Prologue
The shot was true and fearless. Atop his steed, the man relaxed the arm holding the crossbow and watched with satisfaction his prey falling from the sky.
Soon, he mused, he would have yet another stuffed trophy to adorn his home.
But what was rapidly reaching the ground was something far bigger than the eagle he had expected.
Baying and howling, his hounds were the first to head for the beast, jowls dripping in excitement at the blood and death of the sport. The man urged his horse to follow quickly, just as barks ensued, followed by growling and an inhuman screech.
What he approached would forever be burned in his memory. Fluttering plumes everywhere, suspended in midair, encircling a creature that should have been a bird, but wasn’t.
“Stand back!” He ordered to the dogs, using the flogger to snap at a particularly unruly canine that refused to settle down.
Its wings were massive, curled protectively around itself, shivering in apprehension. He had never seen anything like it. Had he just discovered a new species? They were just as long as albatross wings, but wider too, making for a very spectacular creature. What a pity, he thought, that he had to kill it.
But just as he dismounted and unsheathed his dagger to finish the job, a face peeked through the wings. A human face!
The man wasn’t of a particularly advanced age, though he also wasn’t a prancing buck anymore, but right there and then he thought he would expire of a heart spasm. He could be getting crazy - and having an hallucination right now - but his mind had always been bright and quick up until now.
He was simply flabbergasted, staring at the bird.
At her.
It was a woman!
The delicate structure of her face, the arched brows, the plump lips, the scared golden eyes framed by lushly long lashes...
Aye, he definitely wasn’t going to kill her.
It was easy to tie her up, as the creature only continued to shiver pitifully and stare at him in a terrified gaze. It was easy to take her back to his home. His domain.
It was easy to use her, day in, day out, for his perverse pleasure.
But it wasn’t easy when, one day, he found her gone. Fluttering plumes on an empty bed that should have contained her body. Limp ropes strewn on the sheets that should have encircled writhing wrists.
She wasn’t there anymore.
Outside, birds exploded from a nearby tree as a bellow full of anger and pain echoed through the valley.
