SONGS OF THE HUNTED
by Bethany-Kris writing as K. Fournier Realms of Glass and Blood, #1
Publication Date: November 21, 2022
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
**Songs of the Hunted is free to read on Kobo Plus, BorrowBox, and is coming soon to digital libraries!**
Once upon a time, a king hunted a queen …
It is year 749 of the House of Bloodhurst reign on Atlas, and King Misael Bloodhurst’s thirst for sea women is a well-known threat across the realm, but Anthia, queen of her seas, is sure that she’s clever and protected enough to stay out of his grasp and eye.
Not likely and capturing the mermaid queen changed everything. For them all.
Many years later, a new princess of the Blu throne, a someday queen, is coming of age, as are some of her sisters. Sheltered until adulthood, their most dangerous years are upon them and the choices they are about to make will change the rules of everything. Having never walked the lands of Atlas before, those days will soon change, and neither path will be easy.
When a prince of the land hunts the next princess of the seas, nothing will ever be the same again.
These are the songs of the hunted.
Hear them.
Heed them.
War is coming.
*
Songs of the Hunted is book 1 in the Realms of Glass and Blood series from the 9ine Realms by author Bethany-Kris writing as K. Fournier. Realms of fantasy where life lives above and below colored seas - where fire breathers rule the mountains of tar and skies that cry - and everything, sometimes even love, is a lie. Book 2, The Burning of Atlas, will follow in 2023. Please heed the warnings at the beginning of the book before reading or check BK’s website as some will find this content distressing, disturbing, and/or triggering.
*BK previously released a book, 90k in length, titled The Hunted which she subsequently pulled from sale. Songs of the Hunted is the rewritten, expanded work with a total of 166,000 words.
EXCERPT
With the wind blowing like it was, she couldn’t smell it at first—she’d been too focused on trying to save this man’s life instead of the dangerous situation she suddenly found herself in when all at once, the wind quieted.
At the same time that she dragged in a heady lungful of wet air that tasted of her own blood, she realized there was a hint of something else, too.
His blood.
Arelle looked back, quickly finding the spot on his body that bled. A cut along the side of his calf, but that wasn’t really the problem. He wasn’t entirely like her, landwalkers couldn’t mate with her kind, but he wasn’t entirely human, either. Not if his mother had come from the sea. This was how the matings started. The scent all around, blood from the struggle, and then when it mixed …
She closed her eyes, letting out a slow exhale.
With the scents of their blood mingling in the air, her stomach clenched.
In a good way.
A promising way.
Still, she ignored it.
She had to.
Because if she allowed her mind to become lost in the scent of their mingling blood, what came next would be … well, she wouldn’t be able to come back from that. Instinct would take over—it already was; she could barely breathe from the sudden need that surged through her bloodstream to make her hot and hazy—and she would be fucked.
You already are.
Thrumming deep in her veins, she could already sense that change.
Arelle fought it.
So fucking hard.
Like the storms in the sky and the unpredictable sea, everything changed in the blink of an eye. Or rather, the opening of a pair of brilliant blue-gray eyes.
His.
He stared up at her, unblinking and wide, his mouth opening to say something … but no words came out. Only a choking sound before his hands that had previously been limp at his sides flew up to his throat. He struggled under her, his body lifting as he choked out another sound that she couldn’t understand.
Arelle’s shock kept her pinned on top of him as he grabbed at the side of his neck, his fingers digging into the three little scars there.
And finally …
Finally, she understood as she watched his throat pulse every time his chest heaved upward like he was trying to take in a breath.
His gills.
She bet his body looked different on the outside. But inside, it still worked just like hers and every other person of the sea.
Arelle didn’t even think about it.
Not what it would mean.
Not what might happen …
None of it.
She simply slipped her hands in with his, her fingernails digging deep into the scars there. Filed into sharp points that she could use to eat, hunt or protect herself if needed, her fingernails tore through the soft tissue at his throat, ripping open the scars and slipping deep into the canals of his gills. For the first time, he made a sound. Or rather, grunted out in the pain she caused him, but she couldn’t stop. Not yet. Not until … there it was. She felt the water and blood pour through her fingers, and she breathed deeply.
Because she could smell him.
And her.
Purple mixed with thick red.
He exhaled.
Water and blood poured down from his opened gills.
They could sew them shut on the outside, but that didn’t change the inside. It didn’t change who, and what, he was.
Every part of Arelle knew it, now.
Every single part of her could feel it.
Their blood mingled.
Purple and red turned a shimmering maroon.
She shuddered on top of him when he stared up at her—her throat flexed with every swallow, her heart racing as though the organ were about to come right out of her chest. Each shift of her hips on top of him reminded her that she was entirely naked, and nothing separated the softness of her sex from the rigidness of his cock.
He couldn’t possibly know it.
Couldn’t understand that change in the air.
The bond had begun.
They could shed their blood. Separately. Together. It could mix all it wanted, but when the mating came into play, it began something that was almost impossible to stop. There was no going back now.
She’d not meant for this.
Arelle was still powerless to stop it—not that she was sure she would even want to.
ABOUT K. FOURNIER
K. Fournier is a Canadian, mother, storyteller, and the fantasy romance penname for author Bethany-Kris. She’s got a lot of dogs, cats, kids, and somehow, she still manages to write. Find where to follow BK or visit her website to stay up to date with all things BK/K. Fournier.
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