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Malthus' child shifted restlessly in Kandaishee's belly. She paused with her
hand on another tomato, released it, and pressed her fingers to her stomach.
Kandaishee was trying very hard not to hate the child she carried.
Her five-year-old son, Gilzean, squatted in front of her.
"He's kicking, Mama."
Kandaishee's throat tightened and she fought to keep the bitterness out of her
voice so that she did not upset Gilzean.
"Yes, your little brother is kicking."
Malthus had been in Wolffgard Village for seven months, and he had been here
less than a week before he raped all
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five of the sa'necari women who had taken refugee here, binding their minds so
that they could not reveal what he was and what he had done. Four of them had
become pregnant by him, just as Clodagh was. His potency was unnatural for a
sa'necari his age, and Kandaishee suspected that was because of something his
bio-alchemist mother, Sidera
Tyrins, had discovered and given him. Sa'necari were usually infertile by
thirty. Malthus would be thirty-seven in two months.
Kandaishee returned to gathering tomatoes into her basket. The bright sun
beamed down on her face. Malthus had made her a slut to the wolves by placing
coercions and compulsions in her brain, just as he had the others.
"Kandaishee!"
She looked up at the sound of her name and her heart quailed. She sucked in
too much air and felt dizzy. "Malthus."
The rest of the women in the garden glanced away from her, ignoring the scene.
Kandaishee knew why they did it: he had taken the minds of every female in the
camp. If they felt anything for her, it was pity and relief that he had
singled her out and not them this time.
He leered at her. "Come to your house with me. I want to talk to you."
"Gilzean, stay outside and play until I come for you."
"Yes, Mama."
He skipped off, heading for the other children farther in the garden. As
always, Kandaishee saw so much of his dead father in him that it brought tears
to her eyes. Sa'necari had murdered her beloved Domhnall simply because they
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objected to a lycan having married a sa'necari woman a hideous double standard
in Kandaishee's opinion. Her wrists itched under the spellcord with their
silver seals. She rubbed around the cords carefully, not wanting to set off
the seals that would kill her for tampering with them. The cords cut her off
from her powers, but it had always seemed like a small price to pay for the
safety of her lycan child until Malthus got here and she found herself unable
to protect either her child or herself.
Not that she could have any way. Malthus was too powerful for her; even had
she had access to her powers.
She gave her basket to one of the women working close to her and followed him
into her longhouse. It had a dirt floor with a firepit in the center, and a
room at either end, partitioned off by curtained half walls with a doorway and
window facing into the interior. A small crude table sat to the right side
near her bedroom.
"Sit down," Malthus indicated a chair.
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Kandaishee tried to contain her trembling as she obeyed.
Malthus untied the sash on her lycan style robe and ran his hands over her
bare stomach. "I wanted to feel my son moving in your belly before I send you
away."
"Send me away?" Kandaishee's voice caught.
"I'm sending you to my manor at Carrion Crevasse. My mother will take care of
you."
"What about Gilzean?"
"He'll be fine. You'll take him with you."
"I don't want him hurt. Please." Fear had her by the throat.
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Malthus laughed and put his hands on her temples, lunging into her mind. It
hurt and Kandaishee whimpered as he tightened his compulsions. Suddenly she
realized what he was doing and a sob broke from her lips. "Domhnall! Domhnall,
no."
The memories of her dead husband faded through the desperately clutching
fingers of her mind and vanished.
Malthus gave the arcane needles another thrust into her awareness and
knowledge, stitching his spells through her and knotting them tightly.
Kandaishee's body relaxed. She hurt, yet an unexpected warmth and joy spread
through her. "I'm so happy about our son. Your mother must be a lovely
person."
"She is. She'll see that you're comfortable, and after the child is born,
she'll teach you to be a proper concubine."
"What about the others?"
"I will send them to join you soon."
* * * *
Malthus nodded to Preece as he passed him on his way back to the manor. Preece
acknowledged the nod with a self-
satisfied smile. They were getting closer to discovering
Patton's secrets, and all the clues seemed to imply a connection to the
lawgiver, although they had not yet caught them together. If there was a link,
then the Lycamornots would kill both myn on the same night.
Satisfaction warmed Malthus' core. He had the gang primed to attack, and he
had finished up the last of the compulsions and coercions in Kandaishee.
Malthus intended
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to do the rest of them over the next few nights at least the ones that needed
doing. Rewiring a mind like Kandaishee's took time and care so as not to
damage her psyche in the wrong ways. Lycans also took time because he did not
want any of their people noticing too sudden a change in their personalities.
Beth's mind had frayed away to nothing because Malthus had needed to work too
quickly on it: there had been almost nothing of Beth left by the time that
Egidius had rited her.
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