He had asked me a question, and yet he did not wish to hear the answer I gave. It was as though my words fell on deaf ears, for he refused to acknowledge the transgressions he had made against me. Twice now I had spoken of his capacity to come to Diveen and call for a party without a second thought for me - who at the time had been his Queen a matter of hours earlier - and he all but ignored my words. I shook my head as he steeled himself against me once more, that barely perceptible softness to his gaze disappearing as quickly as it had manifested. He was willing to point fingers and lay blame against me, but he would not acknowledge his own wrong doings. If that was the way it was to be, then so be it. There was nothing more I could say or do to convey my side of things. Perhaps Tithe felt that he was trying to open the door of communication between us, but it felt to me as if he simply wanted to throw how I had hurt him in my face without accepting how he had betrayed me.

Stoically, he thanked me for helping to save his son. I nodded my head with equal soberness, feeling that any words I spoke would not be heard by him - he had proven as much already. He heard only what he wanted to hear, and nothing more. The wolf who I had trusted as Warden of Spirane no longer existed - perhaps he never had. Perhaps there was only the beast who had shown his true face in the light of battle. I could not be certain; the only thing that was certain in these moments was that there was no room in Tithe's heart or mind to allow a chance to repair things. And maybe there was not in mine either. The wounds were too deep, too close to the heart, for either of us to entirely forgive, it seemed.

Tithe and the child took their leave of the island, moving across the still smoking fields to whatever destination they had been waylaid from by the wildfire. But I remained, stepping away from the spot where we had spoken and lowering my body to rest in the cool soil of the unmarred island. My life had shaped and changed me in many ways, ways that others would never see or understand - especially if they were not willing to open their eyes and look. My parents had been killed by a usurper, creating a blood feud deep within me that bade I did whatever it took to keep Spirane as a safe haven for my pack. I had fought time and again to defend what was mine, and each battle had changed me. Skully had revealed an inner strength in me. Covet had shown me what delusions of grandeur could do to a wolf, checking my own pride. Roman had taught me what defeat felt like, and how to rise above it and remain unbroken. And Tithe had taught me that in time, all wolves would show their true colors.