Page 39 of The Piper's Pursuit

Hennek, one of his creepy smiles plastered on his face, replied, “When your father learns you were mauled by the Beast of Hamlin while hunting for it, he will have nothing to blame me for.”

“And how do you plan to make it look like I was mauled by an animal?”

“You will be mauled by the beast, because I control it.”

“You control the Beast of Hamlin?”

“It was a brilliant plan. About three years ago I had my men capture a wolf cub, only they ended up capturing two. We kept them in a cage in the woods and fed them the best fresh meat, as much as they could eat. They grew so big and tall and fat that by the time they were full grown, there couldn’t have been another wolf in the Holy Roman Empire as big as they were. We also beat them to make sure they hated men, and they stayed fit and strong by wrestling each other in their cage. I had a man train them to come when called. When I was ready to start my mining business, we stopped feeding them until they became ravenous. Then whenever anyone came near the mine entrance, we set the beasts loose and let them do what wolves do—hunt. And kill.”

“It was a clever plan,” Steffan said, as if he were speaking of a plan to build a new stable.

“And it worked. People stopped coming to this hill, so there was little reason to fear that anyone would discover our mine. And when we were ready for workers to extract the silver, it was the perfect cover for the children’s disappearance.”

Katerina marveled at how calm Steffan kept his tone. If not for his tranquil manner, she might have started screaming at this man who had destroyed so many lives.

“And how do you justify that?” Katerina couldn’t keep the fury from her voice. “Stealing innocent children.”

“They were mostly orphans, from the lower classes. No one missed them, and it gave them something productive to do with themselves.”

“That is a horrible thing to say. And less than half the children were orphans.”

“They were foolish, and they made it so easy. And there is no shortage of children in Hamlin, after all. I did their parents a service by giving them one less mouth to feed.”

“You are despicable.” Katerina’s stomach twisted at the man’s cruelty and lack of remorse. “No wonder you could pretend to be so generous. You were using children to work your mines, slaves you wouldn’t have to pay. Why did you not kidnap adults? Undoubtedly they would be better workers and could make a larger profit for you.”

“Adults might escape or fight back. The children were too small and afraid.”

“Bridda escaped.”

“Ah, yes. Little Bridda. She must have slipped away when the guards were sleeping. We are not certain. But that’s another reason children are better than adults. They are easily threatened. I told them that should any of them escape and tell their parents where they’d been, I’d kill their whole family.”

“Could you not make enough money for your greedy black soul by paying workers?”

“Greedy? I give away so much money the people have begun to call me ‘the Benevolent Bürgermeister.’”

“Oh, I know why you don’t hire workers.” The breath went out of her at the realization. “It’s because the land where the mine is... It doesn’t belong to you, does it?”

“And I suppose you think the mine and all the silver inside it should belong to the Duke of Hagenheim?”

“Yes, because the land does belong to him.” Katerina glanced at Steffan, but he said nothing.

“Would the duke do as much for Hamlin as I have?”

“Do you mean making mothers fearful that their children will be carried away and eaten by a beast, so fearful they don’t let them go outside their homes to play and never let them out of their sight?”

“Your hatred of me knows no bounds, does it? You are a selfish, ungrateful girl and you always were, trying to turn my own wife against me. Marriage is a sacred covenant. God will avenge me.”

“You are evil,” Katerina spat out.

Hennek looked at her coldly. “You are ungrateful and contentious, a selfish daughter who has the spirit of rebellion.”

“Accusing your stepdaughter does not excuse you, Hennek,” Steffan spoke up. “But truly, the fact that you do not think you have done anything wrong... it defies reason and logic.”

“The privileged son of a duke,” Hennek spat. “You know nothing. You are too enamored by this girl’s outward beauty to think for yourself. You should have gone back to Hagenheim when you were able. And now I must go and leave you both to your fate. You brought this on yourselves by stealing my property.” Hennek pointed his finger at them. “You brought this on yourselves.” Then he turned to his guards and muttered, “You know what to do.”

Before he even finished speaking, he was hurrying away down the hill, back toward Hamlin.

Coward.