Bound (A Faery Story 1)

one at that. The god in front of her didn’t have an ounce of fat on him.

He was broad-shouldered. His arms were thick with muscle, though

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he didn’t look like some steroid-crazy gym guy. He’d earned his

muscles. Meg would bet he hadn’t earned them pumping iron. He

worked, and at hard, most likely physical, labor. His skin was bronzed

from the sun.

If his body was heavenly, then Meg didn’t know how to describe

his face. It was all sharp planes and harsh angles that came together to

form something truly beautiful. His jaw looked like it was carved out

of granite. But his eyes were like soft, gray stones in his face. He was,

without a doubt, the loveliest man she had ever seen.

It was too bad he was obviously insane. Beck looked like an

escapee from a Renaissance fair, with his open-necked, linen shirt

under a leather vest. His trousers were made from some sort of animal

skin, as were the boots that came to his knees. Meg could see a sword

peeking from behind his shoulder, held by a scabbard across his back.

“Is she really from the Earth plane?” Beck asked.

“Yes, sir. You can see why I called you.” They both stared at her

like she was some rare exotic creature at a zoo.

Suspicion tickled at Meg’s consciousness. Why exactly was she

here? She’d read articles about human trafficking. She bit her lower

lip and looked at the five other girls in the tent with her. They were

trussed up in the same fashion, though these women kept their heads

lowered and complied with their jailers’ requests. Earlier this

morning, they had been taken out of their cages and chained up for

what seemed like some sort of presentation. Beck had been the first

man to come through the tent. “You shouldn’t buy me. I’m not very

pretty. The other girls are prettier. They’re thinner, too.”