Silvertip Mountain the songs are all the same

once upon a time, merrick had stripped the hide from a screaming rabbit in front of a boy from easthollow.
that same cruelty was refined in asperas. it had become more than mere malevolence and was a rapture and a worship all its own. merrick likened this scene to the ecstasy he found in the moment of realization that death was only moments away, reflected in the pupil of a victim.
she too had a stone.
was it her mother's own?
merrick did not come closer, only watched with a low and adoring mien at all of his child's actions.