Time. That's all he needed. Velentham had subdued Sanria's mind, now all he needed was time with her to go into her mind and bend it to what he wanted. He had tried to do things the right way, but all of that had fallen apart. Now, he would influence her until so much time had passed that what he placed into her brain would be her reality, and that meant she would be with him forever. He just hadn't counted on the little boy being the thorn in his side that he was turning out to be.
"Papa, papa... don't let him take Mama and Leendra. I don't want him in our house." Orn had found his way into Colin's arms, and Velentham was pissed.
"That's enough, Orn."
"Papa? I'm your... You think I'm your Papa?"
"Yes. Yes Papa. I don't want him to be my Papa."
Try as he might, Velentham couldn't manage to keep Sanria's mind in as much of a fog and work on the boy's mind. "He's confused. That was part of our disagreement, you see. He fell down and hit his head, my wife let him outside without supervision."
"You know, you've been doing a lot of talking here buddy."
"That's because this is my family, friend," Velentham tried to walk over to put his hands on Orn. If he could just send some of his radiance into the child, he might be able to silence the boy. Colin pulled him away.
"How about you let the lady and kid talk for themselves, ok? And maybe you should keep your hands to yourself for a little bit," Colin said.
"How about you put my son down," Velentham replied, growing irate.
"Do you want me to put you down," Colin asked the boy, and Orn shook his head and buried it in Colin's neck.
Velentham had had enough. He turned and walked into the house, leaving Colin and Orn ouside with the parting words, "If you want the boy you can take him." Within the house he found Sanria and walked over to her, still holding Leandra in his arms. He had time enough to put a hand on her shoulder and begin the process of turning her mind before Colin burst in the door. The man was fast becoming a nuisance. "Can we help you?"
"I don't think you're helping anyone here. Now why don't you just step away from the lady."
"I'm... I'm fine," Sanria replied.
"I'm sorry, but you don't look too fine. Why were you crying out there?"
"I... don't really remember. I must have just been sad."
Then the little voice, the voice that was Velentham's bane. "Papa, help mama. Make the tall man go away. Please. I don't like the tall man."
