7. Weirdly Hot

Nuada wasn”t what I”d anticipated, and yet he was entirely as I expected. The powerful, bare-chested man lounging in his throne with his legs splayed and the fur of his barbarian”s skirt falling between his thighs was far more decadent than I would have imagined for the vicious Hunter mounted on his black horse, yet every line of his strong body was familiar to me. From the moment I first saw him, I could have drawn him from memory, down to the precise curl of his auburn hair and the slant of his mouth as he met my eyes across the room.

He was… really attractive. It was something of a problem. Never in a million years would I have put ”skeletal silver arm” or ”rack of antlers” at the top of the list of things I might find attractive in a man, but paired with his brute strength and elven features, it was pretty hard to think otherwise. Nuada sat a little left of humanity – teeth too sharp, face too beautiful, movement too smooth – and looking at him, I understood the allure of the fae.

I could tell he was being cagey about the tattoo on his neck. You have to read people well to steal things out from under their noses, whether that”s shoplifting or daylight museum thefts, and Nuada didn”t only dislike talking about being beheaded. He looked downright anxious, muscles tight and tension around his dark eyes.

Then Keilain answered for him, and I understood.

I didn”t want Nuada for an enemy, and given that he”d given me both his hound and free reign of his palace, I was pretty sure he didn”t want to be hated, either. Our introduction had been him setting his hounds on me and running me down across the hills of Ireland, which wasn”t the kindest of meet-and-greets, and I appreciated the space he”d given me. Apparently, though, that wasn”t even the darkest of his attributes.

Frowning slightly, I shoved Keilain”s face with my toes. ”I”m not interested in getting to know my soulmate through your opinions,” I told him in a stern voice, getting a whine in return. ”Don”t tell me things about Nuada unless I ask you to.”

”Yes, mistress,” he said, sounding abashed as he put his head down on his paws, out of the range of my feet.

”Good boy,” I replied, an unfamiliar curl of heat in my belly as he wagged his tail for me. I”d never done anything remotely femdom before, but it was pretty hard to avoid the consideration of how hot it would be for the beautiful, devoted man at my feet to be at my beck and call.

He”ll do whatever you tell him to, I thought, a little guiltily. I would have to make sure that I didn”t ask for things that would harm him. Like any loyal dog, he would do it even if it killed him.

Nuada looked stunned when I lifted my eyes to him again, a line between his brows and his lips parted. I planted my elbow on my thigh and dropped my chin onto my hand, affecting an ease I didn”t really feel. ”That goes for you, too,” I informed him, my chest tight with nervousness. I wasn”t sure I could give him commands the way I could to Key. ”Keilain gets to be in charge of how he presents himself. I”m not interested in the two of you sniping at each other. This whole thing is hard enough already.”

Nuada”s throat worked, but he didn”t look away. ”That”s a kindness I didn”t anticipate,” he said, his basso voice rough. ”I”m not… an easy man to approach. I appreciate that you won”t allow your hound to make it more difficult.”

I hopped down off my perch before I could think better of it, stepping over Key and walking over to Nuada”s throne, placing my feet with care for the rubble and growing things on the floor. Nuada was a scary bastard, but I refused to spend my days skittering away from him. He was my soulmate. I had his power at my fingertips, and I”d never been one for showing my belly.

The Hunter watched me approach with what looked like trepidation, his chin lifted and fingertips digging against the stone arms of his throne. He didn”t say anything, though, sitting there like a statue as I walked over, and then as I hopped up onto the right arm of the throne, legs dangling over the edge.

I leaned over, lifting his chin up with two fingers to examine the tattoo of gripping beasts that wrapped around his throat while he stared at me like a deer in the headlights. ”Does it come off?”

He swallowed, Adam”s apple bobbing. ”Yes.”

The guttural sound of his voice made my skin tingle, my eyes drawn for a moment to the movement of his mouth as he shaped the word. I leaned back, taking my fingers away. ”Will you show me?”

”If you desire it,” Nuada said, his breathing shallow and face tense. When I didn”t naysay, he touched the fingers of his left hand to his throat, holding my gaze with the relentless focus of a hawk.

