Trust, X suddenly said. Set the otherworlders free. Walk away. Today. Now. This minute. Never look back.
How she would have loved that. “If I do, they’ll only be captured again.”
Trust.
“You don’t understand.”
Don’t I?
Vika reached the entrance and swept inside. Bleachers filled every inch of space that wasn’t used by the center ring, and of course, the hidden space in back where the performers changed. In the ring were spotlights, poles, wires, nets, equipment, boulders, and smoke machines.
As a little girl, she had dreamed of having an act of her own and making her father proud. Now, she was very glad he’d always denied her request, too afraid someone would see her, want her, and take her, even back then. To be stared at, judged, and critiqued by strangers? No, thank you.
A hard hand latched onto her forearm and forced her to turn. Mini-bombs of fear exploded through her when her gaze landed on Matas, who was glaring down at her, a blazing fire in his eyes.
“What are you doing here, Vika? You’re supposed to be in your trailer.”
I will not cower. “Have you forgotten rule number one?” she forced herself to snap.
A cruel grin lifted the corners of his mouth. “We’re going to be married at the end of the month, which means your rules are out and mine are in. And do you want to know the first one? You do what I say, when I say, or I hurt you in ways you cannot even imagine. And don’t forget you owe me for letting Kitten go unscathed.”
There’s still time to leave, X said.
I can handle this, she assured herself, even as her blood chilled in her veins. “My father will not be amused. He doesn’t want you to mistreat me.”
“Actually, I think he’ll change his mind when he sees this.” Matas held out his free hand. A small, black device rested in the center of his palm. He used his thumb to press the button in the center, and a blue screen crystallized in the air.
Colors flickered inside that screen, a picture soon forming.
Vika, inside Solo’s cage. Vika, bathing him. Vika, kissing him.
Leave, Vika. Leave now, X beseeched. Run to Solo.
Oh, sweet mercy. She wanted to, she really did, but she had to contain this situation first. If her father ever saw this, Solo would be killed. “D-don’t show him, Matas. Please.”
His fingers closed over the device, and the screen vanished. “I hid a camera in the zoo a while back. I’ve been watching you, and I know you’ve been giving the animals treats they were never meant to have. Treats your father paid for. I always let that slide, but this . . . no. I can’t.”
Her knees shook, threatening to buckle. “I’ll run away,” she threatened. “If you tell him, I’ll leave. I’ll help the authorities find the circus and shut it down, and you’ll end up without a job.”
Vika, please. Listen to me. Never try to bargain with evil.
“You do not threaten me,” Matas growled—just before he backhanded her.
Her head whipped to the side, her cheek stinging. The taste of blood coated her tongue. Another beating, and from a male who repulsed her? No. No! She wouldn’t let that happen.
She grabbed her blade and struck, slamming the tip as deep into Matas’s side as possible. Maybe he roared, maybe he didn’t, but he did stumble away from her. And as he stood there panting and gaping at her, she looked down at the crimson-soaked blade. Horror washed through her, her blood no longer cold but frigid, little ice crystals making her feel heavy, achy.
She’d just stabbed someone. She’d just hurt someone in the worst possible way. Maybe she’d even killed him. Yes, she’d done it to protect herself, but it was still something her father would have done.
I can’t be like him. I just can’t.
Oh, Vika, X said sadly. I’m sorry.
“You’re going to pay for that.” Scowling, Matas thundered toward her, closing the distance before she could back away. He slammed his meaty fist into the side of her head, knocking her to the ground.
Another impact, her brain rattling against her skull.
He punched her a second time. And just like that, it was lights out for Vika.
Sixteen
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
—ISAIAH 43:2
SOLO HEARD THE TWO men arguing before he saw them, his ears twitching as he listened. He’d expected X, who had popped in a few minutes ago to cryptically say, “Control yourself, for she has need of your aid, not your temper,” before vanishing. But no, this wasn’t X.
“I’ll kill you, Matas.”
He recognized the harshness of the voice, knew it belonged to Jecis.
“I told you I was sorry.”
“That doesn’t make it better!”
“I showed you the video. You know what she did.”
“And it’s a problem, but it’s my problem. You should have come to me. Should have let me handle it. Now—” A wild roar of rage Solo had heard only once before—from himself, the day he’d discovered his parents’ decomposed bodies. “You were to get her pregnant, make her want to stay, give her something to do. The look in her eyes lately, just like before, when she—but you ruined everything!”
Matas was to impregnate . . . Vika? Despite the fact that she disliked the brute?
“I gave you a gift,” Jecis continued shakily, “my most treasured possession, and you broke it. I should exile you from my circus.”
“She stabbed me, and I reacted,” Matas said, his own voice shaky. “It will never happen again. Like I said, I’m sorry.”
“Not accepted! You nearly killed her with those blows.”
“Let me take care of her. I’ll make her better with my magic.”
Her. She. They had better not be discussing Vika.
“You’re not touching her again. If any other man had put me in this situation . . . if any other man had hurt my baby like this . . .”
His baby. They were discussing Vika. Solo didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. He was on his feet and squeezing the bars a second later, dread barraging him, right along with fury and desperation . . . so much desperation . . . But he couldn’t act on a single emotion, not with the cuffs shooting debilitating drugs into his system.
What had been done to her? How badly had she suffered? Would she survive?
Questions, questions, so many questions formed, but one fact crystallized: He would repay the one responsible. Not because he’d decided to use Vika to escape. Not because he’d realized she was his only hope. But because. Just because.