Chapter 46

The elevator bell alerted her to Rikash s return far sooner than he had indicated that his errand would take. She had bathed in his absence, washing the stink of him from her and had only just pulled on her gown when she heard the distant tone. She continued to rub the cosmetic stick over her lips. I could love you she had offered. It was what he needed, she thought, to be loved by someone. As Nadyr had said, though not in so many words, the difference between the men was love. It was what Rikash craved, though she did not think that he knew it. Could she love a monster? She did not know, but she believed she could pretend well enough that the monster would believe it. She heard his footsteps cross the living room and enter the bedroom, until he came to stand in the open doorway of the bathroom. His reflection in the mirror caught her eye and the cosmetic stick dropped from her grasp so that it rattled in the sink and left a red smear behind, like blood. "You should