King of Battle and Blood (Adrian X Isolde #1)(79)

The worst part about it all was that it had almost worked. I had begun to let his kindness and the things I’d learned about High Coven and Dragos overshadow the reality at hand—Adrian was still the conqueror of my people.

I stowed the letter, hiding it beneath the book I’d taken from the library last night. Then I shrugged on my cloak and pulled on my riding gloves.

Tonight, I would hunt.

I left my room and found Adrian and his council of noblesse assembled in the courtyard, scattered around the blazing pyre. I kept my distance, halting at the end of the steps, though I could still feel the heat of the fire on my face. It wasn’t until the noblesse began to bow that Adrian turned, eyes sparking at the sight of me.

“My queen,” he said. “What are you doing?”

“Joining the hunt,” I said.

Behind them, a few of the noblesse laughed.

“Is something funny?” I asked.

Their humor abruptly ended.

“It will be a long night,” Adrian said.

“I’ve had many of those.”

His lips twitched, and he handed me Shadow’s reins. “Mount up, my queen.”

Once I was seated, Adrian followed, and his body pressed heavily into mine. I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or if it was because his presence had more force since I’d been distant from him for the last three days. I let out a slow breath to release the tightness in my stomach.

It didn’t work.

“Comfortable?” he asked, mouth near my ear.

I turned toward him, a heady flush rushing from my head and into my throat.

“Not a word I would choose,” I said.

“Hmm.” I felt him hum against my back, and in the next second, he signaled Shadow forward, and we departed through the gates of the Red Palace, into the village of Cel Ceredi, followed by Daroc and the noblesse.

The night was fading, and as we descended, fires raged in the village. Some were from the pyres, but there were others, smaller ones dotting the landscape. As we drew closer, I realized they were villagers holding torches.

“Will they join the hunt?” I asked, recalling how Adrian had instructed the noblesse to light fires around their villages to keep the mist at bay.

“They will watch from the gate,” he said.

As we passed them, they joined the crowd, and as we came to the edge of Cel Ceredi, the gates groaned open, parting to reveal a wall of dark woods. As we approached, Adrian drew his arm tightly around my waist, and I realized I’d unconsciously leaned into him.

“It is unlike you to be afraid,” he said.

“I am not afraid,” I said.

“Am I to assume, then, that you find comfort in my arms?”

There was a note of amusement in his voice. I thought about grinding my ass into his raging erection to prove a point. This wasn’t about comfort; it was about the fact that we had not fucked in three days, and I was angry and needy, and I wanted to take my rage out on his body the way we had on our way to Cel Ceredi.

That was where I wanted to be, unwavering in my hatred for my enemy, not here in this space where I hoped he was…sincere.

“What are we hunting?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Now that you’re here, the question is what will hunt us?”

Right. I was the one with blood worth draining and flesh worth eating.

Adrian guided us into the woods. There was little light, only a muted, haunting red that made the sky look like a storm. Still, Shadow and Adrian navigated well enough. Behind us, the noblesse fanned out, taking their own paths through the woods.

“Sorin says he is hunting for Ravena,” I said. “Did you give those orders after Sadovea too?”

“Did you come on this trip to fight with me or to hunt?” he asked.

“Why not both?”

“One or the other, Isolde, but if you choose to fight, I will take you back to the palace. I will not be distracted out here where you are most at risk.”

“Fine,” I said, feeling a little silly. “No fighting then.”

There was a stretch of silence.

“Sorin has been on Ravena’s trail for a while, long before the attacks in Vaida and Sadovea.”

“Oh.”

Once again, I felt silly, and I wanted to deflect, to find a reason to be justified in my anger despite what Adrian had said about fighting. But then his hand hooked around my head and his lips crashed down upon mine. I groaned at the hunger with which he devoured my mouth, met each thrust of his tongue just as hungrily.

Yes, I thought. This. This is what I want. What I need.

I hated needing anything, but this, I could not deny, and I wouldn’t have stopped if it wasn’t for a high-pitched screech that made my blood run cold.

“What was that?” I asked, pulling away from Adrian’s mouth. My lips felt raw from his kiss.

Adrian chuckled. “Just an owl.”

“We need to leave.”

Owls were an omen of death.

It was one of few beliefs my father had carried with him from my mother’s culture because he had seen it—carriages overturned or attacked, squadrons wiped out, all moments after an owl crossed their path.

The hysteria in my voice must have convinced him, because his body went rigid against mine. “Okay.”

But as the word left his mouth, Shadow began to neigh and shiver. Adrian held tight on the reins just as a creature came out of the tree line. It was tall and thin with nails that were long and sharp, covered in blood. Its hair was wet and stringy, shielding a face of overly expressive features, including a wide mouth full of sharp teeth.