Matthew did remember saying something like that once—long before he’d met Diana. He made an involuntary check on the house. It was a combination of instinct and reflex now, this need to protect his wife. Matthew pushed away Fernando’s earlier warning about his obsessiveness.
“Have you had a chance to delve further into Diana’s DNA?” He had taken the blood samples and cheek swabs last year.
“What do you think I’ve been doing all this while? Crocheting blankets in case you came home with babies and weeping about your absence? And yes, I know as much about the twins as the rest— which is to say not nearly enough.”
Matthew shook his head ruefully. “I’ve missed you, Miriam.”
“Don’t. Because the next time I see you, I’m going to bite you so hard you’ll have the scar for years.” Miriam’s voice shook. “You should have killed Benjamin long ago. You knew he was a monster.”
“Even monsters can change,” Matthew said softly. “Look at me.”
“You were never a monster,” she said. “That was a lie you told to keep the rest of us away.”
Matthew disagreed, but he let the matter drop. “So what did you learn about Diana?”
“I learned that what we think we know about your wife is minuscule compared to what we don’t know. Her nuclear DNA is like a labyrinth: If you go wandering in it, you’re likely to get lost,” Miriam said, referring to Diana’s unique genetic fingerprint. “And her mtDNA is equally perplexing.
“Let’s put aside the mtDNA for the moment. All that will tell us is what Diana has in common with her female ancestors.” Matthew would get back to Diana’s mitochondrial DNA later. “I want to understand what makes her unique.”
“What’s worrying you?” Miriam knew Matthew well enough to hear what he wasn’t saying.
“Her ability to conceive my children, for a start.” Matthew drew a deep breath. “And Diana picked up a sort of dragon while she was in the sixteenth century. Corra is a firedrake. And her familiar.”
“Familiar? I thought that business about witches and familiars was a human myth. No wonder her transmogrification gene is so strange,” Miriam muttered. “A firedrake. Just what we need. Wait a minute. Is it on a leash or something? Can we get a blood sample?”
“Perhaps,” Matthew said dubiously. “I’m not sure Corra would cooperate for a cheek swab, though.”
“I wonder if she and Diana are genetically related. . . .” Miriam trailed off, intrigued by the possibilities.
“Have you found anything in Diana’s witch chromosome that leads you to believe it controls fertility?” Matthew asked.
“That’s an entirely new request, and you know that scientists usually don’t find anything unless they’re looking for it,” Miriam said tartly. “Give me a few days, and I’ll see what I can uncover. There are so many unidentified genes in Diana’s witch chromosome that some days I wonder if she is a witch.”
Miriam laughed.
Matthew remained silent. He couldn’t very well tell her that Diana was a weaver when not even Sarah knew.
“You’re keeping something from me,” Miriam said, a note of accusation in her voice.
“Send me a report on whatever else you’ve managed to identify,” he said. “We’ll discuss it more in a few days. Take a look at my DNA profile, too. Focus on whatever genes we haven’t identified yet, especially if they’re near the blood-rage gene. See if anything strikes you.”
“Ooo-kay,” Miriam said deliberately. “You have a secure Internet connection, right?”
“As secure as Baldwin’s money can buy.”