Her right foot bumped into another step, and then there was a third before her feet were on a flat and wide area. The roughness of the ground informed her that she must be standing on timber planks. He steered her a few steps forward before halting.

“Reia,” he said, startling her. He’d never said her name to her before, and the way he’d said it had been filled with a certain kind of gentleness. “Would you mind covering your ears?”

She nodded as she moved her hands up to cover her ears just as she heard creaking like a door was slowly being opened. His hand on her side tightened and held her firmly.

Her hands did little to block out the bone-chilling beastly roar that came from him. She flinched before clenching her eyes shut. The following sounds were dulled as she heard creatures with sharp claws scuttling away as they made shrieking, crying whines.

One ran over a surface directly above her, before a small thud against the ground from behind told her it jumped over them.

Orpheus pushed her forward with a hesitant slowness, and she lowered her hands to hear him sniffing quickly. He gave a snorting huff before she heard a door close behind her.

The rustling of the cloak being pulled from away filled her senses, but it did nothing to take away the darkness that had been blacking her eyes. His heavy footsteps stomped echoes as he drew away from her.

All she could see were two glowing blue orbs in the darkness. They slightly highlighted the white bone around his eye sockets.

A match was stuck, giving a flicker of light, before a candle was lit. He began to move around, lighting candle after a candle until she began to get an impression of her surroundings.

A table that seemed gigantic in comparison to her lit up first. It had an array of different herbs on top of it, as well as a cutting board, a mortar and pestle, and strange ornaments that she wouldn’t be able to decipher until she looked at them up close.

Then, a long windowsill with a wash basin in front of it was illuminated. In pots sitting on the sill, vine-like herbs dangled down over a counter and into the crudely made metal basin. There were glass bottles of purple, yellow, and even dull red filled with unknown liquids resting against the walls on the counter.

Everything got bright when he moved behind her, and she turned around to find he was lighting a chandelier made of deer antlers that had candles fitted into it. Glittering trinkets hung from it by strings with some dangling lower than others. Some had crystals, others rocks and bones.

There were two chairs with armrests that were covered in so many different animal hides that they looked quite soft, as well as bulky. Between them was a small round table with another candle that he lit, while in front of them was a fireplace and chimney.

She wiggled her toes when she realised there was something soft and ticklish beneath her feet and found herself standing on fur. Her eyes didn’t stay downturned,

however, as she once more marvelled at what she was standing in.

It looks like a log-cabin. The walls were made of thigh-sized, thick logs that had been neatly carved to all look the same diameter. The timber was distressed and old looking.

She knew a second layer must be on the outside because there was not a single gap between them, and she couldn’t feel a single drift of air.

“This is your home?” she asked, her bottom lip falling in disbelief.

But she knew it had to be his home by the single fact that the air smelt like timber, fur, and, most importantly, his smoky mahogany and pine scent.

He answered her with a grunt and a singular nod.

“How did this come to be here?” This was not what Reia was expecting.

I thought he would take me to a cave. Like, like... some kind of barbaric animal! But this was a house, an actual home.

With furniture, and candles, and warmth. It looked cosy despite the fact that she could see that many of those trinkets appeared to be bones and small animal skulls.

The room she was standing in was like a large living room and kitchen area. There was a darkness present down an unlit hallway that held a door on one side whereas the other had two.

The ceiling was tall enough that it allowed him freedom to move around with his massive height and the Impala antelope horns that made him even taller. He did have to duck slightly under the chandelier, but not by much, only to make sure his horns didn’t knock into it.

“It was built a very long time ago,” he answered, walking around her and then the long table with two chairs around it

– one that appeared to fit him and another that was much smaller – to walk to the counter where she saw a cooking hearth on the opposite side of the basin.

The table came to his hip height, which just so happened to be at her bottom ribcage. Being in this room, with everything that was designed to allow for his weight and mass, Reia felt undoubtably small.

She’d felt small sitting in the crook of his elbow or being cradled in his arms, but with the light and this room, it made her realise just how large he was.

He had to be at least seven feet and two inches tall from foot to skull, his horns reaching at least seven feet and nine inches, and even though Reia wasn’t short, a strong five feet and six inches for a human woman, he was still a giant.

He was also wide, a wall of flesh and muscle.

He opened one of the many cupboards above the counter next to the wide window to pull out four dill herb bundles wrapped in white ribbons with jingle bells and red berries.

There was also a bone, like a rat femur, dangling down horizontally by a string.

“Stay inside, I will return momentarily,” he told her as strode towards the front door. Like he knew she’d ask, he added, “My protection enchantments are no longer in place as they only last a few days. I must replace them.”

He promptly left, leaving Reia by herself to take in his home while she was alone.

She brushed her fingertips over the long table before making her way over to the counter to see what other items he had lying around. There was a second stone mortar and pestle that was already filled with crushed herbs and spices.

The chiming of the jingle bells told her he was right next to the window at the front of the house, near where she was standing. His footsteps began to thump to the other side of the house as she picked up a yellow glass bottle and opened it, daring to sniff its contents.

A noise of surprise came from her nose at the strange, but sweet, smell. She placed it back down to open a wooden container to find a dry black powder inside it. When she

sniffed it, she sneezed. It wasn’t terrible, but it tingled her nose.

She touched the healthy vine-like plants with three leaves sprouting from its vines in different sections. I’m surprised anything like this can live in the Veil. The trees she understood, but this seemed far more delicate.

She moved to the table to figure out what the ornaments were. They looked like driftwood with clumps of silver ore growing from it like moss.

Just as she was about to take a closer look, something glinting in her peripheral from the other side of the table caught her attention. Reia leaned over, having to partially jump to reach the centre of the table, and grabbed a hold of something cold.

A dagger. And she could see there was more than one. He left me alone with weapons? That was rather foolish of him.

The handle was a swirl shape with black leather rope in the indents for comfort as she curled her fist around it tightly. She tapped her forefinger of her other hand on the tapered point, finding the double-edged blade was sharp, but she made sure not to prick her finger.

A large, clawed hand covered in a black glove wrapping around her hand holding the handle made her yelp in surprise.

She’d been so engrossed in the weapon, in the possibility of perhaps using it to free herself, that she hadn’t heard him come back inside and walk up behind her.

She could feel the warmth of his body pressing against her back as he leaned over her while eerily bringing his snout down next to her head.

“Unless you know the one place to stab on my body and strike deep enough, I should forewarn you that if you fail, it will result in your unfortunate death.”

She attempted to pull out of his grasp, but he refused to release her and forced her to remain gripping the dagger.

“I wasn’t thinking that.”