Dangerous Games

18

Frozen, I repeat, “Apprentice?”

Dropping his voice, he says, “You never wondered why I kept you so close? Why I allowed you to be present during business meetings? Why I tested you over and over to see what it would take to make you break? Think, Eva. You know I’m not a man who does things without good reason.”

It isn’t a monster that awaits me inside the room, but a painting. A picture on an easel, finger painted in blood by a murderer who laughed in delight at his own Frankenstein creation as it came to life under his hands.

Dimitri watches me closely, waiting for me to see the full picture. Waiting for me to discover the image of myself in the center, holding his hand.

And I do see. I see it with a clarity that burns inside my mind like a sun.

He’s the potter. I’m the clay. All the years I thought I was simply being tortured, something far more sinister was taking place.

I was being groomed.

The air smells of blood. The floor is hard and cold under my knees. And inside the darkest place in my soul, an evil seed breaks into flower.

He tells people I’m his wife.

“Every king needs a queen,” I say, gazing into the fathomless depths of his eyes.

His cheeks flush with excitement. “Precisely.”

So here at last we come to it. The true price I’ll pay for the foolishness of falling in love.

In the old days, before Naz, I would’ve wept. I would’ve cowered and accepted it as my lot. I would’ve been my mother’s daughter and made the best of whatever disgusting thing life decided to throw my way, like slop to hogs. But now I see far beyond myself, into the future, a future where millions of people still live because I was presented with an opportunity to beat the devil at his own game.

A future where my child might live, too.

A future created by my willingness to do the unthinkable thing that must be done.

But I can’t seem too eager, or this bloodhound will sniff me out.

“You know I hate you. You know you can’t trust me.”

“I’m not interested in your feelings, and trust is a commodity I don’t deal in.” He sends a wry glance toward the body of Vlad.

“Then what exactly are you proposing?”

He takes my chin in his hand, sweeping his thumb over my lower lip. “You’ve lived one quarter of your life with me. You grew from a girl to a woman under my watch. And look at you now. You’re strong. Resilient. Unyielding, though it costs you so much. You’re a warrior now, Evalina, because I made you that way. All that you are or ever could be is because of me.”

I want to scream, but I wait, tensed, because I know more is coming.

“You’ve had a taste of freedom. I’ll give you more, if you earn it. I’ll give you almost anything you want, if you earn it.” His voice grows husky. “Because you, and only you, know exactly what I need.”

Yes, I’m intimately familiar with his needs. As I think of what he means by “earn it,” saliva pools on the back of my tongue. I swallow so I don’t spit. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s very simple. You’re going to marry me.”

I jerk, so shocked I nearly fall over.

He’s undisturbed by my reaction. “Or spend the rest of your life locked in this cellar.”

He drops his hand from my face, turning away toward the stairs. He says over his shoulder, “I’ll give you some time to think it over.”

“I don’t need any time.”

He stops, pivots slowly, and stares at me.

Holding his gaze, I rise, until we stand facing each other with Vlad’s cooling body the only witness to the Faustian bargain I’m about to make.

My heart in ashes, I tell the devil, “I’ll marry you.”

My answer is a show of gleaming white teeth.

As an engagement present, I get the whipping Vlad died for.

Breathing heavily, his forehead shining with sweat, Dimitri stands over the bed and my trembling, naked body. I’m facedown, panting in pain, my cheeks hot but dry. The rough gray blanket is twisted in my fist. My broken arm is agony. Welts burn blazing strips of fire up and down my legs, bottom, and upper back.

I didn’t have to warn him to be careful of my kidneys. Dimitri knows how this is done.

He made me recite every transgression I’ve made since he found me at the apartment, starting with when I called him a bastard. It was a long list. He helped me along when I had any gaps in memory. Then he made me take off my clothes while he watched, his eyes like living fire. Finally, he made me thank him for the punishment I was about to receive.

The whole thing had an air of religious ceremony. The only things missing were a communion wafer and a gulp of sacramental wine.

I gave him everything he wanted without a hint of hesitation or reproach. Evalina 2.0, the girl who suffers any humiliation so she can lull the devil into lowering his guard.

I think I’ll poison the b***h.

Picturing that, I make a sound that Dimitri misinterprets as a plea.

“What did you expect, champagne and roses?”

Laughter laces his voice. It’s a rhetorical question. He knows I knew exactly what to expect. I bite my tongue and concentrate on a crack in the stone wall across from me, following its meandering path to the floor.

When my gaze falls on Vlad’s body, I quickly look away.

His eyes are still open, dear God.

“All right, my love. Well done.”

Dimitri leans over me, pushing my hair off my face. He kisses my cheek, his breath hot on my skin. I force myself not to react, because I know the worst is over.