Revenant by Patti Larsen

on his face, as fake as the rest of him. I can see the fine lines showing in his carefully maintained illusion of youth. He hasn’t gone so far as his insane mother, Odette, who used massive doses of family power to disguise her decline. But he’s not going easily into age, his skin thinning on his cheeks, the lids falling ever so slightly over his icy eyes. Age will not treat Andre well, I can only imagine. And hope.
    I still can’t believe there was an instant when I was a child I thought him handsome. With his aristocratic features and ice blond hair, his intense blue eyes and polished demeanor, I wondered when I was given to him if he would be a good master, someone honorable I could bond to without regret, with pride in my pairing.
    I was so wrong.
    Andre doesn’t try to touch me, simply smiles, looking back and forth between Sage and me. The attendant arrives with a sub sandwich wrapped in foil. I pay for it with trembling fingers, hating the traitor way my hand shakes in front of the man I hate the most in this world, the monster who made me what I am. It burns in my soul Andre sees my upset. The attendant leaves us alone as Sage devours the sandwich in giant bites. I know he can’t control himself, but I despise the way Andre watches him with cold calculation, a tiny smirk lifting the corner of his mouth while his empty blue eyes measure Sage’s state of being.
    “So lovely to finally find a moment alone with you.” Andre’s French accent always gives me the creeps, reminds me of being a little girl again, unable to fight back. And though I know it’s not their fault, every time I hear a French accent now, I have a hateful reaction to whomever is speaking.
    “What do you want?” It’s obvious he’s managed to trap me here. But there are no Enforcers I can feel, no pressure of threatening magic. Even Andre’s is dormant, without challenge against my shields. Which means the Dumont leader has plans of his own that don’t involve the authorities.
    “I’ve done my best to keep them from finding you,” he says, the most shocking thing I’ve heard leave his mouth in a long time. “Seems to have worked, when you’ve not chosen to be a stupid girl and get others involved.”
    I’m still a girl to him. And though I wish she would stop her savage screeching inside me, I have no control over the screams of the very child he speaks of.
    “You’ve been protecting us?” Not very damned likely. Unless… “Why?”
    “I would think that would be obvious, my dear Charlotte.” His smile turns sharp and cruel. “You are in a position that puts me at an advantage. No one else can save you and get away with it, not even your beloved Sydlynn. They would guess where you’ve gone, watching her closely, the Enforcers.” He nods as I silently curse. “Yes, even on my new adopted continent. Erica Plower and the North American Council are on watch for you as well. Though they have no idea how close you’ve come to leaving Europe. At least, not yet.”
    I glare at him, wishing I could stop the trembling that has taken over my body.
    “Now,” he says, brusque, but cheerful, “ mon animal de compagnie ,” he loved calling me his little pet, “to answer your question. Since you can’t go home, and have nowhere to turn, you are out of options. I’m going to give you one.” He straightens his tie, plays with his cuff links, hooded eyes making my stomach churn. “I help you,” he says, “because I want you for myself.”  
    The girl in me wails her denial, terror breaking out sweat all over my body. It is only sheer force of will keeping me from attacking him.
    “I know you better than those fool Enforcers,” Andre says. “I’ve been following your lovely scent ever since you left the palace. No one knows you like I do. And no one deserves to own you, but me.”
    Never again. Never. Never. Never. Never—
    “I want you to come work for me.” I know what that means. “Work” equals “slave” to