“But I am,” he protested.
“Which?”
“Both,” he replied promptly.
“You always were such a tease, Cain. You were in lust with me last week!”
Chapter Thirteen
The teasing light vanished instantly from Cain’s eyes. A look of annoyance took its place as he glanced up at Violet.
“Trying to work your way through the harem?” she added, gesturing to the room at large.
“I see I underestimated you … partner. Clever. Any rebuttal on my part will only make me look worse.”
Violet shrugged. “She was never in any danger of taking you seriously. Were you, Amaryllis?”
Amaryllis glanced uncomfortably from Violet to Cain. He was angry, no matter how well he hid it, but the question was, angry because what Violet had said was the truth? Or because she was lying and he couldn’t defend himself without looking as bad as she’d painted him? She managed a tight smile. “We’re all bored and anxious, Violet, but I don’t think trying to create trouble among ourselves is at all wise.”
Surprise flickered across Violet’s face, but anger quickly supplanted it. She leaned down until she was almost nose to nose with Amaryllis. “Then maybe you should consider who you dangle after,” she said through gritted teeth.
Amaryllis’ fist clenched reflexively. Before she could do anything she might have regretted later, however, she felt a warm hand cover hers in warning. She glanced down at the hand when Violet had straightened and stalked away and then up at Cain. Almost reluctantly, he withdrew his hand from hers.
“I can’t woo you if you’re in solitary for belting her in the mouth,” he murmured, his tone teasing. “Not that I wasn’t tempted myself,” he added reflectively.
She gave him a look. “It was the ‘in your face’ thing,” she said tightly.
He feigned a look of disappointment. “You’re not dangling after me, then?”
A snort of laughter escaped her. Amaryllis clapped a hand over her mouth. “You can laugh. It isn’t you she wants to pound into a bloody pulp,” she chided him.
He grimaced. “No. She has something equally horrible in mind for me, though. She seems to be laboring under the impression that we should make the partnership more permanent.”
It wasn’t exactly a revelation. “Really? She suggested she was interested in … one of the cyborgs.”
He shrugged. “It’s my considered opinion that we’re all going to need a little reprogramming if we’re to manage this mating thing the cyborgs have in mind. Frankly, we just don’t have the skills for it. Look at how badly I’m faring and I’ve at least had a little practice … programming, at any rate.”
Amaryllis looked as confused as she felt.
He frowned, all traces of amusement vanishing from his expression. “My programming scenario. It was my wife I lost. But then none of it actually happened, did it? The woman I thought I loved never really existed except in my mind.”
It didn’t really matter, though. The mind believed what it had been told. “They really are cold blooded bastards, aren’t they?” Amaryllis said angrily. “How could they … why would they create such awful histories for everyone?”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “So that we wouldn’t turn out like the cyborgs.”
“But … everyone has horrible memory implants. Isn’t that as bad?”
“They couldn’t leave us with anything we could track down and disprove. Maybe they thought the emotional wounds would make us harder, more dangerous. It’s anybody’s guess, but, for my part, I rather envy the cyborgs. At least they always knew. It isn’t easy going to sleep a man and waking up a cyborg … enemy of the true people.”
Amaryllis felt a pang of empathy. Impulsively, she grasped his hand and gave it a sympathetic squeeze. She’d been so wrapped up in her own concerns it hadn’t occurred to her that all the captives were as confused and anxious as she was. “You think it’s as bad as that?”
His fingers tightened on hers. “I do. I hope you’re not still considering going back. Thereisno going back, you know,” he said gently.
She shrugged. “I will miss … what I left behind, but I realize the chances of making it back are less than nothing now. Unless they agree to take those of us back who don’t want to stay, there’s no way we’d ever manage it on our own.”
He smiled faintly. “You’re not precisely resigned to your fate then, are you?”
She forced a smile. “I don’t give up on anything very easily.”
