Not taking my eyes off him, I watched as he pulled off his cloak and hung it on the wall. He then removed the thick overcoat underneath, revealing a black tunic. He appeared to be shaped like a human, his broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist and thick, muscular thighs.

With his back facing me, he unbuckled the mask he wore, and I held my breath, prepared for the very worst. What horrors lurked beneath the mask of a creature known as the Reaper? After pulling it off, he shook out a head of wavy black hair that fell past his shoulders.

Curious, I stepped closer to my bars, watching while he removed his gloves and unbelted his weapons, dropping them all into a chest at the foot of his bed, which he then locked, stuffing the key in his pocket.

Then he stopped and stood stock still, as if feeling my eyes boring into him. He whipped around and I leapt back, again crashing into the wall behind me.

He was...normal? Almost normal, anyway, but for the line of dark markings that ran down the side of his face and throat and disappeared into his collar.

He smirked, apparently enjoying my distress, before he turned away and headed to the kitchen, where he opened the cupboards, retrieving plates, a loaf of bread, a hunk of cheese and thick slices of roasted beef. He deposited them on the table and then went to retrieve a pitcher of water, pouring two glasses.

It was then I noticed it.

He appeared normal, yes, but also not quite of this world. His skin bore a sheen, a near iridescence, his ears sweeping into delicate points. The way he moved like water flowing over river-worn stones marked him as anything but human.

“You’re Fae,” I whispered. “You’re one of them.” He looked over, the crescents of his dark eyes reflecting in the flickering fire, and grunted. “I don’t understand. Why do you live out here?”

Ignoring my question, he continued his chores. While he worked, I examined my cage, noting the bare stone floor, absent of even a stool to sit on.

“You’re going to keep me here like an animal?” I asked, my fury cresting. “Why do you have a cage in your home? The Reaper is a filthy Fae?” I spat the last word out with as much venom as I could muster, which finally secured his attention.

“Watch your mouth, Princess.” His voice, no longer muffled by the mask, was still deep and rough, but less guttural.

“I will not! Why do you have a cage here? Who else have you locked up? Where are they?”

He stopped what he was doing and pinned me with a dark look. “You sure you really want the answer to that, Princess?”

I hesitated. Did I?

“Don’t worry, they weren’t all human,” he said before he turned his back to me again. The proof of his statement was obvious from the state of the floor. It was filthy in here.

“You’re really going to leave me in here like this? This is disgusting.” Tossing me a smirk, he pulled out a chair and sat down, pulling a plate of food toward him. “You won’t be in there long.”

While those words sounded promising on the surface, I knew not to trust them.

“Who are you?” I asked. “Why do they call you the Reaper?” The answer to that question wasn’t one I was sure I wanted either, but I was here now and information might be the only weapon I had.

He shook his head, his lip curling in the corner. “I’m not the Reaper,” he said, biting into a chunk of cheese. “The thing you humans call the Reaper is actually an ogre and lives somewhere deep in the woods.”

I blinked. There were two monsters haunting the forest?

“Why does everyone call it the Reaper, then?”

The Fae-who-wasn’t-the-Reaper arched a dark eyebrow. “Obviously, because it kills everything it sees. Not very clever, are you, Princess?”

I narrowed my gaze as he tore into a piece of bread and chewed slowly, savoring it along with the bitter tang of my distress.

“If you’re not the Reaper, what do you want with me?” Another question and another answer I probably wouldn’t like hung in the air like a rancid phantom.

“You’re going to help me catch it,” he said, casually taking a sip of water. My gaze followed the bob of his throat as he swallowed, and I licked my dry lips. His eyes darkening, he stared at me, his words collaring me around the throat with dread.

“How am I supposed to help you catch it?”

A grin stretched across his face. It marked him as something wild and feral, not entirely of this world. Something that refused to be tamed, no matter the shape of the whip.

“You’re the bait, Princess.

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter Four

Sure I had to have misheard, I frowned. “What?”

He didn’t answer as he tore off another piece of bread and pointed it at me. “Hungry?”

“Don’t change the subject. What do you mean I’m bait?” My voice had risen to a panicked octave.

He shrugged and popped the piece of bread in his mouth before he stood and approached the cage. I backed up, his imposing frame drawing closer. He pulled out a dagger from his belt, and I whimpered. “Get away from me!”

His shoulders dropped before he arched a dark eyebrow. “I was going to cut your restraints.” He nodded toward my hands, where they were still bound. “Unless you prefer to stay that way.”

Huffing out a breath, I slowly approached and held out my hands. He seized my wrist in one of his large palms, and I exhaled a pitched screech but didn’t pull back. This close, I could get a better look at him.

The only Fae I’d ever seen were those who came to visit once a year to ensure we were conforming to their unjust and numerous laws. But those Fae were very different. Their hair was light, usually so blonde it was white or silver. They had pale blue eyes, and their skin shimmered like starlight. They spoke in dulcet tones like they were trying to hypnotize us and moved through the castle as if they floated on gossamer clouds.

This Fae was entirely different with his dark olive skin and his black eyes. He didn’t shimmer so much as he hummed with a sort of leashed energy. His face was pleasing if you looked past the fact he’d just stolen me from my home and was planning to feed me to an ogre. Those strange markings tattooed on his skin ran over high cheekbones and a sharp jaw covered in a thin layer of stubble. He had full lips, and dark angled eyebrows, and the honed form of a man used to fighting.

He sawed through my restraints, letting them fall free. I rubbed my sore wrists and backed away again.

“I’ll let you out to eat something,” he said. “But don’t do anything stupid. You can’t outrun me, and I know every corner of this forest intimately. Do you understand?”

The last thing I wanted was to share a meal with this beast, but my stomach growled in protest and it seemed my physical needs overruled my desires. Though I wasn’t sure why he was feeding me, given he apparently wasn’t keeping me here very long.

He was already unlocking the door, his eyes never leaving me. After opening it, he stood in the doorway. He was huge. At least a full head taller than me and nothing but tendons and muscle. It was obvious he was right when he said I couldn’t outrun him. He moved like an apparition, all sinuous grace and lethal coiled energy.

“Your Highness,” he said in a sarcastic tone, gesturing me to a chair at the table. I hesitated for a moment, but the simple fare looked delicious, and I was so thirsty. Brushing past him, I picked up a glass and drank the entire thing without pausing.

Dropping into my seat, I filled my plate with bread and cheese and meat and started eating with my hands. This was hardly the meal I was used to, but right now, it tasted like heaven.

The Fae sat down across from me and watched me eat.

“Rowan, was it?” he asked, picking up his glass and taking a sip of water.