Victor caught on. “Oh, Adam. A man’s name for something so much less. But yes. They can do whatever they wish. I have no use for them.” He smiled. It was the smile I had taught him. And I knew he gave it to me now so I would not have to see the truth. Of course he would not let them live. Mary had tried to take what was his, and Adam was a reminder of failure. He would take me, and then he would destroy them. Or in Mary’s case, use her body for something unspeakable.

What option did I have?

I smiled up at him, giving him the look that always soothed him so he could function. He let out a breath of relief, his eyes lighting. He still needed me. He would always need me. And some part of me still responded to that.

I had no means to kill him. But perhaps, after he had taken me, I could devise something. I smiled more sweetly still, and he leaned down to kiss me. I could not stop myself from jerking away from his hateful lips.

My movement dislodged the crate, my momentum carrying me backward into the hole in the ice.

The shock was immediate and overwhelming. Panic bubbled up like my breath as I struggled to orient myself and find the hole. I had to get out!

A hand grabbed for me, grasping blindly through the icy water. The hand that had reached out to me as a child, that had pulled me from my misery and into a life of a different kind of captivity. The hand that, guided by his brilliant mind, could accomplish delicate and sensitive operations that defied the fundamental laws of life and death.

The hand that would take my body and make it his own.

Victor would save me. And I wanted to live! Desperately. As I always had. For one moment I let myself consider it.

But if I lived, I would still die, and I would never have control of myself again.

I took his hand, and then I pulled with all my might. Victor, unused to meeting resistance from me, tumbled into the hole. He flailed, turning toward me in the blue depths. His eyebrows were drawn together in surprise and confusion.

I reached out and smoothed them, smiling. Victor would never hurt anyone again. I had saved them, and I had saved myself.

He struggled for the surface, searching for the hole. But he had not taken off all his furs. They were weights, dragging him down. I wrapped my arms around him, embracing him and sinking with him until he stopped moving. The water around me, deepest blue, turned from cold to burning heat and then peaceful nothingness.