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open. The mon howled in pain and spun about, but Cooley had moved with him,
staying behind him. He could almost hear his dead father's voice shouting
 kidneys."
Cooley dodged and kept moving, watching for an opening, muttering sotto voce,
 Kidneys."
A heavy hand closed on Cooley's wrist, lifting him off the ground.
"Now I gotcha."
The blade in Cooley's free hand shifted and he plunged it deep into the arm of
the hand holding him. The mon let go and screamed.  I'll kill ya for that."
The moment that Cooley's feet touched the ground, he darted forward, risking
all. He plunged one knife into the mon's side and the other into his belly.
The mon sank to his knees, clutching his wounds.  Bloody little bastard."
Cooley heard movement behind him and pivoted with his blades ready. Iswara
stood there, blood dripping from his tulwar. The Shivari slashed the wounded
mon's throat, wiped his blade, and sheathed it.
"Why'd you do that?"
"A belly wound is a long painful death."
Iswara shoved the blinded mon against a tree and tied him there. He took his
double-curved kandjarli dagger from his sash, gripped the hilt with its odd
guard, and shredded the mon's shirt and jerkin.
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Cooley's eyes bugged.  What are you doing?"
"Getting answers, my prince. Iswara made a shallow cut across the lycan's
chest. The blinded wolf shrieked and jerked at his bonds.  Thieves you may be,
or agents of the enemy."
Cooley sickened watching Iswara interrogate the mon, but he kept silent
because that seemed best. Gradually Iswara reduced the mon's chest to bloody
ruin.
Iswara stepped back, cleaning his kandjarli, and sheathed it.  Thieves. End
his suffering, young master."
"Muh-me? Cooley gulped.
"It is a lesson to be learned. There is a time for mercy and a time for
cruelty; and knowing the difference can be a matter of life or death ...
yours."
Cooley steeled himself, shoved his knife through the mon's heart. The blind
mon stiffened with a groan.
Iswara placed his hand over Cooley's.  Twist it like this. Stop the organ."
The mon sagged in his bonds. Cooley stared for an instant, and then spun
about, dropping to his knees to vomit in the snow.
Iswara knelt and cradled Cooley.  Killing in cold blood is harder than in hot.
Some can do it, and others cannot."
"Could my dad do it?"
"Yes."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SHAME
Kady pressed her hands across her stomach, feeling Kynyr's child move. The
further into the pregnancy she got, the more restless his son became. Winter
Solstice, the Night of God Return, neared, which put her closer to six months
pregnant than to five. Mary had begun to nag her about putting up decorations
and a Yule log.
"If you want to decorate so badly, Mary, then do so. But please, don't ask me
to help. I've no heart for it. I have nothing to be joyful about."
"Kynyr's alive."
"And every waking moment I worry that he'll do something stupid. He refuses to
let us get him up in the chair that Quinn and Raonul made for him. I take him
books to read, offer to play checkers with him. I try and try and try. All he
wants to do is stare at the ceiling and brood."
"Given time, he'll get over it, Kady. He's still adjusting."
"I hope so. Fergus needs his daddy. Don't you, Fergus? Kady stroked her
belly, with a fond eye and a twist of sorrow.  How bad does it hurt to give
birth, Mary?"
"Feeling nervous?"
"A bit. I remember Leeny screaming with contractions."
"That was Leeny. I never screamed once. Not even with Betrys."
"How is Betrys?"
"She's a Sinclair. She took the rape like a soldier. Her morning sickness is
another matter entirely. Oh, she's handling it. It's Artair I worry about.
Seeing her sick upsets him. He's so worried about her that I swear the mon
will be gray by the time the cub is born."
Kady managed a half-hearted smile, wrapped her wolverine cloak around her
shoulders, and wandered out onto the veranda to watch Trevor overseeing the
destruction of her garden. Kady remembered how she and Kynyr walked there in
the fall, enjoying the autumn glory of the maple trees. The trellised roses
had been dug up and cast aside.
Todd insisted that a possibility of attack existed. Felled trees surrounded
her garden. Lycans climbed about them, hacking off the unneeded branches, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]