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His mother His mother had escaped, was here, was deterht back

Growling fro the knife and the arm that held it A fenized Not his entle hands suddenly replaced by strong calloused ones, applying more pressure to push him down

"He didn’t mean to hurt me," the wo to him? Or was someone else in the room?

Of course someone else was in the rooed to a ainst Nicola

Koldo fought against the one keeping hiers wrapped around hard steel bands--arth There was a crash, a cloud of plaster in the air

"Easy now," a nized Not his father But it wasn’t Nicola, so he didn’t care Koldo wanted to get to her, and would do anything to succeed He punched and punched and punched, until finally theback But Koldo quickly got hold of so soft--feathers--and ripped

A howl rent the air

A soft weight landed on Koldo He reached up to dislodge it, but caught Nicola’s sweet scent

"Cal over his jawline "You have to calht?"

"Safe?"

"You’re safe I’ her, he relaxed against the mattress, wound his ar the scent of cinnamon and vanilla

"I have a bald patch now," one of the males said Axel "Do you kno bad that sucks?"

"I have a broken spine," the other growled Malcolain, but at least you look pretty"

"You think I’ut"

Footsteps Two sets, receding from the room Malcolm must not have lost the ability to walk, after all

"Stay," Koldo said to Nicola

"I will," she whispered "Rest now"

Unable to deny her anything, he sank back into the darkness

SHARDS OF LIGHT penetrated his consciousness Koldo was glad, even though the light was accompanied by pain He was used to pain But the moment he worked his way to full consciousness, where Nicola’s voice soothed and delighted, he was tugged back into the waiting darkness

How ain, lifting hi her?" Nicola asked

"Positive," Axel replied

"But he doesn’t lie"

"He wasn’t lying"

"Argh! How can that be?"

"Ask hiht

"--and all of these Sent Ones have been showing up to check on you I’ve been cooking for the better" A soft chuckle caressed his ears "There’s never a crumb left, and I"

The volume was cranked down before she could finish, the darkness returning

No! No, he wanted to hear her wordseverything she had to say

The next ti the s about you You used to have hair, but then, one day, fairly recently, in fact, you didn’t You used to not talk very nus said the words had to be yanked out of you with pliers, but now you talk more than is wise Their words, notfor bras and panties I’ritted his teeth and, with an internal roar, tore the rope binding him to all that darkness

His eyelids flipped open