The Cultivated Girl

BONUS CHAPTER: The Huntress

Thank you!
Over 22,000 reads and a fabulous new ranking of 27 in Fantasy deserves something special.
I present you with another side of Alexia from the writer's equivalent of the cutting room floor.
This scene was deleted from the Benediction and will only be available to Wattpad readers.
The POV is a bit ropey but I thought you'd like the WIP insight.
Enjoy! :-)

In addition to being a complete and proper lady with the manners of a well-bred queen, Alexia (or Alex as she most often thought of herself when the bloodlust felt strong) was also a thirteenth generation Sanctari with all the privilege and genetic strength that ran accordingly. And right now, she had been challenged.

"That," she gasped out in between gut wrenching plummets, "is my prey". She didn't know or care if the creature she rode heard her.

"I marked her first, a long time ago." Here she referred to Amanda, rather than the furry scrap that had taken her eye.

"All you did, you cowardly worm, was set a trap for the stupidly stupid to wander into." At this, the creature bellowed and launched into a spine-snapping sequence of powerful ripples, designed to toss its ill-mannered rider off and onto the ground. The two had been locked in this dance for over an hour and both were tiring although neither would admit defeat.

Alexia roared back only to smack her delicate face into the soft section under the spines at the back of its neck. She bit down hard with her ivory fangs. A mix of adrenaline and slightly sour, tangy blood flowed into her mouth. It required all the training and self-discipline she had developed to rip back and spit a fountain of blood and snake flesh over the side of her winged mount. All she wanted to do was drink deep but after coming so far she was determined to complete the Benediction. She had conquered herself, there was no way she would lose to a foe.

Once Alexia had tasted it she knew exactly what family this creature belonged to – some sort of winged serpent. The creature went limp. In all its years (which were extensive despite this being a baby of its kind) it had never suffered this indignity. The last mouth it had encountered was its mother's as she carried her brood to a safe new home.

It was confused. The quetzecoatl (for that's what it was) had not had to respond to any authority since then. It was no simple creature, just young, with several hundred more years to develop its thinking and not much experience outside of trapping then eating its prey once the wind and the waves had tenderised and sweetened the flesh.

All the fight went out of it. At the moment experience taught the quetzecoatl to dominate every life form other than its mother. The pray on its back was no longer pray. And if it wasn't pray it must somehow relate to Mother. And if there was one thing this young quetzecoatl knew was that you never ever took on Mother.

It stopped trying to buck Alexia off and instead tried to turn its head to get a better look at her, which was impossible with her tucked neatly behind its ruff. To any observer below, the crazed dance became more languorous as the quetzecoatl spiralled slowly in its new pursuit, to glimpse its new mother figure.

It took some time for the suspicious Alexia to realise what the creature was trying to do and if she wasn't conscious of her time running out due to the slow melting of the sun, she would never have trusted it. But her sharp and savvy nature could never overlook an opportunity and this was a prime one.

"This is ridiculous," she said. "Stop that behaviour at once!" The serpent sulkily obeyed, straightening out and steadying its altitude. Alexia relaxed a bit, still holding on firmly with her thighs, but retracting her fangs a little.