The tattoo dissolved, leaving a pale line encircling his neck.

Still staring into my eyes, Nuada gripped one of his antlers, and lifted his head off of his body.

Oh, that was weird.

Some depictions of the Dullahan were really gruesome, with clotted blood staining his chest and visible gore in the wound. I felt pretty lucky that the reality was a lot less bloody; pale blue flame flickered from the two halves of his severed neck, the edge of his spine visible as a paler circle in the eldritch blue. The soulmate bond was doing some work, too, I thought. It was only unsettling as a concept, and not in actual practice. Nuada”s head came off. That was just how it was.

”Can I touch it?” I asked, somewhat fascinated.

Nuada shuddered, breathing harder. ”If you desire it,” he said again, most of the way to a growl, his voice coming from his head and not his body.

I didn”t hesitate, reaching out for Nuada”s throat with the same false confidence I used to eat weird new food or to walk past ”Employees Only” signs. The blue flame was cool against my fingertips, but his body was warm. It didn”t feel much different from touching skin, with some give except on the bare bone, which felt rough.

When I took my fingers away, they were clean.

”Are you satisfied?” Nuada asked, panting as he stared at me with an expression of overwrought pleasure.

I bit my lip without thinking, flushing when Nuada”s eyes fell to my mouth. ”Um. Yeah,” I said, my throat suddenly dry. My eyes dropped down along his body, catching on his tense abs and thighs and the tenting of his battle-skirt from his half-hard cock. I swallowed, dragging my eyes back up to his as he set his head back on his neck. ”Felt— Felt good, huh?”

He made a low sound of acknowledgement. ”I have never had a woman slide her fingers inside my body in such a way,” he said with dark amusement, rubbing his hand across his throat as the tattoo reasserted itself—not the same tattoo, I noted, just in the same location. ”Perhaps you will grant me some understanding for the physical appreciation of such a thing.”

I could feel myself turning bright crimson at that phrasing, my cheeks going tight and hot. ”I suppose having a detachable head gives you a lot of options for, um, physical appreciation.”

”Is that a question?” Nuada asked, smirking at me.

”Is there an answer?” I countered, raising one brow.

”There are several,” he said, rumbling the words. ”Do you want them?”

I wasn”t going to back down, blush or no. ”Why not?”

Nuada leaned towards me, his pupils dilated and gaze direct. ”Yes, I”ve sucked my own cock. Yes, I”ve fantasized about pleasuring a woman with my tongue while I fuck her.” He licked his lips, a hungry expression on his face. ”No, I”ve never had the opportunity to try it. I haven”t had sex of any kind since I was beheaded. And thus, no, I”ve never had my throat fucked through the wound, nor have I truly had any great desire to try such a thing. But I could be persuaded, were it your pleasure.”

I swallowed, hard, my skin hot and my pulse throbbing between my legs. My nipples tingled where they pressed against the fabric of the robe, and I was willing to bet they showed through even that heavy cloth.

I wasn”t going to check, though, nor was I going to let my eyes wander down his body again. As much as I appreciated the sight, I didn”t want Day One in the Ruined Palace to include getting railed by the Hunter up against his throne. That seemed a bit… excessive.

Behind us, Keilain sighed, the gusty loud exhale of a dog who wanted to stop getting ignored.

A tiny smile touched the corners of Nuada”s mouth. ”Your hound is tired of being left out, I think.”

”We—” My voice cracked, and I had to wet my mouth, blushing again as Nuada lifted his chin and regarded me with a stern expression in his half-lidded eyes. ”We weren”t done exploring.”

”Don”t curb your curiosity for my sake,” he said, the words almost gentle. ”Explore my palace if it pleases you. Command my hounds and servitors as you will. Make requests of me, that I may have the pleasure of granting them.”

”Would you take me home if I asked you to?” I asked, emboldened by his open-handedness. I didn”t think he even could, but I was interested in the answer.

