Is she the hunter or the prey?

Before Karmuth helped me out of the car, he crouched on his hands and knees to comb under the seat with his hands. He did not find the ring, but he didn’t appear terribly disappointed about it. When I staggered and lost balance, still recovering from saving Hiko—and yes I would call it what it was, not shying out on admitting it, I’d saved him all right—Karmuth picked me up with ease. 

Several fae gave us curious looks as I was carried through the courtyard, my arms around Karmuth’s neck and my nose buried in it. For a death fae, he smelled incredibly fresh. Even after the fight he’d just won, his lavender and moss scent had only amplified. He glared at every single fae daring to look at us for longer than a moment as we passed and even growled at one for whispering to his companion.

“Once they find out what I did at the club, no one will dare come near me,” I said softly against his cheek. He was so close I could lick the sweat dripping down his brow. Did I want to? For heaven’s sake, I wanted to lick at his face. Press my lips against his skin and then trail my tongue up to his ear, maybe bite at his earlobe. Would he like that? I wasn’t going to find out. That wasn’t… yeah that wasn’t going to happen.

My head swam with the unrealistic ways of how Karmuth would react should I decide to make such a thing happen, after all, I didn’t notice the king until we stood right in front of him. He held a bottle of wine in one hand and a platter of cheese in the other, likely entertaining similar ideas in the company of my mother tonight. His face darkened at the sight of us, however. So much so that I was afraid he’d turn me into a pile of ashes just with the intensity of his glare.

“What is the meaning of this?” his voice boomed across the hallway we’d collided with him in. “Did I not explicitly tell you to refrain from entertaining the girl, Karmuth?”

“Yes, my King.” Karmuth’s voice was low and threatening despite his words hinting submission. 

He lowered my feet to the ground and pulled away from me despite my efforts to grip at his collar for support. I staggered like a drunk and pointed an angry finger at my stepfather. “Entertaining me? As if you are the one to make that decision for me should he ever wish to entertain me as you so subtly put it.” Not able to truly stand my ground I felt the world tilt before I got caught in Karmuths unwavering embrace again. “Your warrior was showing me to my quarters,” I said, much more mellow when it became clear I couldn’t back up my heated outburst with a steadfast stance.