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Nikko never had a chance."
"So what do we do?" Ramsey's feet shifted into a sturdy stance and his hands
went to his knives.
"We get our horses first. Which of you has the best nose?"
Finn pointed at Ramsey.
* * * *
Merissa sat with Nikko's mother at the small table in the kitchen where Granta
and Nikko had sat so often together.
Her ginger hair veiled her lowered face, and her long fingers drew idle
patterns on the surface. She and Nikko's sisters had
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been taking turns sitting with Granta. Moss climbed into
Merissa's lap, and she patted the dog without looking at him.
"Can I make you another cup of tea?" Merissa asked.
Granta shook her head, her shoulders drooping, and her white hair disheveled.
"No. I don't want anything. Just my
Nikko. My baby."
Nikko was the youngest of five, a change of life child for
Granta, and her special baby. When Nikko was ten, his father
Maldwyn died of a stroke while overseeing some new houses being built. Nikko
had been at his side at the time, and it affected the boy deeply. Maldwyn's
death, the Reader's said, had been swift and relatively painless, but that was
small comfort.
"I could brush your hair," Merissa suggested, looking at the disheveled white
locks.
"No."
The sun westered toward evening, and most of the riders that Merissa's father
had sent out had returned. All of them had the same thing to say: no one had
seen Nikko.
By nightfall, Granta's hopes had faded, and she launched into periodic bouts
of weeping that Merissa did not know how to handle. Granta's two daughters had
promised to return soon, once they had taken care of their own families. There
would be comfort nesting in Granta's house tonight. Her daughters would not
let her sleep alone while she was this troubled.
"My Nikko is dead. I know it. I feel it in my heart." Granta slapped her hand
over her heart for emphasis. She began to weep again.
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Merissa felt Granta's sorrow. It mirrored her own for
Isranon when she learned the Beast had taken him. "You mustn't give up hope,
Granta."
"I have no hope. He's dead. My little Nikko."
Merissa swallowed. She rose from her chair and hugged
Granta. "Don't give up."
"One of the newcomers killed him. I know it in my heart."
Merissa's heart skipped a beat. There were forty newcomers, counting the
children, but only one that Merissa had fallen in love with. "You can't know
that."
Granta straightened and wiped her eyes. "Yes, I can. He was suspicious of one
of them. Tempest had been also."
"Which one?"
Oh gods, don't let it be Malthus
.
"He did not say the name. That would be a violation of his ethic."
"Then you can't go making accusations, Granta," Merissa admonished.
Granta glared at Merissa. "I can and I will. Nikko kept diaries. I'll find the
name there, I'm certain."
"Oh, Granta, don't tell anyone about the diaries. Give them to my father. If
someone did harm Nikko, they'll steal them and maybe even hurt you."
"It doesn't matter; I've had a long life. I want the murderer caught."
"Then give them to my father."
"I'll think about it."
Granta's two daughters arrived and Merissa gratefully excused herself, almost
fleeing into the yard.
* * * *
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Malthus waited for Merissa in the shadows of a stand of trees growing at the
edge of Granta's property. Every tragedy seemed to make her more vulnerable,
lending her a sweet, defenseless innocence that made his mouth water and his
cock harden. Granta's daughters arrived, and Malthus knew that Merissa would
be leaving soon. He licked his fangs and drew them back into their sheaths.
Soon, soon
, he told himself, fighting an urge to simply drag Merissa off into the bushes
the moment he got his hands on her. The door opened again. Merissa stood
there, briefly illumined by the lamplight, in her tightly laced bodice that
pushed up her fine breasts so that the upper curve of their mounds showed.
Recently, she had begun dressing in a way that showed her charms off. Malthus
suspected that it was for him. He straightened and stepped from the darkness
into the light from the windows.
"Let me walk you home? I don't think you should walk alone."
Merissa stood swaying. Her eyes lifted to his, her lips trembled, and she
rushed into his arms to be held and comforted. "Granta's convinced that
someone from the camp killed Nikko. I couldn't talk her out of it. She thinks
she'll find it in his diaries."
Diaries? The lawgiver was literate.
"I can't imagine anyone from the camp harming the young mon." Malthus felt
Merissa's shivering, inhaled the fragrant aura of her fear and worry. He
kissed her mouth, long and deeply. He clasped her firmly against his body, his
hardening spear begging for
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release. "If there is anything I can do to bring Nikko back, I
will. I'm riding out with Shalto and Oswyl tomorrow as part of the search
party."
"Be careful. I don't want to lose you."
She slipped her hand into his, and they walked slowly back through the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]