Nuada”s cheek twitched as his jaw clenched, his pointed ears flattening against his head like an animal”s. ”I would be willing to bargain with you for such a request,” he said, his voice emotionless. ”It would be difficult to find a path that would return you to the time and place from whence I carried you away, and I have little reason to do so.” His expression sharpened like a knife on a whetstone. ”You would need to give me such a reason.”

I leaned forward, meeting the challenge in his eyes. ”What would stop you from simply carrying me off again if I did?”

”The cleverness of your bargaining,” he purred at me, lowering his lashes. ”Do you desire to meet me at the table?”

Keilain whined, the sound giving me pause. He was warning me away from baiting Nuada, I thought, and that was worth paying attention to.

I pursed my lips, thinking about it. ”Not right now,” I said, choosing my words carefully. ”Maybe later.”

”Very well,” Nuada said, some of the predatory light leaving his eyes. He settled back in his throne, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back against the stone. ”Enjoy your wandering, and don”t step beyond the walls. It”s dangerous here, and time slips past in strange ways.” He sighed, his shoulders relaxing. ”If we find our balance, time will flow the same for us no matter where we stand. But for now, remain near. I know the ways well, but not perfectly, and it would be a pity for you to starve in the wilderness or live your life in the span of a moment when I was but a breath away.”

Yikes. I didn”t like the sound of either of those particular fates. ”I”ll stay inside the walls.”

He gave me a slight nod, and I hopped down off his throne, feeling unsettled. Keilain”s head came up and ears perked, and when I tilted my head he jumped up and trotted over with a sighthound”s springing gait to stretch at my side.

”Biiig stretch,” I said in an affectionate tone, my tongue on autopilot.

Both men laughed, a sharp bark from Keilain and a low rumble of amusement from Nuada. That didn”t leave me much dignity for an exit, so I just left, heading out of Nuada”s throne room through a hole in the wall, Keilain following behind, keeping himself between me and the Hunter.

I didn”t like that, and I didn”t know why. Shouldn”t I want protection from the man who”d tried to kill me?

A problem for another day, I told myself, trying to focus on walking so that I wouldn”t hurt my bare feet. It”s not like Nuada”s chasing me down, anyway.

That bothered me, too, in an itchy sort of way. Since when were hunters content to sit and watch their prey walk away? Didn”t he want me?

”He”s strange,” I murmured, putting my hand on Keilain”s shoulder.

”Yes,” he said, his voice soft. ”He”s the Master. I don”t truly understand him.” He fell silent for a long while, padding by my side, then said, ”Do you like him better than me?”

I thought about that, rather than giving a knee-jerk response. He deserved a fair answer.

”I like him differently than you,” I said at last, sitting down on an old stone bench to rest my sore feet.

Key hauled his huge self onto the bench next to me, awkwardly turning in a stiff-legged circle before flopping down in his half-fae form, head on my lap. ”But not more?” he asked, looking up at me with a hopeful expression.

”No, not more. Just different.” I combed my fingers through his black hair, smiling down at him. ”The two of you aren”t really anything alike, you know.”

”Not true,” he said, looking nervous. ”I couldn”t run with him if we didn”t share the same hungers.” The hellhound looked away, his tail tucking between his legs. ”The Master is the master of those hungers, but I”m mastered by them. I run, and eat, and… and fuck. I”m not… I”m not different from him. I”m just… unfettered.”

He sounded so ashamed that I stopped petting him, surprised that one of the hounds of the Wild Hunt would feel shame for who he was.

He”d said, ”you changed my world.” Was it my fault?

”It”s not a bad thing,” I said, as gently as I could, turning his face up to mine. ”I like that what I see with you is what I get. You”re just… you.” I smiled for him, a helpless sort of affection warming my chest. ”No one”s ever loved me without hesitation before, not even my mother. I know that”s just kinda how dogs are, but I still really like it.”

”I”m trying to remember who I was for you,” he said, longing softening the sharp lines of his beautiful face. ”You”ll see. I”m going to do my best to be a man worth keeping.”

”Good boy,” I said with a teasing smile, exactly for the little whine I got in return. ”Wanna show me where to get something to eat?”

”Whatever you want,” he promised me, and I knew it was true.