BloodBound: Hunted by the Crowns Executioner

Chapter Two: The King's Hunter

Kael Draven reached the top of the stairs.

I backed toward the window until the cold glass pressed against my shoulders.

He stopped several feet away.

For a man who had supposedly come to drag me to my death, he looked remarkably calm.

That scared me more than if he'd been holding a sword to my throat.

I'd heard stories about Kael Draven my entire life.

Every kingdom had monsters.

Averyn had given ours a name.

The King's Hunter.

The Crown's executioner.

They said he could walk into a room and know who was lying before they opened their mouths. They said he'd hunted Bloodbound across the kingdom without mercy.

That he'd never failed to bring one back alive.

Until the stories stopped mentioning alive.

I'd always imagined someone older.

Crueler.

Perhaps scarred beyond recognition.

The man standing in front of me was none of those things.

He looked to be somewhere in his late twenties, maybe early thirties. Tall enough that I had to tilt my head slightly to meet his eyes. Dark hair fell across his forehead, and a thin scar cut through one eyebrow.

He wore black armor beneath a long, dark coat.

No royal crest.

No crown.

Just a silver insignia fastened near his collar.

A sword rested at his hip.

His hand wasn't on it.

I couldn't decide if that made me feel better or worse.

His eyes moved over me.

Not hungrily.

Not angrily.

Carefully.

As though he were searching for something.

I hated that I noticed his eyes at all.

They were the sort of eyes people probably wrote songs about.

Dark. Sharp. Unreadable.

It was deeply inconvenient that the Crown's most infamous executioner also happened to be unfairly attractive.

I decided immediately that I hated him for that, too.

"Where are your parents?" he asked.

I crossed my arms.

"Why?"

His gaze settled on me.

"Because I asked."

"And I asked why."

His jaw tightened.

Good.

Let him be annoyed.

He took a step closer.

"Where are they?"

I shrugged.

"If you're the great King's Hunter, shouldn't you already know?"

His expression hardened.

"I know enough."

"Then why are you asking me?"

Another step.

I didn't move.

He was close enough now that I could see the faint shadow of stubble along his jaw.

I hated that, too.

Mostly because I wanted to know what it would feel like beneath my fingertips.

I mentally slapped myself.

Absolutely not.

This man was here to kill me.

He was the Crown's executioner.

The man who hunted people like me.

There was nothing attractive about that.

Nothing.

Except, apparently, his face.

"Do you always answer questions with questions?" he asked.

"Only when I don't like the question."

"And you don't like mine?"

"I don't like you."

Something flickered across his face.

"That's unfortunate."

"Not for me."

His eyebrow lifted.

"You're remarkably confident for someone standing in front of the King's Hunter."

"I'm terrified."

"You don't look terrified."

I gave him a thin smile.

"Well, you don't see a bear s**t in the woods either, yet somehow everyone knows it happens."

For a moment, he simply stared at me.

Then, to my surprise, a quiet breath escaped through his nose.

Almost a laugh.

Almost.

"You're not what I expected."

"What's there to expect?"

He took another step.

I resisted the urge to retreat.

He was close now.

Too close.

I could smell rain and leather and something darker beneath it.

I hated that I noticed that, too.

His eyes dropped briefly to my hands.

"Do you know what happens to Bloodbound?"

I smiled without humor.

"I imagine you tell them right before you kill them."

His expression went cold.

"Usually."

There it was.

The reminder.

The monster beneath the stories.

My fingers curled into fists.

"Then get on with it."

His eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"You heard me."

I lifted my chin.

"I'm not going to beg."

He stared at me.

"You think I'm going to kill you."

"I know you are."

"And you're not afraid?"

"I didn't say that."

My voice came out quieter.

"I'm just not giving you the satisfaction of watching me beg for my life."

Something changed in his expression.

Not softness.

Something more difficult to read.

He stepped closer.

I could feel the heat coming off him now.

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Then prove me wrong."

His eyes held mine.

For one strange second, neither of us moved.

Then his gaze dropped to my mouth.

It was quick.

So quick I almost thought I'd imagined it.

But I hadn't.

My stomach twisted.

Not with fear.

At least, not entirely.

His eyes returned to mine.

Whatever had almost been there was gone.

"Give me what you're hiding."

My hand instinctively moved toward the bundle beneath my shirt.

His eyes followed it.

"And how do you know I'm hiding something?"

"I know enough."

"That's becoming a rather annoying answer."

"And you're becoming a rather annoying woman."

"Good."

His jaw tightened.

"Where did you get it?"

"Why don't you tell me?"

"I asked you a question."

"And I asked you one."

"You're not in a position to negotiate."

"Neither are you."

His expression darkened.

That felt like a victory.

A very small one.

But I'd take what I could get.

I shifted my weight.

The window was directly behind me.

The drop wasn't far enough to kill me.

Probably.

Pain was preferable to the executioner's sword.

I glanced toward the glass.

Kael noticed.

Of course he noticed.

His eyes flicked toward the window.

"Don't."

I smiled.

"You really need to stop telling me what to do."

Then I turned.

I threw the window open and climbed onto the sill.

I barely made it halfway through before an arm locked around my waist.

I gasped.

Kael hauled me backward with enough force to pull me completely off my feet.

I twisted violently.

"Let me go!"

"Stop."

"I'd rather die!"

"You're making that increasingly difficult to prevent."

He dragged me away from the window.

