Page 57 of Mastering their Maiden

I dug my feet into the earth, thrashing and bucking my hips, clawing at the leathery hands and the arms they were attached to. My fingers found my sword and I swung it wildly, but the beast shifted and all I could hit was its back. Nothing that would cause injury. My head started to spin. My lungs burned, desperate for breath. Warm, acidic blood dripped onto my forehead, my cheeks, into my eyes. In the distance, muffled voices shouted my name—

The hands around my throat vanished and I sucked in a raspy breath. My throat was on fire, and I barely had a chance to open my eyes or take more than a few breaths before weight settled on top of me again. My attempt to strike at the beast was blocked, and a fist slammed into my cheekbone before a single hand wrapped around my throat while the other slammed into my face.

“You deserve to die. Betraying your father, betraying his orders.”

I squeezed my eyes open, ignoring the burn. There was Skepna blood on my face, the acidity of it eating through my skin, but I could still make out Rober’s dark hair and his scowling face. He was going on and on about betrayal, about how the others would see, how they’d be punished while he’d be rewarded for his loyalty. Everything was blurry. I clawed at his hands, tried to block his punches with the other. Tried to kick and buck him off me. He gripped my sword arm, pushing it down. Down. Where was my strength when I needed it?

Rober’s rage-fueled rant quieted suddenly, and his grip on my arm slackened. Through my blurred vision, I saw him reach up and cup his own throat, fumbling with…

With an arrow.

A heartbeat later Rober’s weight was shoved to the side, his body toppling onto the ground beside me. But I didn’t have a chance to thank my savior.

Cold water hit me in the face before I could take my next breath. A bucket full. Then hands, small ones, reached down and wiped around my eyes, my cheeks.

I knew these hands. Knew the long, slender fingers. Knew the soft palms and the scent that overwhelmed me. Sweet earthiness. The woods. Sunshine…

“Aria?”

I pried my eyes open and looked up, noting the tension around her eyes, the hard line her lips formed as she stared down at me. In the hand not busy wiping my face was a bow. Heavy, with Kavari markings on the grip. I’d crafted it for her and left it by our cabin, but Zander grabbed it right after he returned. With Aria in tow…

He must have given it to her just before the fighting started.

Asshole. That was my gift.

I realized then that the Skepna knocked me behind a small building, out of sight, and Rober slaughtered it so he could kill me without interference.

But Aria… she’d been watching. She’d saved me. Hadn’t hesitated in doing so. And as much as I wanted to spank her ass for putting herself at risk, I wanted to jump up and kiss her into oblivion. She was glorious. A goddess in corporeal—

More water splashed onto my face. I wiped my eyes, sputtering as I sat up and got to my knees. When I looked up, she was scowling as she grabbed my sword, threw it on the ground in front of me, then stalked away.

“Get up,” she snarled over her shoulder. “Your men need you.”

I was already on my feet, blade in hand, following behind while watching her take aim and fire a shot toward where Dex was standing. The Skepna in front of him fell backward as the arrow sliced through his throat, and Dex looked around wildly for his savior. When his eyes fell on Aria, he tried to lunge for her, but she dodged past him and pulled out a dagger from her hip.

Then she went into the fray without a single care for her own safety.

I’d spank her ass for that later. Once this battle was over.

After I made her mine.

CHAPTER 21

Zander

Kaiden’s shouts were angry, but they were unintelligible over the din of battle. He was soaking wet now, his face bruised and bloodied, but otherwise fine.

Because Aria saved him.

I’d watched the whole thing. From the moment the Skepna attacked Kaiden, to when Rober killed it in order to finish the job. I’d been on my way to drive a spear through his gut, but got caught up in a battle of my own. When I looked up again, Rober had an arrow through his neck, and Aria was pouring water over Kaiden’s face. Rinsing away the Skepna blood before it blinded him.

And now he was screaming at her, chasing her through the crowd. Dex started up too, but Aria was just as willful now as she’d been the first day we set foot in this village. She stalked through the chaos toward where Umber stood with two of our men, the three of them taking on the largest Skepna in the pack. Aria pulled the string on her bow back and sank an arrow into the beast’s gut, causing it to lurch forward. Umber drove his sword upward through its chest, and the other soldier finished the monster off. Which was good, because now Umber had joined in the shouting.

“Aria!”

He tried to grab hold of her when she passed, but she shoved his hands away and took off in a sprint. Another Skepna bore down on two soldiers and blocked her path, but she fired an arrow into the monster’s knee and dodged around the scene.

Luckily, there weren’t many other obstacles for her to battle through. The fighting had turned in our favor. A few smaller Skepna were fleeing, the larger ones too slow to evade our blades. We would win this fight before long, and I knew I should help finish it.

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