I’m sitting in the kitchen, drinking a mug of green tea, and staring out the window. It’s been raining for two days straight, which is not unusual weather here in Louisiana. It’s just stopped about an hour ago and now I get to watch the sun peek from behind the clouds.

I startle for some reason when Monster comes in, peering down his nose at me.

“I’m going away for a couple of days,” he says, coming up to me on my stool. He towers over me, reminding me exactly why I feel safe in his presence.

I shudder, thinking of how his absence will affect me. I’ll be lonely. I’ll be vulnerable. I set down my mug of tea with a silent sigh. I know that I will miss Monster, despite myself. But I don’t put that feeling into words.

It’s just too complicated for that.

He cups my jaw, tilting my face up. Our eyes meet, steel gray and baby blue. He brushes his thumb back and forth against my face, making me swallow thickly.

“I talked to Dryas,” he says. “He apologizes for being intimidating. He wants to take you out riding while I’m gone, as an apology.”

My brows arch dramatically. I can’t believe that Monster is being so lassez-faire about his brother! “What?”

“He asked what you like. I gave him a list of things. He picked riding.”

I frown, pulling my face from his grip. “You can’t be serious. I don’t want to see him when I’m not with you.”

Satisfaction flares in his eyes, but he shakes his head. “I’m telling you, he means you no harm. Besides, the bodyguards will be with you the whole time. Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”

His determination makes me wonder if I might be wrong. Maybe Dryas wasn’t threatening me when he asked how much I cost?

But I’m hard pressed to find another meaning.

Monster sees me thinking and smiles. “See? You’re not even sure yourself. You’ll have fun, I’m sure of it.”

He leans over and kisses my forehead. The action in itself is shocking.

“I’ll see you when I get back.” And then he’s gone, leaving me in the kitchen with my rapidly cooling tea. I sigh and move to put the mug in the sink.

I have a bad feeling about Dryas, a distrust in my gut. But what am I supposed to do? Monster, my only protector, has assured me that Dryas is perfectly safe.

So, I go about my normal routine for the next few hours, until my bodyguard Jack knocks on my open bedroom door. I glance up.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Aetós has given instructions that you are supposed to meet him in Houma. We are supposed to get you to the stables out there in an hour.”

“Arsen said that?” I ask, wrinkling my nose.

“No, Dryas did, ma’am. I just want you to know now because we’ll have to leave soon in order to make it on time.”

A frown creases my face. “Thank you, Jack.”

“Ma’am,” he says, inclining his head. He turns on his heel and disappears down the hallway. I’m left to change, I suppose.

Mr. Aetós indeed.

Getting out of my comfortable black cotton dress, I change into a white button up, tan jodhpurs, and knee-high black leather riding boots. I put my hair in a tight bun as if that alone will make Dryas less menacing somehow.

Grabbing a lightweight grey anorak on the way out the door, I slide into the back seat of the waiting black Mercedes-Benz.

It’s an uneventful drive out to Houma. I stare out the window as we drive over raised highways, looking out over the marshy wetlands below. All that untamed wildness, right next to the highway bustling with cars. Rolling down my window, I sniff the salty air.

It’s calming, for some reason. Really nostalgic and comforting. It lets me know I’m in Louisiana. We start to pass some sugarcane fields, the green-topped yellow cane plants towering ten feet high. Soon the cane rises high on both sides of the highway, farms making up most of this no man’s land between New Orleans and Houma.

Peering out the front windshield, I know just where we are going. I’ve been to these stables many times over the years, for riding competitions and events.

The sugarcane fields stop, giving way to sparse utility buildings and a few houses. We eventually pull into the stables, a grand building surrounded by a few outbuildings. All told, the property that the stables sit on is probably a few acres, including a large training ring and several trails that twist back across the whole property.

“Jack?” I say to my bodyguard. When he turns his head to look at me, I tell him, “Under no circumstances are you to leave me alone with Dryas.”

Jack just nods and returns to scanning the road ahead.

When I finally slide from the car, Dryas is waiting for me in front of the stables with a little smirk on his face. “You came.”

“I wasn’t really given another option,” I say coolly, surveying Dryas. He’s fully outfitted for riding, with black jodhpurs and a white button-up shirt. He’s massive, just like his brothers are.

He sees me looking and smiles. “You want to see if I’m as good as I look? I assure you, I’m at least as well-endowed as Arsen.”

I make a face. “No, thank you.”

“The offer will remain on the table,” he says with a casual shrug. “Should we go get our horses, then?”

I roll my eyes, which only makes him smile. He starts walking without a word from me, leaving me to trail behind him. Why am I here, again?

Monster may trust his brother, but I do not.

Dryas leads me into the stables, where two chestnut horses wait patiently, their leads tied to the mounting post.

