Diana Racine 02 - Goddess of the Moon

know where the day goes. And most importantly, I play with Chloe.” Anat looked at Maia. “Why are you here? Did you come to ― ”
    “No,” Maia said, shaking her head. “No more children.” The reality of Anat’s words settled hard in Maia’s mind. Was this going to be her life too? Confined to living life in a vacuum? Anat had made the best of it. Could she?
    Anat got up and leaned over the railing. Her voice brought Maia back from a place she didn’t want to be. “Then? No, don’t tell me. You finally spoke up and they shipped you off. It ’ d have to be you. Everyone else is incapable of making decisions for themselves .” She looked off. “Except Cal. You know, Cal Easley. H is suite is on the other side of the compound. U nlike me, he can roam freely . They don’t think he has the guts to cause an uprising.”
    “How is he?”
    “I see him at meetings they make us attend , and sometimes he visits. He works out and looks good . When I knew they were going to force me to have a child , I said I’d mate with Cal, but I guess they thought any offspring of ours would be worse th an the two of us put together. ” She gazed at Chloe. “ Cal’s gay , you know.”
    Maia rose and jo ined Anat. “No, I didn’t.”
    “He’s the smartest person here, but they won’t harvest his sperm for fear the gay, as they call it, will be passed on. They must be pissed to pass on such rich genetic material.”
    Maia chuckled.
    “Cal gets a perverse pleasure knowing that , ” Anat said.
    “ How strange , because I’ve never known the group to care if people are gay.”
    “No, as long as they’re not part of our society. ”
    Maia put her hand on Anat ’s arm. “Whose Chloe’s father ? Seth says you won’t say.”
    “ I won’t . I don’t want anyone using this baby against the father. There are a few of us with a remnant or two of independence. Please don’t ask, Maia. Especially if you intend to tell Seth.”
    She ’d never tell , but Anat didn’t know that . “I wo uld n’t. I understand.”
    “Thank you.” Anat offered a loving glance at Chloe . “ What did you do to wind up here? Must have been a beaut. ”
    “I almost blew the whole thing wide open, but I don’t want to talk about that now. I should have done things differently. Better.” Maia lowered her voice to a whisper. “Do you know about the kidnapped babies?”
    “ Yes . At first it was just gossip, a whisper. I didn’t believe they ’d do something so stupid. Then someone confirmed it. Cal tells me what’s going on when he visits , as do others . I can’t imagine anything worse . They’re spitting in the face of the law because they don’t think the law applies to them, that they’re above it. Whose idea was that? Do you know?”
    “Phillip’s, of course . He’s the Grand Master, and he’s getting old. Time to speed things up. Dione and I didn’t know anything about it until one of father’s dutiful lapdogs got caught. Do you know about Deems?”
    Anat nodded. “H e killed himself rather than face kidnapping charges .”
    “O r be forced to tell on the group . I don’t know how far the y’d go to protect themselves these days. They ’ve lost focus.”
    “Isn’t that what happens with megalomaniacs? ” Anat asked. “ Damn . This has to stop. I’d do it, but I’m a little tied up. Even if I weren’t, I have no idea where the hell we are. Someplace in Oklahoma, I think, but I’m not sure. ”
    “They’ve done well keeping this place secret. I’ve tried to figure it out―two - hour plane trip, no ocean, mount ains, but that could be a zillion places. When I learned about the babies, I should have gone to the police. You would have . Unfortunately, I’m not as brave. Now I won’t have the chance because they won’t let me go.”
    “Maybe they’ll give you the suite downstairs,” she said. “We could talk from the balconies.”
    “It’s not funny, Anat. Our father is involved in something that could put him and the others in prison for life.”
    “Good.”
    Maia was taken aback by th e hatred in Anat’s voice.
    Anat drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Have you seen what he’s doing to Brigid and Nona, with my mother’s blessing? They’re nothing more than genetic material and wet nurses. And Silas, our… father, I wouldn’t be surprised if ― ”
    “If what?”
    Anat clasped her hands around her neck and shook her head. “Never mind.”
    After Maia saw what her two