Rachael dropped the knife and put distance between them, going to the door and staring out into the darkness. She didn’t trust herself or her over-the-top fury with this man who had presumed to judge Rio so harshly. She would like the old man to meet her uncle, to show him what true evil was.

Rachael took a deep calming breath. Her bad temper was beginning to affect the small leopard under the bed. Fritz snarled and showed his teeth, but remained still. She looked down at the forest floor. Somewhere out there Rio ran, flat out, expending every drop of energy he had, risking his life to save the life of the child. And the child’s grandfather had condemned him to a life of banishment.

“You think we take advantage of Rio.” There was no inflection whatsoever in his voice, no anger, no denial. No remorse.

“Of course you take advantage of him. You’re doing it now, aren’t you? You came here knowing he wouldn’t hesitate. Knowing he would risk everything for your grandson. You knew what his nature was when you condemned him, yet you did it anyway. You put the yoke of service around his neck and kept him chained to a society, to a people who used him, but weren’t willing to associate with him or lift a finger to help him. You need him and what he’s able to do, but you don’t want him to taint your perfect society.”

Tears burned in her eyes. She kept her back to him and her fists clenched tightly at her sides while the anger swirled in a black knot in her stomach. “He was injured often, I’ve seen the scars. He must have been so alone and depressed at times. You left him to live always feeling ashamed and not good enough no matter what he did. And all the time you knew what he was on the inside. You knew his true nature.”

Fritz emerged from under the bed and rubbed along her leg, wrapping his tail around her. He glared at the elder, hissed and spit before slipping out into the night. Rachael caught a glimpse of Franz waiting in the shadows of the canopy.

“Yes I did know him,” Delgrotto admitted.

She could hear the sounds of him dumping vegetables into the broth, but she didn’t turn around, disgusted that she was in the same house with him. “Power is a strange thing. It seems so innocent on the surface, yet it twists and corrupts until the user is no longer anything but a weapon.” There was a lash of contempt in her voice.

“It does seem so when viewed from a distance,” Delgrotto said mildly. “Yet just as you observed, turn the view slightly and you see something else. Rio stood before the entire village. Not just the council. He was young and strong and filled with power. He was covered in the blood of the man whose life he took.”