City of Clearwater, The Blackthorn Family Estate.

Lord Hendrik Montgomery Percival Blackthorn was in his study in a foul mood.

Since the boy had escaped with a maid and Marran had returned with news of their deaths, he had been faced with yet another problem.

Without the boy he would lose his access to the estate funds and possibly even the estate itself, but that was only if the boys absence was reported to the authorities.

Lord Hendrik would not lose what should be rightfully his.

That little shit could rot in his grave for all he cared, but he had needed to come up with something until what should have been the boy's seventeenth year.

The boy would then have been able to legally pass over his inheritance if he had reached that age and then Lord Hendrik would have what should have been his from the start.

Even in death that little bastard was nothing but a problem for him.

What galled Lord Hendrik the most wasn't the inconvenience of having to send out his men for a replacement boy.

No, that had been a simple thing.

They had taken some common street rat that looked as close to the boy as they could manage, one that no one cared about and brought him back here.

What truly vexed him was that the boy had had the nerve to attempt to thwart him, as if the boy actually believed that he had a right to keep what should have belonged to Lord Hendrik himself.

Lord Hendrik had thought the boy more cowed than he was, he had taken steps to ensure the boy had no fight left in him.

It was years of careful work that the boy had ruined and for what?

Out of some delusional sense of defiance?

No, as evidenced by the fact the little bastard was now a corpse, no one should be foolish enough to cross Lord Hendrik, not even that boy.

The boy had clearly wanted to try to steal away everything for himself and he had paid the price for it.

That would not happen again.

This time he would be even harder in his cowing of this rat, things he had thought unnecessary with the boy would be used on the rat.

The replacement boy was even now undergoing some pre-emptive disciplinary actions.

The common street filth would know his place and be taught the least of what could happen to him if he even thought about disobeying his betters.

The rat would take on the role of the boy, with the use of a little magic he had already arranged for, the rat would look and sound just like the boy.

When the time came, the 'boy' would hand over control of 'his' inheritance legally and the rat could be disposed of.

This rat would have no thoughts of disobeying Lord Hendrik.

A smirk played across his face as he could still faintly make out the street rats sobs from a different part of the estate.

Lord Hendrik's men, on his orders and under the direction of Marran were having fun with the boy.

Lord Hendrik remembered earlier when he had paused outside the room to watch for a while, the men had had the rat pinned down while one of the guards had mounted the filthy urchin from behind.

The boy had, unsurprisingly, been sobbing as this guard was taking his turn, by the guard's expression, he was thoroughly enjoying himself as he sank himself into the street rat's depths.

The common filth were weak.

Feeling slightly better at these thoughts but with a tightness in his pants, he sent out a maid to fetch one of the new stock.

He would take his own pleasure from whichever girl they brought for him.

Picking up his glass, he finished off the contents, refilled the glass once more and began to unbuckle his belt.

After all the problems he had faced lately, he deserved to indulge himself.

If the girl they brought didn't last long enough for him, he could always have the maid fetch another.