The widowed Queen Olvang has received word of the affair with her daughter, and offers but one chance for freedom for the Huntsman. Come to her chambers instead, and learn of a true woman’s prowess and dominance over her subjects. Yet unbeknownst to all, this turn of events has all been to Princess Katalyne’s design. As her plan unfolds within the castle walls, very little will remain as it seems.
What lays beyond is a gamble of faith with the future of the Olvang kingdom on the line.
I tell you what, looking at it now, this synopsis is a little longer than usual. I don't think that's really a bad thing, maybe I'll trim a bit off later, but this has certainly been one of those stories that just wasn't so easy to lay out. Sections of it have been in my mind since the original inception of the Huntsman series, and I know where it's going, but it's how you get there that really matters.
It's a bit difficult to talk about without really spoiling much but suffice to say it brings together a bunch of plots and characters that may not even be immediately obvious. Some of them are seemingly innocent occlusions from between series, even. The hows and wheres of some supporting cast machinations are handled in the sister series, The Lusty Dark Elven Maid, while the "plots above a maid's station to worry about" are squarely the scene set in Huntsman.
It's not to say you'll miss out if you don't read both series, I'm just perhaps excessively happy and proud of the dual-lined story I have going on. It also lets me run different gears of sexual intensity while still in the same developing story scene.
So, with that said, the second volume of Huntsman rolls in. With this volume, we get a little look into Princess Katalyne's past, the odd circumstances they met under and more notes of things such as how the Northlands society is run and just how harsh and dark a land it is. From there it moves back into Castle Olvang and introducing the Princesses Mother and Queen, who has her own thoughts and restrictions on matters with a whole Kingdom on her shoulders.
The one out for freedom she gives the Huntsman on learning just what he's been doing is the real central point of the story's erotic edge, and one I had a bit of trouble with. While you may say orders are orders, I wasn't really 100% on having the Huntsman sleep with them both. I mean "Like Mother like Daughter" would have been a funny line to slip in, but it left too much a feel of cheating.
So, if nothing else I can assure you that doesn't happen. I had a number of options on hand to redirect it away from that, and while strange, I like the way it's unfolded the best. It's always something that's easy to forget about fiction that so long as you can make it a believable concept, you can absolutely write magical and fictitious things.
And that's one reason I write fantasy, you can write things on such a grand and mythical scale that would never be possible otherwise. If that's not some of the magic and charm of writing fiction, then I don't know what is.
Excerpt follows the pagebreak.
*
No,
Valladaea thought, pushing herself up to sit and stare at the door leading back
to the bathing room, she would not. She was yet the Queen, and would not be
outdone, if only the flaming man would think to join her. There was not that much of him to dry. Only… this,
that, and those, the flustered Queen
thought to herself, caressing his toned monolith of a body within her mind
before truly realising how her mind had wandered and breathe quickened.
Flaming
children! If the young man thought a Queen’s patience was as long-standing as her
rule, she would see him regret it in very
short order. Pouting with the heart and spirit of a young girl once more, the
impatient Queen’s trail of thought thankfully cut short, as the door at last
opened. With a towel around his waist, the fool man seemed to have taken a
second, draped around his shoulders as though to dress himself again.
“What are
you–” Before Valladaea could but finish her scolding question, the man to be
her company flourished the towel around his shoulders, sliding down to one
knee. The whole thing looked considerably royal and proper, despite the nature
of with what he did so. It left the impatient Queen to laugh a soft tone,
pursing her lips and raising a brow as he gently took a foot in hand.
“Tonight,
naught but entertaining thy will, my lady.” He replied, kissing the crown of
her foot and throwing the bathrobe aside in another extravagant flair. Smiling
quietly, Valladaea lifted her foot higher, humming softly and curling the toes
expectantly. The feel of his palm on the soft underside tingled, but she would
not squirm away from a touch of worship.
“That you
will, yes.” She murmured in return, leaning back and relaxing into the soft
press of the bed to watch him. For a man with such large hands, the gentle way
he held and squeezed the delicate foot was endearing, even pleasurable to feel
the stroke and squeeze of his fingers along the underside. He ran kisses from
the crux of her toes up to the ankle, all but pressing his cheek to her skin as
she watched with a contented smile. It had been some time since a man had truly
shown fealty in this way.
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