“I took the liberty of picking out a horse for you,” he says, gesturing to one of the horses. “I picked Belle for you. And this is Beast. They’re siblings, I think.”

Ignoring how presumptuous it is to pick someone else’s mount, I go up to Belle. I hold out my hand, palm flat up, and let her nibble at it. “Hey, girl.”

I stroke her muzzle and forelock, and she nickers gently. Glancing over to see how Dryas is faring, I see him petting Beast’s great shoulder.

“Ready to go?” he says, raising an eyebrow. For a moment, his expression is so much like Monster’s that I suck in a breath.

“Yes,” I nod. I take the reins off the mounting post, then climb up onto the horse.

Dryas swings his leg over his mount with surprising efficiency; I’m starting to think he’s done this before.

“What about my bodyguards?” I say, jerking my head toward where they stand by the wall.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be extremely safe with me.” Dryas grins, his teeth perfectly white. “No one will dare to touch you.”

I glance back at my guards. I’m not worried about other people touching me, not other people then Dryas anyway.

“I would feel better if one of them came along.”

But my protest is swatted aside like so much noise.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll only be gone an hour at the most.” He grabs his reins and starts to lead me out of the stables.

Once we are out of the stables and clear of the outbuildings, Dryas picks one of the clearly marked trails. It seems ordinary enough, heading over the flat, marshy ground. In the distance, I can see that it cuts through one of the cane fields. He heads down the trail without any input from me, leaving me to follow, frowning.

This is such a bad idea. I know it, but I try to push that thought into the background as I follow Dryas.

For a while, we are both silent, looking at the wild wetlands around us. The landscape is at once bleak and teeming with life, the marsh grasses hiding a multitude of life. Frogs make their throaty calls here and there. A heron watches us as it goes about its business, picking through the water for food. Dragonflies buzz and flit from place to place, passing right in front of my nose at one point.

Dryas slides a look at me. “How are you liking that big old house? You moved in pretty recently, right?”

“I like it,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. Even if I had complaints, now is not the time to air them. Not when I don’t know what Dryas would do with the information.

“Mm. And how do you find living with my brother? After all, you didn’t have the best start, from my understanding.”

I eye him. “I find it fine.”

“Was that painful for you? Being separated from your family like that has to be traumatic.”

“Of course.” My lips thin and I look away.

“I heard about your little escape attempt in Columbia.” He looks amused. “Unsurprisingly, it didn’t go well.”

I suck in a breath, not responding to that. Dryas changes the topic with ease.

“What do you think is next for you and my brother?” he asks, his mouth quirking down. “Assuming you conquer New Orleans like he plans to do, what then?”

I narrow my eyes. “I hadn’t really considered that. I don’t think it’s up to me.”

His brows lift slightly. “No? Maybe it seems that way from where you’re sitting, but you really have captivated Arsen. It’s amusing, seeing how much you affect him.”

“Me?” I say, scrunching my brow down. “I don’t think so.”

“Why would I lie??” he fires back mildly.

I give him a cross look. “I’m not sure, but I have no doubt that you would.”

He laughs, the sound sending chills down my spine. “You’re right about that. I would lie in a heartbeat. But I don’t need to, in this case. Arsen is completely infatuated with you. It’s plain as day. I suppose you didn’t have the luck of knowing him before you came… but I’d be willing to bet he wasn’t exactly pleasant your first few days.”

I blanch, thinking of waking up in that room in Columbia, handcuffed to the bed. When Arsen did show eventually, he seemed nearly insane.

I thought I was going to die, plain and simple.

Dryas guesses my expression a bit too handily. “That’s what I thought.”

“I didn’t say anything,” I retort. But we both know that I didn’t need to.

“And now? I bet you aren’t making that face about seeing him later are you?” He looks smug. “He’s gone soft, all because of you.”

I lift a shoulder, giving Dryas a Gallic shrug. “I have no claim on him. We’ve never talked about it.”

A little pressure from my heels tells my horse that we should go faster. We start to move a little faster toward the tall sugarcane.

“No, I’m sure that Arsen has other ways of communicating things with you. Probably buried to the hilt in that sweet little pussy of yours.”

“Ugh,” I cry, pulling a face. “I’m going to turn back now.”

Dryas’s face changes instantly, like a clear blue sky all at once beset by thick, black thunderclouds. “I’m not done talking to you.”

I grit my teeth, turning my horse around. I can see his muscles jump; he nearly reaches out for my reins, to make me stay.

But he thinks better of it at the last second, letting me ride off back toward the stables alone.

I’m not sure what to make of Dryas now, but one thing is for sure. I don’t trust him a bit more than I did before today, that’s for sure.