“Everyone knows who you are.” He bit off another piece of the meat. It looked to have the consistency of beef jerky. My mouth watered, but I refused to eat anything he gave me. I didn’t want to give him that satisfaction. “The stories about you say you’re softhearted, yet refined. Well-spoken. Blah, blah.”
“People say I’m well-spoken? They clearly have never met me then.”
“Clearly,” he agreed.
“Are you always such an asshole?”
“I simply tell it like it is.”
“Then tell me the truth,” I snapped. “Starting with your name.”
The fire reflected in his topaz eyes as he stared at me. I’d be blind not to notice how attractive he was. For a sadistic thief, anyway. “My name’s Rowan.”
I blinked. “I didn’t expect you to actually answer me.”
“Well, I’m full of surprises.” He reached into the satchel beside his boot and tossed me something. It smacked my chest, and I flailed around to catch it before it hit the ground. “Eat before I shove it down your throat.”
A bright-red apple.
My stomach growled again, and my willpower started to slip. On top of being abducted and walking for, like, a million years through the woods, I had missed lunch and dinner. I was starving. Putting my pride aside, I bit into the crisp apple and groaned as the flavor exploded on my tongue, both tart and sweet. Juices ran down my chin, and I wiped at it before diving back in for another bite.
When I looked back up, Rowan’s gaze was pinned to mine, the strip of meat in his hand forgotten.
I stopped chewing. “Oh god. Thiswaspoisoned, wasn’t it?”
I should’ve known better than to trust a bright-red apple. Did Snow White not teach me anything? Obviously not because there I was gobbling up that apple like it was the sweet nectar of life.
“Don’t be an idiot. I already said you’re no good to me dead.” Rowan averted his eyes and took a rather forceful bite of dried meat. “So… you like apples.”
He’d said it so casually.
“I like fruit in general,” I answered. “Apples, peaches, and bananas. I like vegetables too, especially zucchini and yellow squash.”
Rowan nodded once before shoving the rest of the meat in his mouth and reclining backward, one knee jutting up and both arms going behind his head. He used the satchel with my necklace inside as a pillow. Probably to prevent me from snatching it once he fell asleep.
Ifhe even slept. I got the feeling he’d be keeping a close eye on me throughout the night so I wouldn’t run off. Not that there was anywhere for metorun. Nocturnal creatures stirred all around us, and I could’ve sworn I’d seen red eyes earlier. I mean, it could’ve been my overactive imagination, but did I really want to take that chance? Definitely not.
“That necklace you’re so attached to… who gave it to you?”
“How did you know I was thinking of my necklace?”
“I noticed you staring at the satchel and pieced it together. You’re easy to read. Like an open book.”
“It was a gift,” I answered.
“From someone special?”
“Yeah.” My voice cracked. If I started talking about Maddox, Briar, and Lake, I’d start bawling. Again. So, I ate more of the apple. “Are you really not a bandit?”
“I see myself more as an adventurer.”
“Oh yeah? Like from the Adventurer’s Guild?” For a moment, I forgot he was a jerk who’d kidnapped me. Since the day I’d learned of the Guild, I had been intrigued. It was just like all the video games I loved.
“Sometimes.”
“You’re sometimes an adventurer?”
“No, I sometimes go through the Guild,” he answered. “Other times, I do my own thing. I prefer it that way. I don’t really like rules.”
