaped over a log but hissed when the movement pulled on his wound. Only then did he notice the dark red joining the mud covering his shoulder. “I completed patrol guard initiation a long time ago. Years ago.”
“Ah, yes. Your mask.” Despite her obvious reluctance to give him any type of praise, he noticed what could only be awe in her eyes. “A chupacabra, was it? I’ve heard they’re ruthless blood-sucking creatures that travel in packs. What did you do with the other chupacabras in the pack?”
“You want to hear the story?”
When she didn’t answer but simply glanced back at him as she crossed the stream, he grinned from ear to ear and followed closer. Though, it didn’t help that she moved quickly through a forest she was obviously well-accustomed to traveling.
He laced his fingers together and flipped them upside down, each knuckle cracking as he started his tale. “As you likely very well know, Attleglade is known for its skill in bone carving. Usually, we collect bones from elk, fish, and other game that we use to feed the settlement. But the patrol guards?” He popped a particularly stubborn knuckle before continuing. “We must kill something fierce and take on its skull for our mask. I hunted down a pack of chupacabras stealing our pigs in the dead of night. One of them even stole a child.” He paused for dramatic effect. Seraphina slowed but didn’t stop entirely as if engrossed in the tale.
“What happened to the child?” she asked.
“I’m getting there.” Though, he didn’t miss the pinch of concern around her mouth over the welfare of the boy. “I tracked the three chupacabras to their den and killed the two weaker beasts while they were feeding on the pigs. The third one was guarding the boy, wanting to keep its prize.” Another pause, though Seraphina slowed to a stop beneath a copse of trees, behind her the silhouette of a small lake. “The chupacabra was no easy kill, and I have the scars to prove it.” He lifted his shirt just enough to show the three scratch scars resting over his hip. “But I managed to defeat the creature and rescue the child. The boy was in bad shape but still alive. If we ever become good friends, I’ll introduce you to him.”
Seraphina snorted and stared at him pointedly. “We will never be friends. And our people will never be allies.”
“Mmmhmm. If you say so.”
She stepped out of the trees, and when he moved to follow, he stopped suddenly at the beautiful scenery. Pine trees surrounded the small lake. A cliff jutted out over the lake, and between two boulders at the top, a waterfall crashed into the water below.
Pixies darted back and forth across the clearing, a spark of light that left a shimmer in their wake. Birdsong flitted in the treetops, the perfect melody to the soothing crash of water.
But then his heart stilled when he focused on Seraphina again. She tossed her sash and dart gun close to the shore and pulled one arm out of the sleeve of her dress, followed by the other. She held the garment to her chest as she waded clothed into the lake. And only when her entire body was submerged did she shimmy out of the dress and toss the soaked frock beside her sash.
And then she scowled at him. “I would appreciate it if you turned around.”
Bastien shook his head and leaned against a large boulder, arms behind his head as he basked in his muddied glory. “I turned my back to youonceand ended up getting dragged across the entire blasted forest. I won’t do it again willingly.”
“Then it seems we are at an impasse.” She held his gaze with a challenging stare as her hands glided over her wet hair to dislodge the mud from the black strands.
“It seems so.” He challenged her back with an unblinking stare as he stripped himself of his filthy shirt and dramatically dropped it to the ground. Her gaze dipped to his chest moments before her nostrils flared, and her eyes found his once again. He silently dared her to keep watching as he reached for his belt and unbuckled it. He slid his trousers an inch off his hips and then another.
Her attention didn’t waver from his face, but neither did she turn around.
Who was going to break first? Stubborn Seraphina? Or himself?
He pulled the remainder of his trousers off in awhoosh, and only then did she spin around to face away from him. Laughter burst out of his mouth as he waded in after her, and only when his bottom half was covered did she face him once again with a fiery glare in her unique orange and green eyes.
“Looks like I won yet another battle.” He swam around her, closer to the two boulders with the small waterfall crashing into the lake between them.
“You won onlyonebattle, might I correct. The mud fight didn’t count.”
A grin lifted on his lips as he continued to circle her while she turned with his movement. “Why not?”
“W-w-well,” she stuttered. “You cheated.”
“How?” Of course, he knew exactly how—by making her as mesmerized with him as he had been with her.
Seraphina’s only answer was to splash him in the face. A chortle lifted into the air between them when he couldn’t help but laugh, loving to tease her to get a reaction. Well, as long as it didn’t involve one of her poisonous darts or a kiss that burned him from the inside out. Despite their unspoken, tentative truce, he didn’t dare let his guard down for a single second. She was a dangerous woman.
But then her gaze dipped to his shoulder, and a frown of concern pulled her mouth downward. “Your shoulder looks terrible.”
“Oh, really?” he scoffed and rolled his eyes. It ached something fierce, especially after their mud fight when what little healing progress he’d made had ripped the wound open again. Tendrils of blood slithered into the water and disappeared. “I wonder who stabbed me.”
