Page 39 of The Vixen

“You have no idea how wrong that is, do you?” My voice is barely above a whisper.

The clicking stops.

“Actually, I do.” Luna’s hands rest on the arms of her chair as she swivels toward me. “Persephone is neither intelligent nor charming. She stumbles on her words, she’s forgetful, she’s clumsy, she’s…” Luna pauses while she searches for a word. When she finds it, her lip curls. “Breakable. And still, my father chooses to give her privileges she isn’t worthy to have. He’s going to teach her to read. Next, he will teach her to fight. And one day, I imagine he will try to replace me… Yes, I see how wrong that is. It’s infuriating. It’s hurtful. It’s terribly unfair.”

I blink at her. When my mouth opens, she cuts me off.

“But you’re referring to the pedophilia.” She points to her bookshelf. “Thirteenth book from the left, third shelf down is the DSM-5. I’m aware of the supposed condition and the outside world’s take on the appropriate age for sexual intercourse. In The Shadow Sanctum, we do not discriminate on age, which is just as things were in your world a hundred years ago.”

“Luna…”

“Saw-yer,” she sing-songs my name as she stands. Her face is so hard, she doesn’t seem human as she rattles the chair. “Sit.”

I look at the door where the girl left.Persephone.

“Sit, Dreg.”

Blinking, I sit in the chair. Try to focus on the screen.

See the girl in my mind—adult version, a second Luna.

“Good… How many women do you communicate with at a time?”

Is it even possible to groom the girl to take Luna’s place? You’d have to be inherently evil?—

“Dreg.”

I clear my throat. “New women?”

When Luna doesn’t respond, I turn to her. “I thought you wanted to initiate?—”

“You told my father that it takes you six months of daily communication to convince a woman to leave her life for you. The island women will be here to get us started, but they obviously aren’t enough. So…” She waves to the screen.

“How many breeders are youwanting?”

“I don’t know. How many slaves did you lure onto your island? How many was enough for you?”

I give it a moment before turning back to the screen. Hunching forward, I pull up a chat site and start a profile. “Six.”

Luna shifts her weight beside me. “What?”

“I can talk to six women simultaneously before their personalities jumble… Although, I don’t imagine you’re going to give me that much computer time.”

“You’ll have as much time as necessary. As a reminder, the computer is being monitored at all times.”

“As a reminder, I’m a wanted fugitive. I’m not contacting the police.”

“You’re a snake charmer. I’m sure you have friends you’ll alert at the first opportunity.”

Friends.

I scoff.

Try enemies.

The sound of my fingers drumming the keyboard drowns out the silence that follows.

“What are you saying?” Luna asks as she hunches toward the screen to study the chat pinging with replies.