IMOGEN'S POV
I looked down at her hand on my arm, then back at her face. "I am not gloating. I almost pity you."
"What about you?" She scoffed. "You had his son. His rape baby. You still want him even now."
"You're the reason my marriage is failing."
I shook my head slowly. "What am I supposed to do? Let him take away my boy? Let him erase the only good thing that came from all that pain?"
I was lying of course. It was a breath of fresh air that Joseph was not a product of Elijah's rape. But she did not know that. Neither did Elijah. It was one of the sharpest blade I had and I knew to strike it deep at every opportunity.
"You disappeared once. You could have been happy somewhere else. You could have left us alone."
I reached across the table and caught both her wrists, holding them firmly but not roughly. The way you might hold someone who was drowning.
"Your father killed my parents," I said quietly. "You deserve peace and I don't?"
