The Mercenary: A Sequel to Hwarang: The Saga of the Sooks Book #2

Chapter 13: Tremors

"Your Highness, I have your bow." The voice of a servant girl interrupted their encounter.

Still, Sook Myeong couldn't tear her eyes from his. "Leave it. On the bench," she called.

The girl did as she was bid.

"Shall we shoot?" he queried quietly.

The princess bobbed her chin upwards. Then turned her head towards the nearest servant. "Light the torches. Near the target. We're going to play a match."

She turned towards Jong Su and smiled. "Your highness."

"After you, my dear," he murmured as he bent to breathe into her ear.

She inhaled sharply. But she refrained from rebuking him for his familiar address. Choosing instead to lead him to the range.

Once they were standing behind the mark, she handed him her bow. "You go first."

He quirked an inquisitive eyebrow at her, but he didn't refuse her.

He took the bow and tested it before shooting a few arrows at the target.

Sook Myeong froze as she watched each one hit its mark. Three arrows in the center. Each less than a millimeter from the others. The fourth and final one split its predecessor in half.

"You have quite the eye. And a steady arm," she murmured appreciatively.

He turned towards her with a smile. "Your turn." He handed her the bow and an arrow.

Self-conscious now, she accepted them and prepared to shoot. A moment later, her arrow was whizzing through the air on its way towards the target. It landed a bare inch from the center.

"You are quite good, your highness," he commented. "But may I make a suggestion?"

Swallowing her trepidation, she turned haughty eyes on him. "Yes?" she queried in a tight voice.

"If you would just tip your arm slightly to the right, your aim would correct itself."

"Like this?" she asked as she adjusted her posture.

"Here. May I show you?" He stepped towards her and reached for her arm. "May I touch you?" he breathed the question as he bent over her from behind.

She gulped and nodded.

He leaned towards her, brushing up against her back as his fingers reached for her hand. "Pull back on the bow."

She did as he asked, but she was having a horrendous time holding it steady. And breathing, for that matter. She had never been this close to a man. Not to one standing behind her anyway. His breath in her ear. His fingers now sliding along hers. His proximity wreaking havoc with several of her senses.

His scent was wrapping around her once more. Making her yearn for...something. She was very afraid it involved more of him.

His touch was releasing heat into her core. And an odd sort of static that seemed to ride along her nerves, beginning with the skin trapped under his fingertips and slipping beneath that skin on its happy way towards her belly. It was causing a flush to spring up in her cheeks too. She could feel them growing warm.

The sound of his breathing was dancing upon her eardrum. A faithful beat. That revealed just how alive he was. But she already knew that. All her other senses were screaming it.

Her olfactory nerves were leaning towards the freedom contained in his fragrance. Her body was quaking from the feelings which he'd just unleashed within her. She would have sworn that she could even taste him. Or, at least, the exhilarating emotions which his presence was producing within her soul.