The words I don’t dare speak hang in the darkness between us, heavy with a longing that terrifies me—me, who has not known fear in such a long, long time.
THREE
HANNAH
He’sa monster to ask such a thing.
Maybe the roar and the deep, terrifying voice in the dark is just someone with a voice modulator waiting up here in the cave to mess with desperate girls like me for kicks.
I can almost convince myself of that except... I canfeelhis presence. And he came out of the cave to kick my flashlight away. I didn’t imagine that. In the darkness, I can sense him looming over me. I look frantically up, left, and right but can’t see a damn thing. Just this... deeper darkness where he stands.
But he ismassive. And while my eyes won’t give me information, every other sense is working overtime.
He doesn’t smell pleasant, that’s for sure. And every hair on my arms stands at attention like they’re trying to warn me of danger.
Every time he speaks, the ground vibrates with his deep bass. I swear my bones resonate inside me, too.
All of it adds up to something that should terrify me.
Instead, crazily, I believe what he says.
I believe he can heal me.
But the price he’s demanding? To be his consort? What the hell does that even mean in today’s world? It’s such an old-fashioned word. Does it just mean companionship, or is he asking for...?
“Let me see you,” I say, pulse hammering but voice steady.
“So you can judge me as you have been judged?” His voice rumbles above me, and he sounds genuinely angry. “Do mortal eyes show kindness to those they don’t find beautiful?”
My whole body trembles now—part shame, part terror, part something else I don’t want to name.
I would never judge anyone for not being conventionally attractive.
I don’t think, anyway.
I have a feeling that whatever this creature is will challenge me in ways I never expected. Test every assumption I have about myself.
Deep down, some naive part of me hopes that once I’m healed, I can return and salvage my old life. Fix things with Drew. Our engagement fell apart because he couldn’t handle my quest for healing and said we both knew miracle cures didn’t exist.
Except... here I am, kneeling before someone offering exactly that.
And if I accept what he’s offering, there won’t be any going back to Drew. Or my mother. There might never be any going back, not if this creature means his demand of forever.
But then again—forever means I’d bealiveto see it, doesn’t it? I have to be breathing to experience any sort of forever.
Forever means more than just fifteen more years on this Earth, constantly wondering if death is lurking around the next corner, never able to make future plans without that nagging voice askingWill you even be there to see them through?
“Yes,” I say before I can overthink it and chicken out.
I came here looking for the impossible. And when you’re desperate enough to climb a monster’s mountain alone, you don’t get to be picky about the terms. “I told you I’d pay any price. I meant it.”
“I’m pleased to hear that... I think,” rumbles the dark voice from above me.
Then everything happens at once.
So fast I can barely process what’s occurring.
There’s a powerful rush of wings, and suddenly I’m engulfed by intense, wild scents. I cough, but there’s nowhere to turn because enormous hands grab me under my arms and lift me up, up?—
