Page 43 of Barbarian Daddies

He hasn’t noticed the change in my position yet. Excellent. He’s too busy fantasizing about a life he will never have with me. I don’t normally condone delusions, but I want Dahlen as deeply immersed in his as possible, so I just let him speak as he allows his naive mind to wander.

“She has no reason to break her word. They’re sending out a starship next month to collect more of your kind,” he informs me. “They estimate fifty women of Earth will be housed in the breeding center upon the starship’s return. We will save our species. We will become stronger, and our offspring will never have to worry about the plague ever again.”

“That’s a myth. Viruses adapt and evolve.”

Dahlen gives me a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“Viruses are living organisms, Dahlen. Tiny. You can’t see them with the naked eye, but they are there. One such living organism is at the root of the plague. The plague is merely a by-product of the virus’s reproductive process. It enters the organism, it consumes its resources, then it multiplies and it spreads to others, killing its host in the process. But the virus itself isn’t static. It continues to evolve. With each molecule it consumes, it changes. It adapts.”

He seems alarmed at this point. “So what? Humans are immune to it.”

“For now. But there is no guarantee that human-Sunnaite hybrids will be immune to it as well.”

“I thought you said Salem was immune.”

“I said he could be. I never confirmed it. I needed the research lab in Sapphire City to be able to be certain. That’s why we were going there.” I take a deep breath and grin at him. “But even if the hybrids turn out to be immune, it doesn’t guarantee immunity across generations. You see, Dahlen, hybrids are half of each parent. As they go on to reproduce amongst themselves, they will carry both sets of genes forward. The virus will latch on, eventually. It will evolve to bypass whatever protein is keeping it from infecting the human side. Maybe not in the first or second generation, but eventually the virus will find a way. It always does. Nature outfoxes us at every turn, Dahlen, haven’t you understood that by now?”

“You’re saying the plague will return?”

“There’s a high chance, yes. And when it does, it will kill indiscriminately. It will adapt, it will evolve, and it will find a crack. That’s all it needs. One tiny crack, and then you’ll all be fucked. Again.” I pause and nod at the twigs on the ground. “You should get more. That’s not enough.”

I watch him walk away, headed deeper into the orchard looking for more wood. I’ve rattled him enough to demolish his focus, which gives me the opportunity to reach into the satchel and take out the small knife. My hands tremble and my wrists hurt, the adrenaline shooting through me like liquid wildfire. My heart drums violently as I turn the knife with its blade downward and slip it in between my wrists. Once the rope is cut, I coil it around my wrists to make it seem like I’m still bound, then palm the knife and brace myself for what comes next.

The fire burns brightly as the night settles over this part of Sunna—one of the few regions that isn’t a volcanic wasteland or an inhospitable red desert. The plum trees rise around us with their bountiful crowns, keeping most of the starry night sky hidden from sight, but the light of three moons still dashes through, casting soft glowing beams through the deep shadows, while the orange flames before me dance across Dahlen’s slim face.

I wish it hadn’t come to this. I wish he’d been wiser. But people are who they are. Some choose the path forward while others choose the path of least resistance. The latter will always be doomed to failure, because nothing good or worthwhile comes without effort, without consistency, without kindness and loyalty, without courage and struggle. Dahlen chose to be here, forcing me into a lifetime of slavery and misery, instead of sticking by his brethren and the values of his tribe.

“We’ll have many children,” he says, still droning on about his ridiculous fantasy. “Your firstborn will inherit something, of course, but not as much as our children. I’ll give him a house on the south side of Sapphire City. I don’t want him too close to our children.”

“Why? Are you afraid he’ll avenge his fathers?”

Dahlen gives me a hard look. “No. He will only know me as his father. But I will always know he isn’t really mine. I don’t want a reminder of your transgressions living under my roof for too long.”

“Transgressions? Seriously?” I scoff. “Maur, Kai, and I have a bond, Dahlen. A true, unbreakable bond. It is the most beautiful and natural thing in the world.”

“You should’ve bonded with me!” he snaps, the anger and frustration finally getting to him as he sits up, tension gathering in his bony shoulders. “I was there when we saved you from the Sky Tribe! I helped you! I took care of you!”

“You brought me food and water. You were just a kid. You’re still a kid,” I mutter. “And I didn’t owe you anything. I still don’t. You cannot force a bond, nor can you punish a woman for not feeling about you the way you feel about her.”

“I’m not a kid! I’m a man. I have proven myself one too many times,” Dahlen replies, the rage now burning red in his eyes. “I’ve proven myself to my cousins, but they never admitted it. Why should they? They’ve always been jealous of me. Kai and Maur could never truly accept me by their side because that would’ve made me their equal. They couldn’t bear sharing the attention with me. On the other hand, Selina helped me. She accepted me. She saw the man I truly am.”

“For fuck’s sake, you’re just a dumb kid she’s playing with.”

Dahlen gets up, having lost his common sense altogether. “I’ll show you what a man I am, Cynthia. Right here, right now.”

I’m scared. I’m sickened. I know what he’s about to do, and while my pulse is racing, my heart stuck in my throat as my stomach is tied up in painful knots, I know what I’m about to do, too. In order for this to be over, though, I have to piss him off some more. Just a little bit more.

“I dare you to try, you little shit. You could never handle a woman like me!”

“You’ll see!” He snarls and lunges at me.

I keep my position on the ground with my back against the base of the plum tree. He straddles me and grabs my supposedly bound wrists, arousal clouding his judgment as he turns into the monster he has always wanted to be.

But I’ve become a monster, too.

Dahlen pulls my wrists upward, eager to put them over my head so he can defile me. I have the small knife ready. As soon as my hands go up, I let it slip out through my fingers and stab him in the throat. I scream as the blood gushes and sprays me red. I hit the artery, and he’ll be dead in less than a minute.

His eyes widen with shock.

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