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Awas an easyleft, which really didn’t matter since Garth wouldn’t need Craft to snap hiht without it

Jared dodged, slipped, tried to scrarabbed the back of Jared’s coat and set hih toout his huge, clenched hand

Sing hard, Jared held out his hand He shuddered with revulsion as the brass button Garth had been holding dropped into his palm The button had the sah Jared All this over abutton ?

He looked up just in tiht for Garth’s back "NO!"

Garth spun around, knocking the knife aith his forearm

Randolf looked shocked

Jared stared at Garth and wondered what the man had been before he’d ended up on the auction block at Raej

Cold fury filled Garth’s face as he walked over to where the knife lay in the road He stepped on the blade, grabbed the hilt, and snapped the knife in half Returning to Jared, he pointed at Jared’s hand Sweat ran down his face and his hand shook as if he were fiercely struggling against solitter faded fro, familiar look

"It’s a button Garth"

Garth made a frustrated sound

Jared waited, but he could see Garth was losing the inner battle

Garth raised his aresture of defeat Shaking his head, he walked away

Randolf didn’t move until Garth ell past him Then he turned on Jared "Now do you understand why I don’t like hi a handful of phleg with disgust, Randolf walked over to Jared, plucked the button out of his hand, and tossed it into the bushes beside the road

Jared rubbed his hand on his trousers

Randolf bared his teeth "What’s it going to take to convince you that he’s a danger to us?"

"Leave hierous unless he’s pushed He can’t help being broken"

"He’s not just broken, he’stainted "

Jared’s body tightened until it shook To call one of the Blood tainted was a vicious insult, because blood was the connection between the body and the psychic strength So tainted was considered so fouled that his blood would contaminate whatever it was used for That person’s blood couldn’t be given for an offering, couldn’t be used for any Blood cere

"You don’t know that," Jared said, forcing the words out

"And you don’t know he’s not He’s out of sight half of the time, and whenever he’s around the rest of us, he’s alatching"

"He’s ue that so hied as he seeradually drained out of Randolf "It’s your decision, Lord Jared You do what you think is best" He turned and walked away

Jared waited until Randolf was out of sight before he walked over to the knife lying in the road

The blade was broken into small pieces A man’s foot couldn’t break teht, and ed as he seemed to be

Jared raised his hand but stopped before he raked his fingers through his hair His hand still felt slimy, fouled

If someone had created a spell around Garth so that he wouldappear to be ed, in the same way Sadi had created a spell to hide Blaed’s true natureButwhy ?

His snarl echoed the wild stranger’s fiercer one

"Pet" A word slaves despised even ht and snarled again

Pet

Whyhad the Gray Lady excluded the adult ht they wouldn’t be interested, or because she didn’t want them to hear a tale about an escape to a land where the Blood still lived with honor?

Pet