“Good. You are not safe. Not in this castle. Not in this room. You are prey in a world of predators.'

He leaned closer.

'I will never hurt you,' he said softly. 'But I am the only one who will make that promise, and keep it. I will never give you false safety or kind lies. But I will teach you how to wield those teeth of yours.' He smiled, revealing for the first time the full length of his sharp canines- the death blow, surely, of hundreds.

The girl should have found the sight terrifying. And yet, for the first time in a month, she felt... safe.

'Perhaps they are not as sharp as mine,' he went on, 'but they can still kill, with the right bite.”