Page 36 of Famine

My steely gaze flicks up to him. “I wasn’tjustfrightened.” I was angry.

He must see the anger in my eyes when I look at him.

“Yes,” he says, “I know that look well.”

I force my emotions back down.

After a moment, he moves back, towards the bathroom counter, putting distance between us. “Those don’t look like survivable wounds,” he says, his voice light.

I don’t bother agreeing with him. Instead, I step out of my pants, then slide off my panties, kicking them aside.

If I thought nudity would scare off the horseman, I thought wrong.

Huh.

I step into the tub and lower myself, until I’m reclining like a queen, sighing as I lean against the rim.

“How’s your abdominal wound?” I ask, draping my arms over the sides. My tits are wantonly exposed. I’m honestly enjoying the hell out of this; I hope the horseman israttled.

Famine narrows his gaze on me. “Gone.”

“Too bad.”

“My balls are better too—thanks for asking,” he says.

“I wasn’t worried about your balls. It seems you have no use for them.” My mouth curves into a smirk as I speak. I really am enjoying myself.

The Reaper folds his arms, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Tell me,Ana,” he says, the sound of my name on his lips making my stomach clench, “what would you do if I let you go free?”

My gaze sharpens on him.

I could lie. But those reptilian eyes, they seem to unmask the truth anyway.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “I’d probably try to find you and hurt you again.”

Because this life has nothing else left for me. I have no home, no job, no friends, no family. Just this vendetta.

The horseman makes a sound low in his chest. “I thought as much.”

I should probably be worried at this point. But to be honest, I think I’m five cities beyond worried. I should’ve turned back from this long ago.

“I’ll still try to hurt you,” I add. “Keeping me close just makes it more convenient for me.

Now the horseman smiles, and dear God, he really does enjoy cruelty.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he says softly.

He doesn’t say anything else, but then, he doesn’t need to. The threat is implicit: if I try to hurt him, he will make me learn what true pain is.

Pushing away from the bathroom counter, the Reaper moves to the doorway. “Tomorrow we’re heading out. If you try to escape, I won’t feed you.” He looks disturbingly delighted by that possibility.

FuckingFamine.

So the horseman really doesn’t intend to kill me. For whatever reason, he actually wants to keep me around. So much so that he’ll punish escape attempts.

I scrutinize the man. He hates humans but he won’t kill me, and he hates flesh, yet he’s stuck around to watch me bathe. I can’t pin this guy down, and it’s going to eat away at me. So to speak. But on the topic of food—

“Let me get this straight:” I say, “if I stay inside this nice-ass house, you’ll feed me?” Where is the catch?