The blade presses deeper into my skin. He has aged. Time has curved his spine and shortened his stature. He had only bested my father because he struck from behind. I will not allow my guard to drop. I recognize the threat he is.
An opportunity to strike will present itself, and that’s when I’ll make him pay.
“I saw you through the window.” His lips curl in disgust. “My proposal was so revolting that you had to debase yourself with a monster. I should’ve killed him along with his father. But the quick thinker that I am, I saw an opportunity.”
The blade glints in the setting sun. I survey my surroundings as Pyke takes a step into my cottage and slams the door behind him. Bloom whimpers as a lone trail of crimson blood spills down my chest.
Rage blights the pain of the cut.
“The people of Dew Hollow are fools. As a trader, I’ve journeyed to my fair share of rural towns, and the villagers there are more simple-minded than most. They are easily manipulated by a few well-placed fires and scary stories of a Minotaur Lord.” He chuckles darkly. “It was easy to rob all of you. No one ever sought to question me. Most were too afraid of the tales I sold them about him to venture out here where my lies could be discovered. All of them, except you.”
I snarl as his beady eyes drift to her. He shouldn’t be allowed to breathe the same air as Bloom, let alone gaze at her.
“I thought my offer of marriage was fair. Like before, I waited for the perfect opportunity. When your father fell ill, I knew it would be incentive enough for me to finally have you. The dark-haired beauty of Dew Hollow.”
Pyke licks his yellow-stained teeth before shaking his head.
“But you just had to go snooping where you didn’t belong. I came to visit your home and imagine my surprise when yourfather informs me where you are. The whole town demanded I set off to find you immediately.
“How do you think they’ll react when they find out you’ve been fucking a beast? How dare you rebuff me all these years and let this creature inside you? I should kill you.”
Bloom releases a gentle cry. The salty scent of her tears burns me alive. Pyke looks between us with a grin.
“Or better yet, I’ll fuck you in front of him and then make you watch as I slit his throat.”
A primal roar tears from my lungs.
Pyke is unprepared for my attack. I smack his hand aside. The blade goes flying along the wooden floorboards. His eyes go wide as I collar him by the throat and pin him to the door. His balding head smacks soundly against it.
The fear that plagued me as a child is gone.
Looking over my shoulder, I see Bloom’s tear-stained face. Her fear burns in my lungs. She dips her chin, and I know what I must do. My hand squeezes his meaty throat. His failing pulse flutters against my fingers. I slam his head against the door as blood blooms behind it.
In vain, he scratches at my hands, but it is of no use. His face is turning purple. Weakly, his boots deliver kicks to my shins, but I hold fast.
Bloom appears at my side, clutching the pan she cooked our dinner in. She hands it to me. Determination threads through her irises.
“Do it. For your father, for me—for us. End it.”
Pyke soaks the front of his trousers in piss.
I’ve feared a weak male for too long. He is nothing to me but a means to an end. This will all be over soon. With his death, I will be reborn into the male I was always meant to be.
I take the pan from her trembling hands.
With a steadying breath, I release Pyke’s throat. He sucks down lungfuls of air, but a true reprieve never comes. Not as I swing the pan forward and connect it squarely with his head. Blood sprays as bones crack and flesh squelches. He shrieks.
The sound is met by the resounding ring of the pan.
Over and over I bash his face in. His body slides thickly to the floor, and I follow it. With each strike of the pan, my father’s face flashes. Then my mother. Then Bloom’s. This is for them—for me. For the time I’ve lost and the future I’m securing with each blow.
Pyke turns to mush beneath me as I break the final shackles tethering me to the past.
When his head is a mix of broken bones and pulverized flesh, I stop. My heart is racing, and my breaths are ragged. I toss the bloody pan aside and look down at my blood-stained chest. I was lost to my rage.
Apprehension trickles into my gut. I stare up at Bloom. I await the disgust in her eyes. For her to finally see me as the monster I am.
All I find in her gaze is devotion. Reverence. She beams down at me before falling to her knees at my side. Her blanket falls to the floor, and her naked body slides against mine. Delicate arms wrap around my neck as I hold her close.
