Page 69 of What Hunts Inside the Shadows

I’d clearly missed something.

“There doesn’t need to be romance involved for you to sit on his face, Imelda. God’s sake,” Fallon said, and she burst into laughter at the way I leveled an incredulous stare at her. I was no virgin. In fact, Caldris was determined to expose me to all manner of sexual activities, and I was far from against them. I didn’t think I’d ever heard a woman speak of such things so openly, without any regard for the members of the Wild Hunt who snapped to attention and turned to look at her. I flushed, wondering what it would be like to do the very thing she spoke of. I’d felt Caldris’s mouth, but I’d never been the one in charge.

I felt the moment his attention snapped back to me as he spoke to Holt, pointedly ignoring the heated brand of his stare. We were speaking only just enough to get through the day and would likely go to sleep in silence when our tent was ready.

Sitting on his face was the last thing on my mind when I could barely stand to look at him without feeling guilt over my potential lineage and what that would mean for our bond.

Fallon smiled roguishly at the riders of the Wild Hunt, leaning her weight into the elbow closest to me and giving a playful finger wave.

“A few nights without a male companion would not kill you, you know,” Imelda said, but her voice shook with amusement.

“You’re silent when you sleep. It is absolutely exhausting,” Fallon said.

“Would you like me to snore?” Imelda asked, leaning forward to stare down at her charge with a smile curving her full lips.

“Are you really complaining about something being exhausting when you’re meant to be sleeping?” I asked, regarding the hazel-eyed woman at my side with a confused stare.

“I like to fall asleep naturally after I’ve exhausted myself physically, not lie down and stare at the ceiling. It’s dreadfully boring,” Fallon said.

“Hence looking for a bed partner for the night…” I said, my voice trailing off.

“There are other ways to tire ourselves out, but I think we would all admit that a skilled bed partner is the most fun,” she said with a laugh. She turned her hazel stare to one of the riders, quirking up a brow. He scurried off quickly, leaving Fallon to drop back dramatically. “No one wants to touch me when there’s a chance I could be the daughter of that miserable queen.”

“You’ll live,” Imelda said, her laughter making her chest shake. “I’ll sing you to sleep.”

“Please don’t,” Fallon protested, her wince showing just what she thought of Imelda’s singing. “I’d rather you regale me with tales of what you intend to do to the Huntsman when you stop being so stubborn.”

“He’s dead, Fallon,” Imelda said, rolling her eyes. “I am not being stubborn. I just require the men I fuck to have a pulse.”

“A likely excuse,” Fallon argued, waving a hand toward the sky. “Where’s the fun in limitation?”

“Which Huntsman are you not fucking?” I asked, my gaze bouncing back and forth between the two women.

“All of them,” Imelda said.

“She is going to fuck Holt. It’s only a matter of time,” Fallon said, pushing herself to sit up. She looked over at where the male in question stood with Caldris.

“I’m not going to fuck him. Even if he weren’t transparent, the man is insufferable,” Imelda protested.

“You should see the way they argue,” Fallon said, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip for a moment. “If you don’t plan to fuck him, then I suppose you won’t mind if I take him for a ride tonight?” Fallon pushed to her feet, turning to face Imelda as she backed toward the fire. Holt waited just on the other side of the flames, his eerie white eyes observing our interaction with far too much interest to be natural.

There was no denying the way they blazed with white hot fury when they settled on Imelda’s face, and she clenched her jaw as she turned her attention away from both him and Fallon. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Fallon scoffed with satisfaction.

“Do you ever shut up?” Imelda asked, pushing to her feet.

“Only if you pet me and tell me I’m pretty,” Fallon returned, blowing the witch a kiss as she stood in front of Fallon.

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Okay, then take me for a walk. I want to see the woods. The trees are so strange,” Fallon said, turning her eyes to the edge of the clearing. “I never imagined they’d be so big.”

“You’ve never seen trees?” I asked, standing up as the two women stepped away from the blanket.

“I wasn’t allowed to leave the tunnels. For my protection, of course,” Fallon said, shaking her head sadly as she stepped toward the woods.

“The first time we stepped out of the tunnels was the first time she felt the sun on her skin since I brought her to the Resistance as an infant,” Imelda said sadly. “I tried not to call too much attention to it, but it feels like it should have been an important moment. I worry I did her a disservice.”

“I wouldn’t have wanted people to watch me at that moment either. I think you did the right thing, for what little it's worth,” I said.

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