She moistened her lower lip with the tip of her tongue. Talking about her father often made her throat close so she felt as if she were strangling. “They took me into the swamp. I was an infant. They wrapped me up and left me in one of the camps. Alone. My mother left. They said she died, but I know that isn’t true. She left me. Just the way they left me.”

Gold flecks began to appear in Alonzo’s eyes, turning the glacier from pure blue ice to a greenish ice. There was no expression on his face, but he took her hand and pressed it open, finger by finger, until he could hold her palm over his mouth. She felt his breath on her skin, as if he breathed for both of them—and maybe he did.

She didn’t look back. Not ever. That always reduced her to that child in the swamp. The toddler huddled alone with only her leopard to keep her company. The alligators bellowed and she could hear the rustle of the animals sniffing around the outside of her little sanctuary. She jammed her fist in her mouth to prevent any sound escaping. Sound meant death. Even her leopard told her that.

“I learned to become part of the swamp. Sometimes it flooded and I couldn’t leave my home. It was cold or very, very hot. There were snakes. I was bitten a couple of times.” She showed him her arm and the scar there. Her leg, down low near her ankle. “I was very sick, but my leopard refused to allow me to die.”

His eyes went all gold and a snarl escaped. “You want to tell me where your father was? Where the head of your lair was?”

“He said he left me there to protect me. That’s what he chose rather than escape his father. He brought me groceries, but if I wanted hot food I had to learn to cook. He brought books and workbooks so I could learn.”

Alonzo erupted into Russian, spewing phrases she was certain were very bad ones. She winced, but she didn’t pull away from him. She knew he wasn’t angry with her. He was angry because her father hadn’t protected her the way he should have. He left her alone in the swamp. Night after night. It had been terrifying.