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Chapter Two
I stared at the dead animal, trying to fit my thoughts together, but shock dissolved them like sugar spun thread.
“The Reaper,” my mother whispered, her hand gripping mine so tight my fingers went numb. Margaret screamed, ducking behind me as my father stepped forward, shielding us both with his arm.
“What is the meaning of this?” he asked in his most commanding voice.
The figure then looked up. It wore a matte black mask in the shape of a leering skull, its row of menacing teeth flashing gold. It was the specter of death. A vision to make you believe in the possibility of all your worst fears.
We all knew the stories—nightmares charged with tales of the Reaper and what he did to those he dragged into the forest. The dead girls we’d found over the years. Their hearts ripped from their chests, their vacant eyes staring at the sky, their mouths open with the last screams they’d never utter.
“I’m competing for the hand of the princess,” the Reaper said, his voice like rusty chains dragged over stone. He spat the word ‘princess’ like it was an embittered curse he’d found amongst a heap of garbage. I took a step back from the force of it, where I bumped into Margaret, who squeaked as I trod on her foot.
This monster wanted to marry me?
“You can’t,” my father said, drawing himself up.
The grotesque mask swung to me and then back to my father. The only thing visible was a pair of dark, glittering eyes, sharp as knife points. He tipped his head like a wolf scenting prey, the movement so feral it was as though the forest had born him straight from its roots. “Is it not the right of every citizen in Aetherus to compete in the Hunt, Your Majesty?”
My father’s chin quivered, and his hands balled into fists. “Yes...” He stopped, searching for an answer that failed to materialize. “But you didn’t enter this morning. You must enter.”
“Actually,” one overseer remarked, raising a bony finger. “That is merely a courtesy. It isn’t part of the rules.”
My father’s nostrils flared, a muscle ticking in his jaw. He threw the overseer a murderous glare, and the man swallowed, perhaps realizing he’d just enjoyed his final moments on this plane.
The Reaper took a step closer, and a collective hush whipped around the clearing like autumn leaves kicked up on the wind. My father wasn’t a small man, but the Reaper towered over him. “Record my stag,” the Reaper said.
Huffing out deep, angry breaths, my father faced off with the Reaper, his cheeks red, and his eyes wild. The overseer, who had spoken up, took a tentative step forward, bowing to the king who, after a moment, gave a strained nod.
My father had no choice, I realized. These were the rules of the Hunt. Failure to comply would bring down the wrath of the Fae and their wanton brutality.
The overseer dashed forward, stretching out his measuring tape as his helpers heaved the stag onto the scale. This was pointless, though. Anyone with eyes could see the Reaper’s stag overshadowed the rest. I exchanged a look with Ellis. Held in a trance, he finally snapped and strode forward, his shoulders set with purpose.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me close, staring at the Reaper, whose grotesque mask seemed to grow more animalistic with each passing second. The demon’s eyes flicked back and forth between us, and if I hadn’t known any better, I’d swear they simmered with amusement.
I huddled closer to the man I was supposed to marry, suddenly wanting to be nowhere else but safe and cherished in his arms. This was where I belonged. Ellis pulled me tight, whispering reassurances in my ear.
Finished with their task, the overseers stood and faced the king.
“This...contestant’s stag is the largest by several orders, Your Majesty. Unless there are any other claimants—” he paused, sucking in an audible breath “—the Reaper is the wi
A cry rose around the clearing as my entire future dissolved into a puff of ashes at my feet.
“No!” Ellis said, wrapping his arms around me. “No, I will not allow this.”
My father studied us both, grim resignation in his expression.
“This monster ca
“I have no desire to be a king,” the Reaper snarled through the mask, his voice darker than the pits of the underworld from which he came. “I’m taking her with me.”
At that, my knees turned to jelly. It was one thing to be in the castle surrounded by my friends and family, but to be alone with him out in the forest? I’d be dead before the sun rose.
“You will not!” my father said, the words fused with molten rage. “She belongs here.” He looked at his feet and then back up, rolling his shoulders before he grabbed an overseer by the collar of his robe. “Find a loophole in the rules. Something. Rowan is not going anywhere.”
The overseers were already perusing the documents, conferring in hushed voices. But the same overseer who’d spoken earlier shook his head. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. There is nothing preventing him from taking her. He has won, as per the rules of the Hunt.”
“There must be something,” my father hissed, towering over him. “Find something.”
Ellis held me tighter, as though he could leash the trembling in my limbs.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” the overseer whispered, his voice quivering. “We can keep looking, but by the decree, the princess now belongs to the Reaper.”
My mother covered her mouth while it opened in a soundless scream. “Gerald, you must do something,” she sobbed. “Rowan ca
His gaze found me, those endless black eyes burning with the promise of my ruin, and I shivered. What did he plan to do with me?
My father groaned in frustration and ran a hand down his face. “There’s nothing I can do.” His words held the strain of a razor-fine edge.
He looked at me with a significance that traversed the space between us. All our hopes and dreams were gone. Everything we’d pla
Ellis pulled me closer, his arms like iron bands. “You can’t mean to go through with this,” he said, his voice cracking. “Your Majesty.”
I shook my head and pulled his arm away. “I have to,” I said softly. “If I don’t, the Fae will come. I can’t let that happen to any of you.”
“Rowan,” Ellis said, cupping my face in his hands. There was something eternal in his gaze. The buried promise of the future we would never have. “I’ll come for you,” he vowed. “I’ll find some way to get you out of this bargain. I swear it.”
I nodded, sure that was a promise he couldn’t keep.
“While this is all very touching,” the Reaper said, his tone mocking and bored, “we should get going before the sun sets any further.”
The bastard didn’t even care that he’d just destroyed my life.
He stepped forward, his heavy boots crunching through the leaves. Holding a rope, he grabbed both my wrists in one of his large, gloved hands and wrapped it around them.
“What are you doing?” I asked in shock. “I’m not an animal to be trussed up and dragged into the forest.”
He secured my wrists with a knot. “That’s where you’re wrong, Princess.”
“Rowan!” my mother screamed before the Reaper tugged me so hard I stumbled.
“It’s okay, Mother. I’ll be okay.” I didn’t believe that for one second, but what else could I say? Tears ran down her cheeks while my father clutched her. Margaret buried her face against my father’s chest, sobbing.
Ellis moved in front of me as the Reaper yanked on my binding again. “I’ll come for you,” he vowed. “Be strong.”
He turned to the Reaper. “If you hurt her, I’ll cut out your heart myself and feed it to the palace dogs, and that would still be too noble an end for you.”
The Reaper issued a derisive snort. “I’d like to see you try, lordling.”
A vein in Ellis’s forehead popped, and I swallowed, trying to hold in my tears. I knew Ellis would try, but in my heart, I understood it was impossible.
“Come on, Princess,” the Reaper said, his voice bearing a deadly purr that suggested if I didn’t comply soon, he’d make us all sorry.
After stealing one last look at my stricken family, he tugged me again. I stumbled after, following him into the forest and into my nebulous future.