Angels of Darkness

he could expect. Lucas released her and Karina scrambled away from him.
    â€œWhat 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.
    â€œWhat 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.
    â€œCan you bake a chocolate cake?”
    There was a tiny pause before she answered. “Yes.”
    â€œMake one. For Daniel. It’s his favorite.”
    She waited. When he didn’t say anything, she finally asked, “That’s it?”
    â€œYes.”
    Lucas waited for relief on her face, but she just sat there, clenched up. Still looking for the catch, he realized.
    â€œYou’ll really let me have her?” He barely heard her voice. “No conditions?”
    â€œYes.” 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.
    â€œStop,” Lucas growled finally.
    â€œI can’t.”
    Her sobs died gradually. She splashed some water on her face. “Can I stay with her in her room?”
    â€œNo. You’ll stay with me.”
    â€œCan I sleep on the floor?”
    â€œNo. You’ll sleep in my bed, just like last night.”
    â€œWhy?”
    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.”
    â€œI could—”
    He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Quiet. No more talking.”
    â€œThank you,” she said softly.
    â€œYou’re welcome.”

CHAPTER 6
    K arina awoke alone. She dimly recalled seeing Lucas get out of the water, his huge muscled body wet, and feeling a sharp inner clench, the same clench that gripped her when he’d caught her in the tub. She would’ve liked to pretend it was fear or anxiety, but that would mean lying to herself. When he rose to show her the bruises Daniel had made, she stared at him for a moment too long and it wasn’t to study his injured ribs.
    Lucas had brought her a towel and when he turned away, giving her a fragile illusion of privacy, she’d draped it around herself and escaped into the bedroom. He didn’t follow her. She toweled off, slipped on the giant T-shirt he’d given her, and slid into bed, curling under the blanket into a worried ball. Her nervousness should’ve kept her awake, but her body simply gave out. Lucas took his time getting to bed and by the time he lay down on the other side, she was half asleep. He asked her something, but her feverish haze mugged her and dragged her under into a dreamless sleep.
    Karina struggled to sit up. She felt the steady heat of her slowly burning, low fever. At least she was alive. She forced herself all the way up. Her head swam and the dizziness nearly took her back down.
    Up. Up, come on, you can do it.
    And now she was talking to herself. Outstanding.
    Karina walked to the shower, swaying on wobbling feet. She’d rinsed her underwear last night, and it still hung on the towel hook where she’d left it. Karina touched it. Dry. She slipped the panties on and went to use the bathroom.
    A couple of minutes later she made it to the sink. A new toothbrush, still in its case, waited for her. Karina stared at it.
    Lucas hadn’t kidnapped her. He hadn’t forced her into human slavery at gunpoint. She’d been attacked by Rishe and the shark-toothed man, and she’d been given a choice: to die or to live on Lucas’s terms. She was a victim of circumstance. That didn’t change the fact that Lucas owned her now.
    The House of Daryon had stripped every shred of independence from her. She