Caught in the Fox’s Teeth

Chapter 13: Odin

I’m sorry… I thought you said that you lost my bride. That can’t be what you said. I’ve certainly misheard you.” My father’s silence and deadly glare speak volumes. I wait for him to give me more information. When he leans back in my brother’s lounge and takes a large gulp of whiskey, it’s clear he has volunteered all the intel he planned on giving me. Mere scraps. Oh, how the pure rage boils beneath my skin. “How the f**k does that happen father? She’s a young, beautiful woman. She would draw attention anywhere she went. Surely it is not so difficult to keep an eye on one woman. My woman.” I curse my father and his incompetent staff. His jaw tenses. I see the tick of the muscles there as his brow furrows. That all too familiar vein pops out on his forehead. It’s one I’ve seen many times in my youth when Bowen and I would make mischief. “The second I get her back, I’ll send all these men to the f*****g gallows and install competent men. Loyal men. Men capable of handling a single woman.” I sneer. It does not go unnoticed by my father’s ever watchful gaze.

“She fled in the night. Don’t blame me for your reputation preceding you.” He keeps his expression calm. To anyone else he looks like he is as cool as a cucumber but I see the subtle way his eye twitches and his pupils narrow. I can smell the oily scent of anger leaving his pores. My sense of smell has always been superior. I can practically smell a lie on a person and I can definitely tell my father is omitting important facts. I let the silence draw out, knowing that if you give people enough rope they will often hang themselves with it. The high lord knows this game. He’s the one that taught me how to play.

Dryndenn shrugs noncommittally as if nothing could be wrong with the picture before us. Then he takes another slow and maddening sip from his glass. I’d love to throw the liquor in his smug face. My reputation? It’s laughable. I’m known for being a womanizing prick, and it’s a fair assessment, but he is king of the pricks. He’s bedded more women than I’ve even met! Yet he has the audacity to sit in a dead man’s chair and tell me that he’s lost my soon-to-be wife and somehow it is my fault. I scoff. The fact that he has the audacity to be the angry one only infuriates me further. I have traveled far and wide to get back to my family’s estate. I’m tired and filthy, covered in road dust and sweat. I hadn’t even washed up yet before I was summoned to Bowen’s study. I knew the news would not be good.

When I arrived, I was anxious to make myself presentable so that I could impress my woman. I had hoped to woo her and earn her adoration and trust. I had the whole thing planned, for f***s sake. Ullo greeted me straight off the road, telling me my father needed me urgently. I tried to blow him off. The sooner I cleaned myself up, the sooner I would have those smooth white legs wrapped around my back. I’ve not had a woman in weeks. The second father sent word that I would marry Taryn, I swore off women. I would not have s*x unless it was with my fiancé and gods how I hoped she would greet me with an open heart and open legs.

Father broke the news to me as my aching erection melted in my mud crusted breeches. I have spent the weeks mourning my fool brother while I’ve traversed our expanse of land. I’d been doing diplomatic work at my father’s request when word reached me about Bowen. I had departed at once from the far lands of our province. The only shining light of this whole debacle was knowing that I’d be marrying Taryn when I arrived. The thoughts of her squeals beneath the sheets and her moans have haunted my near every dream. I have wet dreams like a gods damned teenager, for f***s sake! My body aches to feel her against me. I need her as I need air.

When father initially told me that the lovely Lady Taryn of Daodan would be wedded to my brother, I nearly gutted both of them. Bowen would not know what to do with such a woman. She is famed for not only her lineage and beauty but for her prowess as a hunter. She is no mere lady. She does not darn socks or train her hand at needlepoint. f**k needlepoint, my woman is a bow maiden. A goddess amongst fools. How could my brother be so stupid as to have ignored her talents? She was right there in front of him, but he was too blind to see her. Of all the women in the realm, she had my heart in a vise. I had met her once ages ago at one of the king’s parties for Mittlevolk. I was enamored with her immediately. I would have tried to seduce her then but knew well that a woman such as she would not be impressed with a wanton male such as myself. I also knew that I would not be content with a single f**k. I wanted to own her. I needed to make her mine. There was no doubt about it, I was enamored with her. Seeing Taryn laugh and smile amongst her peers. Watching her dance. I am no dancer so I did not bother trying but my eyes scarcely left her the entire night. I still remember as if it were yesterday. I had not believed in love at first sight until that very night.

After, I dropped subtle hints to my father for months. I would mention all the women at the gala that would make fine brides and strong children. I named a few inconsequential maidens before mentioning her. I spoke of her lineage and breeding; how her pedigree was amongst the purest this side of the continent. I spoke on every single topic I knew the fucker cared about. He picked up on my not so subtle hints but true to form he f****d me over when he gifted my dream woman to my ignorant brother. It was like a stab in the heart. No. A stab to the heart is too quick of a death. This was a stab to the guts. The wound festered and pained me terribly. It drew out every bit of misery that it could. I would have appreciated her so much more than Bowen did. She would have been my equal… or as close to an equal as an obedient woman can be.

Her talents were wasted with my brother. I’m not talking about how skilled her people are in their bedroom arts but her practically unmatched skills with a bow. No doubt if she had been in the woods that day, that f*****g boar wouldn’t have killed Bowen. Ullo proved himself useless, yet my brother put all his faith in that man. I scoff at the notion. He had a huntress in his bed but refused to set her loose. The thought only enrages me further. Now I finally have Taryn within my grasp; in my life and in my bed, but these idiots have managed to lose her! This is unacceptable. Imagine how furious the mighty Lord Dryndenn Lupin would be if someone had told him the woman he loved ran away from him! I’d laugh if I wasn’t so gods damn enraged.

“How long has she been gone?” I ask blandly. My attempt at concealing my rage is not believable in the least. Normally my father would box my ears for my insolence, but he knows he f****d up. He underestimated my woman. They all did. Make no mistake. She is my woman. She may be a famed huntress, but I am her better. I am her counterpart. We were made for each other. I vow that I will hunt her until my dying day. She will serve at no one’s feet but mine.

My head snaps back to attention when Ullo speaks. “About five days ago, my lord.” Five days?! f***s sake. These people! My father should have waited to tell her we were to be wed. He likely tormented her with the fact. Perhaps I shouldn’t have sent her that damned letter. I had a few too many drinks in Bowen’s memory and found myself thinking about my bride. I’m a fool.

She couldn’t have been thinking straight in her grief and then my bastard of a father sprung another betrothal on her like the callous dickhead he is. I’m sure he did not deliver the news gently. I should not have trusted him to handle the situation. I curse myself. This is all my fault.