Page 34 of Their Fierce Little Monster

On the bottom layer, I find drinks and fruit. The Viscount told us as we boarded the train that all food was complimentary.

“Hmm. Ceva dulce,” I reply, managing to ask for something sweet.

She lights up, grinning. “A, vorbești! Bravo, fată.” She compliments me on speaking the language and starts filling up a small paper container with the sweet treats. I eye those impossibly large green grapes, and say, “Vreau și eu struguri, te rog.”

Without hesitation, she hands me the first container and fills another one with the grapes. Once I have both, she places them on the seat next to me, saying, “Mulțumesc.”

She smiles and turns to Kazak sitting across from me, who answers, “Nu, mulțumesc.”

Corvin, on my right, shakes his head, while Lian, who’s sprawled in his seat, does the same. The woman pushes her cart farther down the hallway.

“You’re not hungry?” I ask, then pop a fat grape into my mouth. It bursts across my tongue, and it’s heaven. I quickly devour another one.

“We don’t eat this kind of human food,” Corvin explains. “Our diet is raw meat.”

“Oh, but, Kazak, I’ve seen you eat cooked food before.” I recall that the times he came over for dinner, he finished off the meat dishes and left the rest behind.

“In fact, we can eat anything, but we prefer meat. Other monsters from Grimvale are the same,” Kazak explains.

“How presumptuous of you to tell her what others enjoy when you haven’t set foot in Grimvale for years,” Corvin murmurs under his breath.

I cringe on the inside at the tension, then throw another grape into my mouth. Adjusting the cushion at my back, I settle against it, enjoying the small picnic all to myself, pretending I’m alone and not surrounded by three monsters ready to tear each other apart.

Kazak leans back in his seat, constantly exchanging glances with Corvin, while Lian reclines as if the view outside bores him.

“How long has it been since you truly went on a hunt, Kazak?” Lian asks. “The Grimvale way, not the human one.”

He shrugs as though not even entertaining his question.

“What’s the Grimvale way?” I ask, curious.

“Monster form, painted in blood, and hunt like a fucking feral. Nothing is out of the question until you rip the prey’s throat out and feast on it while its heart still beats.”

I scrunch up my nose. “That’s horrid.”

Lian chuckles loudly, leaning forward, bent arms folded across his thighs. “There’s nothing more thrilling, except, of course, fucking.”

I roll my eyes.

“But some monsters can’t manage the hunt,” Kazak pushes. “So they talk a big game endlessly and loudly. It’s the way of the Obsidian Sun Court! Brag about the kill, announce it, but never present a body.”

Lian’s grin thins, but he snorts out a sharp laugh. “You seem to have forgotten the last time we hunted together, where I outran and caught three horned beasts, while you dragged back one.”

Kazak chuckles. “Sure, one time.”

“Seriously, Dawn, you should have seen it. Kazak screamed in the woods like a fucking pussy.”

“The fuck I did,” he snaps while Corvin chuckles under his breath. “That wasn’t me.”

Lian raises an eyebrow, glaring at Kazak.

“Wait,” I butt in. “So you all hate each other, but you still hunt for prey together?”

“We run on the auspicious night that is blessed by the Gods,” Corvin remarks. “And whichever court’s hunters bring back the greatest number of kills claims the entire bounty. Sometimes, these can feed a court’s subjects for months.”

“And the best part…” Lian cuts in. “There are no fucking rules. You spot your enemy in the forest, you can kill him. The one night a year where all your grudges are fair game without answering to anyone.”

“That’s barbaric,” I breathe, stiffening in my seat.