“They’re cannibals?” Her voice spiked a little.
“Only some of them. I meant a food resource for their war animals. Do you know what a daeodon is?”
“No.”
“It’s a nasty breed of entelodon, a prehistoric boar. Picture a predatory pig, twelve feet long, seven feet tall at the shoulder, jaws like a crocodile. It eats anything, and once you mess with its genetics, it gets smart and breeds fast. They need a lot of meat.”
When he opened his eyes, he found her looking at him. Karina sat submerged so deeply, only her face floated above the water. Warm color had returned to her cheeks. Her hair, slicked by the shower, swirled in the roiling water.
Mmmmm. Mine.
Lucas could reach out and pull her to him and run his hands up and down her body, to feel the heavy fullness of her br**sts, the curve of her ass . . . If it wasn’t for fatigue, and the fact that she trusted him, anchoring him to the spot, he might have done it.
His thoughts must’ve reflected on his face, because she pulled as far from him as the tub would allow. A haunted look claimed her face, sharpening her features. Like a stray dog, he thought, shivering, scared, and ready to bite. He held the key to her: turn it one way and break her; turn it the other and the pressure would ease. He’d been just like that a few years ago. The memory of being scared of everyone was still fresh.
“You know I can’t stop you. What consequences do you fear?” Karina asked.
“Right now I just don’t want to fight with you,” Lucas said. “I fight with Arthur, with Daniel, with Henry. I’m tired.” And he wanted her to stop jerking back every time he looked at her. It made him feel like he was a monster and he had enough help with that already.
“If you want peace, let me have Emily.”
“No.”
She clenched her teeth.
“Maybe later. Down the road.”
“Why not now?”
Irritation flared in him. “Because I can’t watch the two of you every moment of every day and you are stealing knives.”
“The knife was for protection. I won’t take another one. I won’t try to stab you again . . .”
“It’s not me I’m worried about.”
She became utterly still. “Oh, my God.” Her eyes widened. “You think I would hurt my own daughter?”
“You wouldn’t be the first one.” Not by a long shot. “Shock is a bitch. Especially when mixed with venom f**king with your hormones.”
“She is everything I have.”
She looked on the verge of tears. He forced himself to sound calmer. “And that’s why you could slit her throat the second I gave her to you. You’re both my responsibility. I said I would keep you safe. I don’t want you to hurt her or yourself.”
“I had the knife since breakfast,” she told him. “You sent me into the room with Emily. I didn’t kill her. If I’d tried, you couldn’t have stopped me . . .”
“Henry was monitoring your mind. Had your stress level spiked, he would’ve shut you down.”
“Then ask him if I tried to kill her or myself. I had the opportunity. I got the knife so I could hurt you. Not myself.”
Lucas rose and crossed the tub, pinning her between his body and the tub wall. The feel of her body against his shoved him right to the edge. In his mind all the leashes he put on himself were snapping one by one. Karina turned to the side, trying to hide from him.
“Look at me.”
Karina looked at him. Lucas peered into her eyes, looking for some sort of indicator of sanity. “If you had a loaded gun in your hand, would you shoot me?”
“No. If I killed you, I would be next. Either Daniel, Henry, or Arthur would murder me, and Emily would have nobody.”
An honest rational answer. “Do you want to die?” He wanted her. He wanted to crush her in his arms and see her want him.
“No.” She shook her head.
“What do you want?” He knew what he wanted. She was right there, caught against his chest. His heart was beating too fast.
“I want to escape,” she told him. “I want to go back to my life.”
She was sane and stable, or as sane as he could expect. Lucas released her and Karina scrambled away from him.
“What would you do if I let you have your daughter, Karina?”
She stopped. He read the answer on her face. Anything. She would do anything. She would let him do anything, and if he demanded, she would pretend to like it.
It was the answer his mother would’ve given.
“What do you want?” she asked hoarsely. He felt the tension hidden in her words, as if she stood on the edge of a chasm, waiting for him to push her in.
“Can you bake a chocolate cake?”
There was a tiny pause before she answered. “Yes.”
“Make one. For Daniel. It’s his favorite.”
She waited. When he didn’t say anything, she finally asked, “That’s it?”
“Yes.”
Lucas waited for relief on her face, but she just sat there, clenched up. Still looking for the catch, he realized.
“You’ll really let me have her?” He barely heard her voice. “No conditions?”
“Yes.” And the more fool he for it. Nothing good would come of it, not with the way they fought. Henry would think him insane. But Lucas felt weary. He didn’t have the strength to fight yet another war. And he didn’t want her to be miserable. “Make a list of what you both will need, and I’ll send it to the main house tomorrow. Last time I checked, you could buy Hello Kitty blankets in any department store . . .”
Karina covered her face and cried.
He sat there and watched her shudder and sob, not knowing what to do with himself. Uncomfortable, as if he were intruding on something private. Guilt rose in him and he wasn’t sure where it came from.
“Stop,” Lucas growled finally.
“I can’t.”
Her sobs died gradually. She splashed some water on her face. “Can I stay with her in her room?”
“No. You’ll stay with me.”
“Can I sleep on the floor?”
“No. You’ll sleep in my bed, just like last night.”
“Why?”
Because you’re mine. And because he would know if she got up in the middle of the night. “Because I want it that way.”
“I could—”
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Quiet. No more talking.”