Page 53 of Dark Gambit: The Play

Marcel chuckled. "According to their tradition, or maybe religion, Igor's community is an affront to the Goddess. Her chosen are females, and they are the ones who are supposed to be in charge of breeding. Not the males. The females' job is to select the best males to father the next generation, and I bet they use several criteria to determine who's the best. It's actually a better system. Males tend to be visual, and they choose the mothers of their children based primarily on their looks and level of attractiveness. If they focused on her intelligence, her drive to succeed, and her kindness and empathy, they might have produced a better next generation. I wonder if that's why the Kra-ell religion came up with the idea of giving females all the power. After all, life is about producing the best next generation."

"The Mother of All Life holds all of her children precious." Sofia smiled. "Until I got to the university, I didn't know how prevalent Christianity was. I read about it in books during my studies, but since everyone in the compound revered the Mother, I never gave it much thought. It occurred to me later that Igor must have compelled the humans to abandon their original religion in favor of the Mother."

"So, you were home-schooled?"

"I studied in the compound. We had a school for the children, and we got books and everything else we needed. Naturally, I got a fake high school diploma to get accepted into the university, but I had all the education I needed." She winced. "Except for everything that had to do with computers, but I wasn't the only one. There were other students who came from poor villages that didn't have free access to technology."

"I know that the compound has access to the internet."

"Igor and the others in charge have access. Jade probably got special permission because she teaches the Kra-ell children and needs to obtain new material from time to time."

"I'm surprised that she chose to be a teacher. She doesn't strike me as the nurturing type."

Sofia sighed. "I thought so too, but she has a soft spot for the little ones. I can't think of her without being overcome with sadness. She is so brave to keep on going despite what happened to her. It never occurred to me before that some of the Kra-ell also had been brought to the compound against their will. I did wonder, though, about the discrepancy between the ratio of boys and girls born to the purebloods and the ratio of adults. I thought that they were getting rid of the boys somehow." She shivered. "I don't know what's worse. What they actually did, or what I imagined."

"You have a good heart, Sofia." Marcel leaned toward her and kissed her forehead. "You are a good person."

"Do you really believe that? Or are you just saying it to cheer me up?"

He smiled. "I know that I'm not the best judge of character. You'd be surprised to know that my natural inclination is to see the good in people, but since that tendency has cost me dearly in the past, I'm very careful before I make up my mind about a person's character. Still, unless you are the best actress ever born, everything you’ve told me indicates that you are a good person despite having a lousy mother and growing up in an alien community. Your father and your aunts must be terrific to compensate for your mother's neglect and indifference."

"They are." Hot tears accumulated in the corners of her eyes. "I miss them so much."

39

MARCEL

As Sofia's eyes misted with tears, the last of Marcel's resistance crumbled. She'd been so animated in her story of growing up among the Kra-ell and having a happy childhood despite living in captivity that he couldn't conceive of it being fake. He wanted to meet her father and tell him that he had done a great job, and that he should be proud of the daughter he'd raised.

But what right did he have to tell the man anything?

Could he promise him that from now on his amazing daughter would be taken care of? That he would protect her? Love her unconditionally?

Fates, how Marcel yearned for that to be so.

He wanted to embrace Sofia, to tell her that he had fallen for her as well, and to save her family so she wouldn't have to miss them. But he couldn't do that. He had no idea how to save her family, but he could love and protect her, provided that he managed to pull the stick out of his ass as Eleanor had so colorfully stated.

"Come here." He reached for her and pulled her into his arms. "You are safe now."

"Am I?" She looked at him with doe eyes.

"I will not let anything happen to you." He dipped his head and took her lips in a soft kiss. "And I promise to make it up to you for the sorrow I caused you."

"Am I forgiven?" she whispered against his mouth.

"You were never to blame. I'm sorry that it took me so long to realize that."

She chuckled on a sob. "It wasn't long. It just felt like an eternity."

"Am I forgiven?" he asked.

"I was never angry at you." She scrunched her nose. "Well, that's not true. I was angry, but I never hated you for how you were treating me because I can't turn off my feelings the way you do. I just couldn't understand how you could shut your emotions down on a dime like that. You knew that it wasn't my fault, that I was a victim in this as much as you were. I never stopped yearning for you, wanting you to look at me with the same fondness and desire you did before." She gave him a sad smile. "Some women are attracted to brooding unemotional guys, but that's not me. I don't find it attractive or sexy. I find it off-putting. I need warmth and affection."

"I didn't turn off my feelings. I just buried them to protect my heart, but the only things I was protecting it from were my own fears and insecurities. Deep down, I knew that you didn't set out to use me."

She winced. "I did, but not really. Valstar and Igor wanted me to find a man who worked in the retreat and seduce him for information. When you started flirting with me, I convinced myself that it could be you, even though I had no reason to believe that you had any useful information. You told me that you were not part of the staff and that you were working on an independent project. When you acted like a jerk, I made plans to seduce one of the teachers. But I wanted you, so when you pleaded with me to forgive you, I decided to play along. I gave myself a great excuse to seduce you so quickly. Usually, I don't move so fast. I take my time getting to know a guy before I get intimate with him." She smiled. "Not that I regret it even for one moment. It was the best night of my life."

And didn't that make Marcel feel like he'd just grown a couple of inches. His knee-jerk reflex was to scent her emotions to make sure she meant it, but the scent of her arousal was all the confirmation he needed.