Page 116 of Foul Days

He paused. “This girl is human.”

“Yes.”

“Did he kidnap her?”

“No, they go to him voluntarily.”

Asen paused again. “Why?”

Kosara scratched the scar on her cheek. Excellent question. One she’d been asking herself for years. “He’s very charming.”

“But he murders them every year!”

“Technically, it’s not him who murders them. Listen, you know how karakonjuls eat human flesh, upirs drink blood, and yudas feed on carrion? The Zmey consumes love. Every year he comes to Chernograd to hunt, and he catches himself a new bride.”

“How?”

“Well, look at him—powerful, intelligent, handsome…”

Asen looked up again, clearly unimpressed. “His teeth aren’t great.”

“Come on, imagine you’re a young girl and the Tsar of Monsters himself is paying attention to you. He treats you nice—only you, no one else—and it makes you feel special. Wouldn’t you fall for him?”

“But they know his past partners are all dead.”

“Some of them know, but they think they’ll be different. That this is true love, not like the others. That it will conquer all. That maybe they can fix him.” It felt dishonest to be speaking in third person, rather than first. That was what she’d thought, too. It was easy now with the distance of time and the knowledge of what had happened after, to imagine she’d been smarter than that. She hadn’t.

He’d tricked her. She’d let him trick her. He’d told her what she wanted to hear—praising her mind and her powers, swearing his never-ending love. He’d pretended she was different. He’d pretended he was different when he was with her. Only you can change me, Kosara.…

She had no doubt he’d said the exact same words to that poor girl in his lap. And the one before. And the one before.…

The humiliation twisted in her stomach.

“And then he eats them?” Asen asked.

“No, I told you. He eats their love. In the beginning, they act like the typical happy newlyweds. He’s nice, gentle, thoughtful. The girls write to their parents occasionally; they even go out to see friends. Then, little by little, he devours their love of their family and friends, and then everything else, everything that brings them joy, until he’s the only thing left. And then he takes that away, too. First, they stop going out, then they stop getting out of bed, and then they stop eating. At the end, they stop breathing.”

Asen swore quietly. An actual swear word. Kosara wasn’t used to such strong language coming from him. His hand inched dangerously close to his revolver.

“You aren’t going to do anything reckless, are you?” she asked.

Please don’t try to arrest the Tsar of Monsters!

“We have to help her escape,” Asen said.

“We can’t.” Kosara was trying to convince herself as well as him. They couldn’t help the girl. She’d got herself into this mess. “I told you. No one is forcing her to be here. She wants it. Do you suggest we kidnap her?”

“For God’s sake, yes! She can’t be older than eighteen, Kosara!”

Kosara looked up at the girl again. He was right. She was a child.

But it didn’t matter. The girl wouldn’t want her help. Kosara knew because she had been that girl.

Are you afraid, little Kosara? the Zmey’s voice whispered in her head. He sounded so real, she had to check to make sure he was still on his platform.

“We can’t just leave her here,” Asen said. “We need to bring her back to her family.”

Are you just going to leave her here because you’re too scared to make me angry?

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