Page 157 of Monsters in Love

She groaned miserably. “Oh, gods, no toilets. Not even an outhouse?” As he continued to look baffled at her words, she gestured onward and grimaced. “Perhaps you can share with me where I am to…uh… pee and stuff.”

Comprehension crossed his face, and he nodded. “The other tunnel is bisected. The nearer path leads to the lesser spring where you can relieve yourself and wash while the further one leads to the butchering chambers.” He hesitated, giving her a doubtful look. “You might want to avoid the latter. It can be… unpleasant.”

She grimaced.I’m sure it is. “Thanks for the tip. I think I will do just that. Lead on.”

Giving her what she suspected was a warm smile despite the somewhat bovine face and mouth full of sharp teeth, he led her back into the main chamber and began their tour. Although short enough, she was entirely grateful and in short order was curled beneath the furs again, her bladder once again empty as she dozed while Asterion tended to his butchering. That was something she tried not to think about, not wishing to imagine how many people he might have butchered in the past. She hoped he never actually butchered anyone, anyway.

Now that was a thought that was going to give her a sleepless night or two. She only prayed that it was all truly in the past. He was certain that he wouldn’t hurt her, so surely he wouldn’t… would he?

Vicky gnawed on her lip and prayed that he was able to stand up to the magic of the labyrinth as much as he claimed.

Vicky watched curiously as Asterion opened his large mitt of a hand, revealing four polished white pieces, each of them carved with delicate images.

“What’s this?” she asked excitedly.

After a handful of days cooped up in the labyrinth, she was about ready to go stir crazy with boredom, especially with how often Asterion had to leave her for hours at a time to hunt. While the greens, fruits, and veggies helped vary their diet, meat was almost a daily necessity for the minotaur. Unaccustomed to staring at an enclosed space for any great length of time, anything at all new was a subject of excitement for her.

“These,” he rumbled, “are astragaloi.”

A soft sensation brushed her mind, producing the word he intended.

“Dice?”

Her eyebrows flew up as her gaze shot to the minotaur’s face, seeing if he was fucking with her. He stared back blankly, but then he had the best poker face she had ever seen and managed resting beast face in a way that women with resting bitch face would envy. Unless he was moved by a strong emotion, it was anyone’s guess what he was thinking, not that she didn’t entertain herself frequently by trying. A game that he had not slaughtered her for, as of yet.

“No way!” she breathed. “They don’t look like dice. What are these strange markings on them?”

“Dice,” he repeated back slowly, his accent thick, and he nodded. “We craft them from the knucklebone of goats, and we mark our symbols on three sides as you see here.” He lifted one up for her to inspect. “When we throw them, we count those that are face down without any symbols showing.”

“Fascinating! And you made these? They’re beautifully carved.”

Both of his ears twitched. “I enjoy carving. There have been many days where there was nothing to occupy my time. I taught myself to carve centuries ago. But if you like them so much, you may have them. A gift.”

Vicky breathed in as he gently cupped her hands in his large one and carefully tumbled the four dice into her hand. She stared down at them, her chest constricting even as it filled with warmth.

“I really shouldn’t take them. You obviously worked hard on these,” she murmured.

She glanced at him from beneath her lashes and watched as he shrugged, his head dipping with an ambivalent grunt as he examined the stone floor.

Was this great beast of a male embarrassed? He certainly looked far too intimidating for her to have ever imagined that he would have a softer side like that. As far as she had figured, his luxuriously soft, thick fur was the only thing soft about him, and even that encased deadly muscles.

She tipped her head to the side, considering him. She was starting to see that he was a lot more than what she had assumed that the minotaur of myth would be. For one, he was far less true to bull-man form. Aside from his face possessing some human qualities, in addition to its peculiar angles that lent him a shapelier face and broader muzzle than a bull’s, there were other features that didn’t match up with her assumptions.

With his long, thick mane that covered his shoulders and around his neck, he rather resembled a lion in that moment if she ignored his bull features. With his retractable claws and gleaming fangs, and the thick tuft of his tail and his tantalizingly soft pelt, there was a lot of lion to complement his prominent bull features. He’d been designed as a true monster, constructed to strike fear and be as a lion among men. Yet, at that moment, she saw beyond that to the stark vulnerability rising to the surface again, along with a shyness she would not have expected from a male shaped like a brute and who ordered her about like he did.

Noting his reaction, she murmured, “I haven’t owned anything so pretty since we had to leave everything behind during the Ravening. I fear you’ve discovered my weakness—I do like pretty things, and these are amazing!” Turning the dice reverently over in her hands, she grinned down at them, totally enchanted with his thoughtfulness and her new revelations about her “beast.”

His dark eyes lifted, a hint of a smile lifting the corners of his mouth. She stared at him with open surprise. She had never seen even a hint of a smile from him before.

“It pleases me that you like them. I do not have much, but what I have is yours.”

Her mouth continued to hang open at his unexpected declaration. He seemed far too possessive of anything he considered his, even inaccurately, to say such a thing.

“But… why?” she stammered.

His gaze shifted away. “I tire of being alone.”

She nodded, her fingers tightening around the dice as she considered the years of traveling alone and feeling no less solitary in the settlements she visited as the people actively avoided her company. Sighing, she gave him a commiserating smile. “Yeah, I think I am too.”

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