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Elisa, no Mal’s voice was thunder in her head, but his veheht as well be off in the Never Never, because he was obviously too far away to stop whatever was going to happen for the next few minutes All they had was her

Jereainst the bars of their cells, snarling, though she couldn’t tell if it was bloodlust stirred by the violence or they were protesting Leonidas’s behavior Mattheas curled in a ball at the back of his cell, ears covered and rocking

"No, stop it Stop it!" Still screa at hi that would give Leonidas a vital second of forewarning She punched open the control to unlock the inner gate, yanked it open, reached down and caught the little girl by the arh she’d done all in one unbroken series of ate just as she sla, thank God He’d irl with hiate, Elisa flung herself backward, Nerida wrapped around her The wedged outer gate gave under the thrust of their coht Nerida clawed her way out of Elisa’s arhost into the woods Her kicking feet hit the swinging gate as she scrae and stop it, the outer gate clanged to a closing position Nerida had locked her in the sates

Of all of them, Nerida was least likely to har her losses there, Elisa rose As long as she kept her back against the outer gate, she was out of Leonidas’s reach And noith her locked in, he had no way of black to let him out of the enclosure entirely Of course, she would have happily opened the gate to get him to release Miah, because Mal would have run him down like a cheetah on a turtle But noasn’t an option

Leonidas howled, realizing it as well Elisa pivoted, jutting her chin at hi, including those that controlled her vocal cords "Now you’re trapped, sa that will save your life is if you let her go, let her go back to her cell and shut herself in"

"The only thingsave her life is youin here He kill me anyway Don’t command vas, the spray of spittle, he was clear enough So was Mal

You tell that bastard letting her go is the difference between a long, slow death or a quick one That’s a promise

Elisa spoke the words, feeling their strength, feeling the heat of aon as before her She didn’t oing through her veins

Leonidas spat, so out of his throat "This is slowdeath Stupid At least Masterlet us kill" The last three words were slurred in his long fangs,human anymore, not that he’d ever made that much of a pretense of it

He held Miah in one arirl had tears on her face, her nose running with blood and phlegs Elisa wondered if she’d been as grotesque after her rape, everything slack and lifeless, eyes dead like that, no dignity orripped open raw Neither victi such a thing, perhaps suggesting so deep and terrible about the her he was coht took precious effort You will not go into that cell

You’re not close enough yet He’ll kill her before you get here

He’ll kill her anyway Elisa--

Just after her rape, when so to her, so her attentive face, dutifully appearing to record the words, a vague,The rest of her went somewhere else, where it was just her, alone with the turhts that came with it

Would Miah let her wash her face, her body? The way Mrs Pritchett and Mrs Rupert had done for her? Their quiet cluckings and silent tears had been a soothing lullaby that had let her stay in a stupor for a while, avoiding the stark reality of what had happened Or, if Mal wouldn’t let her be that close to Miah, would he do it for the girl? She thought he ht not be in any kind of shape to give Miah a bath after this