I should. Because she's right. I do hate her. I hate her more than I ever knew I could hate anything. Yet I can't bring myself to prove it at this moment. I can't allow her cutting remarks to slide as if they are of no consequence. There are so many ways I will apply my cruelty to her. But she is to carry my child, and if she thinks I would starve her while she does so, she is mistaken.

"Tell me what you ate today." I grip her chin and force her gaze back to me.

She looks at me as though I'm teasing her. "You know the answer to that."

"Tell me," I growl.

She wavers, trying desperately to hold onto her stubborn refusal, but is still tethered by the values ingrained into her. She knows she is to please her husband.

"I ate the only thing they brought me!" she hisses. "Toast and orange juice. Does that satisfy you, Lord of Darkness?"

My fingers bite into her skin under the force of my anger, and she cringes. When I realize the power of my grip, I soften it and close my eyes, trying to rein myself back in.

"They brought you only one meal today?"

She is quiet for a moment before she answers, her voice softer this time. "Yes."

"That was a mistake," I answer darkly as I release her.

My thunderous footsteps startle the housekeeper awake before I even reach her door. She is scrambling out of her bed, clinging to her bedsheets when the glow from the hall spills into her room. I never come to this part of The Manor, so she knows something is amiss.

"Mr. De La Rosa," the words falls helplessly from her lips. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is not okay." I stalk toward her, and she stumbles back, nearly tripping over the sheet in her pale grasp.

"This is about the food, isn't it?" She winces. "Oh, please have mercy. I beg of you."

"Mercy?" I spit the word from my lips with such vehemence she begins to shake. "What mercy should there be for a woman who can't perform the most basic task of feeding my goddamn wife!"

Tears begin to cascade over her cheeks as she shakes her head in denial. "But it was your order, sir! And I know I fed her against your wishes, but she was feeling faint, and I simply could not..."

I draw in a sharp breath and try to calm myself.

"Master, please," Antonia sobs. "I did not mean to offend."