The lie shot Ruthivan's mind to the breaking point right then and there. But there was more - oh so much more. The hole went deeper still. She lied about going to see her mongrel children, lied about seeing that man who had taken her pure esper heritage from her. He forced her beneath him and conquered her. He then forbade her to see those other species she called children and exclusively forbade her to see Gilean. Then she said no.
Ruthivan grabbed Claire by the arm, his grip causing her to wince. She was his to command. His to control. He could only imagine Gilean had given her some sort of spine to stand up against what he wanted from her. He'd have to tear it out of her. When she started saying that she didn't love him, wanted to leave him, wanted to break their bond- Ruthivan saw red. No more so than when she'd admitted she'd rid her body of having children. She didn't want more children -with him.-
"Thank you for telling me," Ruthivan said, touching her stomach. "We'll get that fixed."
"You can't fix it," she'd said.
"We are creatures of magic. We can fix -anything.-" And disgust crept onto her face.
Ruthivan hadn't used his drugs in a long time. That was what made him special - he was his own chemist. Before, he'd helped espers escape by having concoctions that, when poured, would knock a man flat on his back at twelve paces. His most recent uses were to knock Claire on her back and force the bond upon her. Once he'd broken her, he'd had no need to do that. This, however, caused him to pull a vial from his bedside table. Before she even knew, she was half-intoxicated from inhaling his potion.
"Another thing," he said, half to himself. "That half-breed and his mother living behind us are in too close of proximity. They're leaving." He didn't care that it was his son, Askari living there too. The boy was dead to him. Claire looked up at him with hazy eyes. "But Gilean, they're our kids," and she passed out. Ruthivan flew into a silent rage.
