Chapter 12

Jaya didn't bother turning around when the door to her dungeon opened. It would be her evening meal delivery. She continued doing what she'd been doing for the past several hours, tearing pages out of Walter Scott's Ivanhoe in an attempt to teach herself the art of origami. She'd deemed the book unreadable with a stupid title and thus the best choice for paper cranes, butterflies and whatever else she might be capable of. At the moment her bed was littered in failed attempts. Maybe she should request a book on how origami worked. Apparently it was a lot harder than she thought.

"You've ruined my book," Ivan's voice drawled from behind her.

Jaya twisted around so suddenly her finger slid along the page she was tearing, cutting painfully into her skin. "Ouch!" she yelped and automatically stuck her finger in her mouth. She narrowed her eyes at Ivan as he approached her. She scrambled off the bed, not wanting to be at a disadvantage around him.

The book fell to the floor, landing on her foot. She pursed her lips in annoyance as pain shot through her. She was beginning to hate Ivanhoe almost as much as she hated the real Ivan.

He frowned, his icy fa?ade cracking. "Are you hurt?"

She ignored his apparent concern and, taking her finger out of her mouth, pointed at the box under his arm. "What's that? Finally giving me a laptop? I've only asked about sixty times, but no big deal. I know these things take time, especially when they have to ship it UPS to an evil crimelord's secret lair. I promise not to use it to escape," she said sarcastically.

The man hadn't given her so much as an electric toothbrush or a flashlight. There was no way he was giving her a laptop. Besides the box under his arm was the wrong shape and size. It was perfectly square, about a half a foot wide and high. It was white with a red ribbon and a bow on top, like something you might see in a movie. It was probably another ridiculous sari he wanted her to wear for yet another episode of the bachelor billionaire's kidnapped date.

Instead of answering, he dropped the box on the bed and reached for her hand. His fingers felt rough against her skin. She was surprised. She assumed he ran his evil empire from an office and let his minions do all the heavy lifting. She studied him while he examined her ridiculously small cut. He had shown amazingly fast reflexes on several occasions and she really didn't think the appallingly easy way he'd dispatched the poor serving man had been a fluke. So Ivan was incredibly skilled at hand-to-hand combat, which meant he trained to become that way. And he probably trained often. The promise of hard muscles beneath his well-cut, expensive clothing weren't fake either, she'd felt against her body during their chess match and that time he'd held her down on the bed.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, tugging uselessly at her hand. "Really, Ivan? After everything you've done to me, you're this concerned over a little paper cut?"

He dropped her hand, the frown that had been furrowing his eyebrows smoothing into his usual sculpted expression. "There's the Ivan I know and hate," she murmured, stepping back until her thighs met the edge of the bed. "I was worried you might be growing a conscience."

He reached for the box, scooped it up in a large hand and thrust it at her. "Take it," he snapped.

"And if I don't accept your generosity you'll put me in a cage, blah, blah, blah." She accepted the box, curious despite herself. She nearly dropped the damn thing when it made a horrific yowling, pleading sound. "What the fuck, Ivan, it's alive!"

"Yes, and I'm not entirely certain how long it's been in there, so you may want to unwrap it," he said coolly.

"What the fuck!" she screeched again, wrenching the bow off the box and tearing the top off. Inside was a tiny, shivering ball of striped grey and white fur with wide, terrified eyes. She carefully reached into the box and pulled the kitten out, cuddling it against her chest, then lifted accusing eyes to Ivan. "You monster!"

He lifted his hands as if to say, 'what did I do?' but before he could say a word, Jaya stepped into his space and started yelling, "How could you possibly think it was a good idea to stuff this poor, tiny little creature in a box for god knows how long? What kind of cruel monster are you, anyway? You thought it was a good idea to give me something that was living? Is this your idea of a new torture technique? You're just going to take it to the next level, are you? Get me attached to this poor helpless little cutie and then tear it away. Well- well, it's not going to work!"

"It's not?" he asked, looking genuinely baffled for the first time since she met him.

"No!" she shouted, clutching the kitten under her neck.

"And why is that?" he asked, beginning to look a little more cautiously optimistic. Especially now that she'd opened the box and wasn't outright rejecting his gift.

"Because I refuse to fall for your sadistic tricks," she snapped. "You can just- just go away. We don't want you in our dungeon right now."

His lip twitched and he gave her a brief nod. "I will leave for now, Jaya. But I am coming back and I expect a friendlier reception."

He turned and walked away, leaving her alone with her small shivering bundle. Before he reached the door, she called out to him. "Ivan."

He half turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Jaya?"

"We will require a litter box, a supply of fresh litter and kitten food," she said in a voice that made it clear her terms were non-negotiable.

He nodded. "They'll be sent down with your supper."

She turned her back on him, focusing entirely on her new companion. She barely heard the door bang shut and for once the sound of the lock engaging didn't send a shaft of near-panic straight through her. Jaya set the kitten gently down on the bed and climbed in after it. They studied each other for a moment and when it became clear that she would have to make the first move, Jaya reached out and picked the creature back up, cuddling it against her chest.

She had no idea how old it was, having no experience with animals, but given its size she thought it must be very young. "Did that evil, horrible, villainous human take you away from your home too?" she asked. When the kitten didn't respond, she kissed it and said. "Because he really is the worst, so I believe he's capable of tearing kittens away from their mommies." She glanced down at its wide, frightened eyes and murmured, "I'll be your new mom. At least until we find a way to escape and we can find your real cat mom."

The kitten made a sound. Jaya pulled it away from her neck and held it out so she could examine it. "What was that?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. "You think we should find a way to kill Ivan on our way out of this place? Wow, you are a bloodthirsty little thing."

Its eyes started to close and within seconds it fell asleep in her hands. And just like that, she knew she'd fallen for Ivan's devilishly manipulative plan, whatever it might be; she was in love with his beastly gift. She sighed and tucked it into her lap, running her finger soothingly over the top of its head.

"Alright fine, if you insist, we'll murder him," she murmured with a grin. "But I'm calling you Hatyaara, or Haty for short. If you're going to act like a killer, then we'll give you a killer name."