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Fantin de Belgrume aith a smile on his face

At last, his destiny was clear He felt light and free and very sated, only part of which was due to the warm body that slumbered next to hi that kept hie that Gavin Mal Verne still lived The ht of the er and hatred-but the added knowledge that the evil hter in his possession served to make him near mad with the bloodred fury that seemed to rear in him more oft as of late

An obsessionht of day, abovestairs and away fro power of his laboratory, Fantin could admit that his venom toward Mal Verne was perchance more of a distraction than it should be

Did he indeed allow his need to annihilate Mal Verne sway him from his holy work? Aye, it could be true

Yet, he could not allow the man to keep him from his purpose, and Mal Verne, should he have the chance, would destroy Fantin&039;s life and any opportunity to finish his work &039;Twas self-preservation, Fantin acknowledged as he trailed a finger along the sweeping curve of Retna&039;s spine

As the woainst him in her sleep, Fantin could not help but recall the many times Mal Verne&039;s own Nicola had done the same The woman&039;s body had been sleek and sensual, and she fancied herself in love with Fantin He, in turn, had believed she was the woman God had provided him in the replacement of his dead wife Anne Mayhap not as pure, but worthy to bed with Fantin and becoiven the earthly pleasures of coupling to all humans, and, like his patron, The Whore Saint, Fantin did not deny himself that release

It had been no hardship to avail himself of what Nicola, Lady Mal Verne, offered the first tiive her hislook from the lute over which he labored with suchof beauteous maids and the perfection of the love bestowed upon them by their champions and the wo a carrot

Of course, being ith a gruff, silent, stupid man such as Mal Verne should drive any wo countenance that Fantin possessed, he reflected as his lips shifted in a self-satisfied s him attractive to both women and menat the least, those of whom he wished to have find him attractive, and to follow his way and support his work

Retna opened her eyes, hazy with sleep, and allowed the blanket to shift nearly to her waist, baring herself to hi to his nether regions, and considered whether he shouldher to her fate in the laboratory

&039;Twas a messy fate, but necessary

This was, in fact, his weakness The physical coupling with a woman-any woman-who did not bear the same purity that God had bestowed upon Fantin was the vice that he must battle, the cross he ht He knew he co the flesh of whores and woave their bodies to any man who asked-true whores, or even the ladies of court, such as Nicola Mal Verne She had not been the pure worief

Yet, David had had his Bathsheba, and God still gifted hidom Aye, David&039;d had his punish as the Lord continued to show him the way to the fore any penance that ht be foisted upon him

If Anne had not perished Ah, Anne, his wife, the one woman who possessed untouched innocence and was chosen as he was The one woman worthy of his physical love

Fantin had searched for one to replace her these ten summers past, and had never found one worthy of hi hi him to believe she was innocent and pure

Until he found the woiven if he reht, from his lifefrom this world

Only then-when he found perfection in a woiven his transgressions

Madelyne heard the horrifying crash as the roof groaned and folded into the house where Mal Verne had disappeared She shrieked and ran toward the collapsed building as smoke poured forth Jube, who had shadowed her since she left her cha for Cle her a curt command to stay there, as he approached the rickety structure

She stood there obediently, gnawing on her fist, watching the threeA small crowd of women and children, led by the wo people, clustered behind Madelyne

Jube, followed by Cleh the entrance to the house They disappeared into the s to flicker through the roof, and she clenched her fist tighter, her attention fastened on the building What if all of theure stu a heavy burden, and was followed by twoa body between them Madelyne&039;s heart pushed up into her throat as she ran forward into the circle of heat blasting from the house The first man was Arden, and he pulled his burden well away froed against a nearby tree One quick glance identified the lump as a woman, her skirts

Madelyne saw that she was being attended to before rushing on to meet Clem and Jube, who carried what she feared was Gavin Mal Verne between the, with their heavy burden, to the peri onto the ground