'Where on earth did you learn all this?' Anana said faintly. 'Especially considering your background and circumstances.'
Kara's responding smile was devoid of humour. 'All that I know my father unwittingly taught me. In the beginning, being alienated naturally caused me to want to find fault with everything my father and his friends said and did and believed. But over time I discovered that my purely reactionary scepticism had inadvertantly led me to the truth. And realising the truth made me something my mother was not- absolutely resolute and inflexible. Which is why my father was faced with but two choices where I was concerned- imprisonment or death.'
'But why couldn't he keep on just ignoring you? Why couldn't he simply let you go out of his life?'
Kara made a face. 'Surely you've come across men who can't abide the notion of a woman having thoughts of her own? And who won't accept a woman in anything but a subservient rôle? And who believe they have the right to put any and all women in their place by whatever means they deem appropriate? Anana, I've seen widows forced to marry unwanted suitors who, aided and abetted by the law, usurped their deceased husband's assets, as well as their own lives and bodies. My father views me as property and thinks me no better than a rabid dog. And because I am his progeny, and therefore a reflection on him as a man, he has decided that I need to be dealt with at all costs.'
'But if that is true,' Anana asked her, 'what will it take to stop him?'
Kara let out a long stream of air, puffing out her cheeks. 'No war ever defeated an ideology. The only way an ideology can end is if it has outlived its usefulness.' She shrugged. 'My father's ideology serves him well, so there's no hope there.'
'There must be if Roman intends to confront him,' Anana protested.
'I'm not sure that is Roman's intent,' Kara said thoughtfully. 'In fact, I'm not sure what he's up to. He's very closed on the subject. He's also remarkably calm where the matter of my father is concerned, so I know something's up.'
Anana's eyes widened. 'Then you haven't heard?'
Kara looked a question.
'Roman, your husband, intends to publicly challenge your father to a duel!'