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Chapter 4
“W-Who are you?” My voice stammered. Shit like someone hiding in my wardrobe had never happened in the past thirteen years I’d lived in the tower. A hundred questions swirled on the forefront of my mind. I reached down to my boot and pulled out a blade because every woman needed protection. Metal never did anything to the gargoyle, but I’d seen other monsters that weren’t made of stone and my dad hadn’t raised a fool.
Maybe he can help you escape the tower.
“What are you talking about?” I lowered my chin, speaking to myself, needing to clear my muddled thoughts. Was he going to hurt me—or could he potentially help me with my problem?
Gingernuts was at my side, hissing at the newcomer. I attempted to wrap my brain around a solution.
The stranger emerged from the shadows. He towered over my five-foot-two height. He had to be at least six feet.Handsomedidn’t come close to describing the man-god in front of me. Full lips, a slender nose, and a sharp jawline—everything perfectly symmetrical. His strength showed in his corded neck, wide shoulders, muscular arms, and firm chest.
Warmth flooded deep in my stomach. Okay, so the universe might have just delivered one of my wishes: a sexy man all for myself. But I’d grown up on the streets with my dad. I’d seen all kinds of nice-looking people be downright rotten inside.
Even in his black pants and leather tunic reserved for aristocrats, he reminded me of the guards at Brawl. They had one intention: complete their mission regardless of who they stepped over.
So why the hell was a man who looked ready to wrestle a wolf hiding in my wardrobe? Or was he from one of the royal families in Haven Realm?
Intensity filled his green eyes. His attention swung from me to the window, and he limped toward the exit, breathless. I froze, convinced he’d dive right out of the tower. Instead, he flattened his back to the wall before peering outside. Was he hiding from the gargoyle?
“What are you doing in my home?”
His gaze slid down my body and to the ocean of hair sprawled around my feet.
I wiggled my weapon at him. “Talk unless you want a crash course in flying.”
That’s right—jab him in the eye.
I lowered my gaze. “What? That’s a bit serial killer.”
He’s in your home, hiding. What if he was waiting for you to sleep so he could rape you?
“Gods, you’re so dramatic. Then why would he have come out of the cupboard?”
“You talking to me?” he asked. “Or the fuzzball, or…? I had no idea a crazy woman lived here.”
I lifted my head to find Mr. Handsome studying me with a raised brow. “Hey, don’t judge me.” I waved the blade in the air between us. “You know nothing about me. And you don’t see me making remarks about you, like how you probably work out most nights to build those muscles. Maybe you have something else to compensate for.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “Or you perhaps don’t have many friends with such an arrogant attitude. Or even how your clothes are torn, as if you’ve been attacked. You look strong enough to take down a dragon. Yet you’re hiding in my wardrobe. So that tells me you’re most likely a criminal.”
He took a deep inhale, his chest expanding, drawing my attention to the muscles, and I shoved away the images of him topless appearing in my head. Instead, I studied the cuts across his knuckles and along his strong forearms. Who had he been fighting?
He whispered, “Listen, Fluffy. You and Fuzzball can relax. I’m not going to hurt you. I just need a quick place to hide, then I’m out of here.” His attention returned to the woodland surrounding the field below. Then he stared back my way. “And what is with the hair? Are you going for the title of “longest golden locks in the world”? And how come the cat’s fur is short now?”
I patted down my head and found strands sticking outward. Having someone in my tower and knowing I lived here would lead to problems. He’d tell his friends to go and gawk at the freak, then the gargoyle would try to kill them, and I’d feel guilty. Nope, I didn’t need that on my conscience. “Tell me what you’re doing here!”
“Keep quiet, Princess,” he mumbled to himself, waving me off with a hand as he scanned the forest. He didn’t see me as a threat at all—merely treated me as an inconvenience. Who the hell was this man to come into my home and walk all over me?
Fire hit my chest. “How dare you talk to me like that?” I marched up to him and kicked the back of his knee.
That’s it. Take him down.
He groaned and fell forward, his arms flaying outward for balance to avoid falling out the window.
When he dropped to his knees, I lunged after him and swung my blade, pressing it to his throat. “Speak,” I hissed in his ear. “Because I’m crazy, you know, so my knife might slip.”
“You’re a wannabe princess in a tower, and you have no idea who you’re dealing with.” His gravelly voice littered my skin with goosebumps—not from fear, but from just how rousingly sexy he sounded. Fine. I had a problem with husky male voices. They were my weakness big time.
“Why are you here and who are you?” I demanded.
Another loud sigh from him.
