Renegade Heart Read Free

around his ankles. Both of them panted and groaned as the Orphan Master thrust back and forth.
    Suddenly, Fadiosa spied Wolf in the doorway and screamed, wriggling out from beneath the Orphan Master just as he climaxed. His seed spilled onto the polished surface of the desk and he stared at it in horror, not yet realising they had been seen.
    “The boy!” Fadiosa shrieked and the Orphan Master turned, grappling for his breeches in blind panic.
    Too late, Wolf realised he had witnessed something he should not have done, but before he had the chance to turn and run, Fadiosa fell upon him, dragging him into the room by the hair and slamming the door to prevent his escape. The Orphan Master advanced brandishing, not the thin switch he used for the usual thrashings, but his sturdy walking cane.
    For the first time in his short life, Wolf felt truly afraid. Fadiosa’s nails gouged his scalp and the Orphan Master had a maniacal gleam in his eyes. Without waiting to bend the boy over the stool, the Orphan Master swung the cane. It struck Wolf across the face, splitting open his cheek and knocking him senseless. Fadiosa released her grip and he fell to his knees, the next blow landing across his shoulders and sending him sprawling on the floor. Instinctively, Wolf curled into a ball, his arms raised to shield his heads from the blows that rained down on him. Relentlessly, the Orphan Master hit out, not caring what part of the boy’s body he struck with his heavy cane. Where she could, Fadiosa was quick to step in with a sharp kick to any part she found exposed.
    Mercifully for Wolf, her foot found an unprotected part of his head and rendered him unconscious. The Orphan Master dropped his cane to the floor and pushed Fadiosa away before she could cause further damage. Appalled at the harm they had already done, he ordered Fadiosa to run and fetch Valistra. Sweating profusely, he lowered himself into the chair behind his desk and endeavoured to steady his racing heart. Valistra, he knew, had a special affection for the little firebrand and would not be pleased when she discovered how badly they had beaten him.
    Moments later, Valistra burst into the room, bewildered by the garbled story Fadiosa had given her. She took in the scene, the heavy cane lying on the floor beside the boy’s bruised and bloodied body, the flushed guilty faces of the Orphan Master and her apprentice and the stained desk. There was a smell of sex lingering in the air, and her jaw tightened with anger as she stooped to gather Wolf in her arms.
    “You are never to touch this boy again,” she said.
    Unaccustomed at being dictated to, the Orphan Master opened his mouth to object and then closed it again, wisely noting the steely glint in her eyes.
    “And take your slut away with you. If she is still here by lunchtime, I will have her sent to the whore house.”
    She stalked from the room with Wolf in her arms, desperately afraid he would die before the Healers could reach him. A thought occurred as she laid him on the bed in the sick room. The best medicine for the boy was his friendship with Enola. Valistra turned and raced to the classrooms to fetch the girl from her lessons.

For fourteen days, Enola sat at Wolf’s bedside, leaving him only when the call of nature forced her to. She took her meals in the infirmary, although she ate very little, and slept on a spare mattress on the floor beside his bed. The Healers came each day to tend his injuries and learned to work around the girl. On the whole, they found her to be most helpful, with a tenderness rare in one so young. On the fifteenth day, Wolf finally opened his eyes to find Enola dozing, one arm folded beneath her head.
    He reached out and gently shook her awake. The smile that spread across her face when she saw he was conscious filled him inside with a curious sense of warmth.
    “What happened?” he asked and his voice came out a dry, painful croak.
    Enola helped him sit up enough to be able to