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was unoccupied, after all, and he made himself popular in the village. Maria’s mother came each day to cook and clean for him, until she fell and hurt her leg and the doctor said she must rest.’ He paused. ‘So Maria took over her duties. Her family did not wish it. A marriage had been arranged for her with the son of the headman of the next village, and Maria should have been occupied in learning from her mother how to be a good wife. Already her groom’s family had been displeased because she had worked for a while in Chania, and had demanded more dowry.’ His eyes were like obsidian, dark and menacing. ‘They were right to question. Maria had taken your brother as her lover in Chania, and he had persuaded her to bring him here so they could continue the affair in secret.’ He shrugged. ‘Who knows—perhaps she thought this Michalis would marry her. She knows better now. He has gone, and her bridegroom and his family have repudiated her. She is ruined, and the honour of her family and her village is tainted.’
    ‘But you don’t believe that, surely?’ Gemma appealed. ‘You’re a man of the world—you know how things are.’
    He said quietly, ‘Perhaps, but the people of this village do not. My father was born in this house. He and Stavros were friends, and he was godfather to all his children—Maria too. My father is dead now, and I am head of my family, so in his trouble, Stavros and his kin look to me.’
    ‘But I don’t understand what you can do,’ Gemma protested. ‘I’m sure it’s a terrible thing for them all, but you haven’t heard Michael’s side yet.’
    ‘No,’ he said. ‘Because as soon as Maria told him there was to be a child, he ran away. He knew, your brother, what Stavros and his sons would do to him if they caught him. But they still seek vengeance.’ He paused again. ‘And that is why, sister of Michalis, you are here.’
    ‘But I can’t do anything.’ She spread her hands in appeal. ‘If the baby is Michael’s, then I’m sure my family will help in some way—with money, of course, or helping Maria make a fresh start where things aren’t quite so—rigid.’
    ‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘Whatever her fault, Maria is our own, and will be protected by us. Yes, you will pay, my girl, for what your brother has done, but not in cash. You will pay in kind— in shame, and your family’s shame. You will stay here and work in this house as my servant, as Maria worked for your brother, and I shall take you as and when I please, as he took her.’
    His voice deepened, driving the bitter words like sharp nails into her bewildered mind. ‘This is my revenge, thespinis , for your brother—for your family—to know what it is like to have a beloved child despoiled, taken for pleasure by a man who has no intention of marriage. Perhaps in turn they will also suffer the knowledge that she too carries a child of an alien race in her body.’

Chapter Three
    SHE stood very still. There was silence in the room, and he seemed suddenly to have receded to a great distance. She wondered detachedly whether she might be going to faint. She hoped she might die. She hoped anything might happen to her except the kind of horror he was threatening.
    Stay calm, she adjured herself frantically. Keep talking—reason with him—don’t let him see you’re on your knees, because there has to be a way out of this.
    She said in a voice she barely recognised as her own, ‘I think I’ve heard enough. I don’t know whether this whole thing is meant to be some kind of ghastly joke, kyrie , but if so it’s in the poorest taste.’ She paused. ‘And if you wanted to scare me and upset me, then you’ve succeeded. But that’s as far as it goes. If Mike has really caused all this havoc, then he must sort it out for himself. I sympathise, but I’m not getting involved, and I’m certainly not staying in this house on any terms whatsoever.’
    ‘Bravely spoken,’ he approved sardonically.