Aydra laughed as she watched her friend wave and then stride over to the other side of the room.
She found herself wandering absently around the room for some time, allowing her mind to wander as councilmen spoke with her about things she cared nothing of. The wine in her golden goblet swirled upon her walking. She chatted with her sister a few more times, but soon, she wandered into the darkened hall, itching to get away from the faux noises of the men and women laughing and discussing politics in the Chamber.
Almost immediately, the smell of Black herbal smoke filled her lungs, and she knew she was not the only one in the darkened hall.
“I believe I owe you an unfortunate thanks,” said the voice she’d dreaded to hear since the meeting adjourned.
Aydra searched the darkness, only to find the Hunter, Draven, leaning against one of the tall open windows halfway down the hall, long pipe in his hand as his eyes met hers beneath the square of his brows.
“Lurking in the dark, Venari. How very…you,” she smarted.
His rippled arm was silhouetted in the light from the torches and moons light coming in through the windows from outside. She noticed he’d taken his crown off and hung it on his belt as though it were an accessory. His long hair was pulled up on his head in a thick bun, stray hairs falling out of it. He struck a match against the stone, the amber light illuminating the strongest features of his handsome face, the pale of his sage eyes, and he lit the pipe once more. The short darkened beard around his mouth and along his jaw did not hide the bite of his lips around the end of the pipe as he drew a long inhale. He allowed it to swim in his lungs and then he extended the pipe to her. A great O of smoke emitted from his lips and fluttered out the window into the wind.
Enemy or not, black herb was black herb. And after her day, she wanted nothing more than the swim of it through her veins.
She took the pipe from his callused hands and sat her wine goblet in the windowsill. The moment the wood touched her lips and she inhaled, she had to close her eyes, allowing it to radiate her muscles and send a chill down her spine. It was sweeter than she was used to, and she felt her brows raise as she opened her eyes to meet his.
“That is not from Dorian’s garden,” she managed as she handed the pipe back to him.
“No,” he replied as he took it. “It’s from mine.”
She nodded quietly and picked her drink up once more, swirling the liquid in the goblet. The twinkling of the torches down in the village danced in her eyes. The lights looked as stars on the ground, sudden patterns emerging as the herb swam in her mind.
“I didn’t do it for you, you know. The hunting agreement,” she told him then. “I did it for the Noctuans. As misunderstood as they are, they do not deserve to starve and die at the hands of those who fear them.”
“Nevertheless, I appreciate it,” he said as he puffed on the pipe once more.
She could feel his eyes on her, and she had to do a double-take upon finding his deep set green eyes deliberately traveling over her, eyes looming at her hips.
“Eyes front, Venari,” Aydra growled with a raise of her brow.
She hated him for his handsomeness and arrogant nature. The fact that they’d grown up opposite one another, always opposing the other, didn’t help when he smirked at her with his best lustful gaze.
The smirk she’d only just warned herself of was staring at her when he lifted his gaze to hers. A crooked smirk that rested on his lips as he bit the end of the pipe in the corner of his mouth. “Perhaps you should think about that before wearing something as distracting as this dress,” he uttered.
“Your being distracted by body parts has more to do with you than me,” she said back to him.
He straightened up and shoved one hand in his pocket. “You’re not wrong,” he agreed. “A man’s lust should be checked at the door and not allowed free roam on his features at the expense of a strong woman not in need of saving.”
“Says the one who can’t keep his gaze off something that isn’t his,” she mocked.
He held out the pipe to her again, tongue darting out over his lips, the smirk not leaving his eyes. She took the pipe with a perturbed twist of her lips.
“I think this dress says a lot about the both of us,” he continued.
She pulled a deep inhale again and exhaled into the wind. “I am probably going to regret this, but do explain, Hunter.”
He pushed off the wall and took a few slow steps around her. “You, in that you’re confident enough to wear this for yourself and only yourself. It makes you feel empowered, in charge, like you could take on the world, which you certainly should. No other could pull this dress off. Your sister certainly couldn’t… And me, in that—”
“You’re a pig?” she interjected, handing him back the pipe.
He huffed amusedly and pushed the stray hairs that had fallen out of his ponytail back off his forehead. “Me in that I realize I’ve been in the woods far too long if I’m being distracted simply by the sight of a beautiful woman in a dress.”
She raised a brow at him. “What’s wrong, Venari?” she mocked. “Do the Hunter girls’ attire not bring you to your knees?”
“I’ve not let a woman bring me to my knees in a long while,” he mused.
“Don’t—” she interjected before he could say anything.