I elbowed him.

He barely reacted.

I kicked backward.

Nothing.

"Are you always this difficult?" he muttered.

"Are you always this annoying?"

"Yes."

"Good."

His grip tightened around my waist.

For one humiliating second, I was pressed completely against him.

My back against his chest.

His arm locked around me.

His breath brushed my ear.

Every sensible thought in my head disappeared.

Then a sound came from downstairs.

Boots.

Several pairs.

Kael went completely still.

His arm tightened.

"Don't move."

I stopped fighting.

Not because he told me to.

Because I heard them too.

Voices carried up through the house.

"Search every room."

Another voice answered.

"She's upstairs."

Kael looked toward the bedroom door.

Then back at me as he grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the wardrobe.

I caught myself against the wooden doors.

"Are you serious?"

"Get inside."

"You've got to be joking."

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"I don't know. You do have this look about you."

His eyes flashed.

"Elara."

The way he said my name sent a strange shiver through me.

I hated that, too.

He opened the wardrobe.

"Inside."

"You know, for someone who supposedly came here to kill me, you're being remarkably helpful."

His expression hardened.

"Get. Inside."

Footsteps thundered closer.

I climbed into the wardrobe.

Kael closed the doors.

Darkness swallowed me.

I barely had time to catch my breath before the bedroom door opened.

Two men entered.

I could see their boots through the narrow gap beneath the wardrobe.

"Have you found her, Commander?"

Kael's voice was calm.

"No."

A pause.

"Commander?"

Kael's voice sharpened.

"What?"

The soldier hesitated.

"We were told the girl was seen entering this house."

"And?"

"Should we—"

"No."

The answer was immediate.

The soldier went silent.

Kael took a step closer to him.

I couldn't see his face from inside the wardrobe, but I could hear the change in his voice.

"Your team is dismissed. Take your leave."

"Of course, Commander."

A beat of silence.

Then the soldier made the mistake of speaking again.

"With respect, perhaps we should continue searching the perimeter. If the Bloodbound girl—"

"With respect?"

Kael's voice became dangerously quiet.

The soldier stopped.

Kael continued.

"Are you trying to do my job for me?"

"No, Commander."

"Because from where I'm standing, that's exactly what you're doing."

Silence.

"I apologize."

"You should."

The soldier swallowed audibly.

Kael stepped closer.

"If I find her, I will decide what happens to her."

"Yes, Commander."

"And if I don't find her, you will leave this house and report exactly that."

"Yes, Commander."

"No embellishments. No guesses. No heroics."

"Understood."

Kael's voice dropped another degree.

"Good. Now get out of my sight."

Boots moved quickly across the floor.

The bedroom door opened.

Then closed.

Silence.

I waited.

One breath.

Two.

Three.

The wardrobe opened.

Kael stood in front of me.

I climbed out slowly.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

Then I looked toward the door.

"Do you terrify everyone like that?"

"Only the ones who deserve it."

I stared at him.

"You didn't have to scare them."

"I wasn't trying to scare them."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Right."

"I was giving them an order."

"That was your ordering voice?"

"Yes."

"It sounds a lot like your terrifying voice."

His mouth twitched.

"I'll try to remember that."

I folded my arms.

"Why did you stop them?"

His expression became unreadable again.

"Because they were interfering."

"With what?"

"My hunt."

I stared at him.

"You mean me."

"Yes."

"You could have taken me."

"Yes."

"But you didn't."

"No."

"Why?"

His eyes settled on mine.

"You're very curious for someone who was hiding in a wardrobe thirty seconds ago."

"I was hiding because you shoved me in there."

"You were climbing out a window."

"Because you were going to kill me."

"If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't have made it to the window."

I hated how calmly he said it.

I hated even more that I believed him.

I stepped closer.

"Then why am I still alive?"

He didn't answer.

I waited.

He said nothing.

"That's what I thought."

His eyes narrowed.

"You think you know everything."

"No."

I looked toward the bundle beneath my shirt.

"I think you know more than you're telling me."

For the first time, his gaze softened.

Only slightly.

Then it disappeared.

"That's a dangerous thing to believe."

"So is believing the King's Hunter is going to let me walk away."

"I didn't say I was letting you walk away."

My stomach tightened.

He stepped closer.

Not enough to touch me.

Enough that I had to tilt my head to keep looking at him.

"You need to leave Bellhaven."

I frowned.

"Why?"

"Because by tomorrow, this town will be crawling with Crown soldiers."

My chest tightened.

"And my parents?"

His expression went still.

"I don't know where they are."

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

"Then find them."

His jaw tightened.

"I intend to."

I stared at him.

"Why?"

He looked at me for a long moment.

Then he stepped back.

"Because if someone took them, they're going to come looking for you."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one you're getting."

He turned toward the door.

I followed him.

"Wait."

He stopped.

I looked at his back.

"Are you going to come after me?"

He glanced over his shoulder.

"I already did."

My heart dropped.

He opened the bedroom door.

Then he looked at me one last time.

"Run, Elara."

And he walked away.

I stood in the middle of my bedroom, listening to his footsteps disappear down the stairs.

I should have been relieved.

The King's Hunter had left.

I was still alive.

I was free.

At least for the moment.

But as I looked down at the bundle hidden beneath my shirt, one thought wouldn't leave me alone.

If Kael Draven had really come here to hunt me...

Why had he just told me to run?