Odette took one step back.
“What does that mean?”
Maeruth said nothing.
“No.” Odette’s voice cracked.
“Do not do that.
Do not say something like that and then go quiet.
What does that mean?”
Maeruth picked up her bowl as if the conversation was finished.
“You are not strong enough for the answer.”
Odette wanted to throw the bowl at her head.
She was starting to understand where Rauvan got his terrible habit of not answering questions.
It was from this female.
This old, terrifying, secret-swallowing female.
“Is she alive?” Odette asked.
Maeruth did not answer.
“Who is my father?”
Still nothing.
“Why did she hide me in Thorn Hollow?”
Maeruth looked at her then, and for one second, Odette saw something like pity.
That made her angrier than the silence.
Rauvan finally spoke.
“Mother.”
Maeruth’s eyes moved to him.
He did not ask the question, but Odette could see it on his face.
How many secrets are you keeping?
Maeruth looked away first.
“Take her outside.
She needs food.
Then let the pride see her.”
Odette almost choked on her own anger.
“Let them see me?
Am I some strange root beast you dragged from a hole?”
“In this pride, you are an unknown female with blood that should not still be alive,” Maeruth said.
“That makes you more dangerous than a strange root beast.”
Odette went still.
The anger did not disappear.
It only changed shape.
For a moment, she could not even speak.
Maeruth had said it so calmly, like Odette was no longer a female sitting in front of her, but something the whole pride might have to cut open if her blood became a threat.
Rauvan said nothing.
That made Odette look at him.
He was watching his mother, not her.
His face was cold, but his eyes had sharpened slightly.
He had heard something in Maeruth’s words too.
Something she was still refusing to say.
Odette’s hands curled at her sides.
“So that is all I am now?
Something dangerous you all get to stare at?”
Maeruth looked back at her.
“Until we know what your blood is, yes.”
Odette’s throat tightened.
She hated that answer because it was honest.
She hated it more because Rauvan did not deny it.
For a moment, the shelter felt too small.
Smoke, herbs, bone, and Rauvan’s scent pressed around her until she wanted to claw her way outside just to breathe.
She had escaped Thorn Hollow only to end up in another place where powerful beasts looked at her body, her blood, her scent, and her mother’s secrets like they all had a right to them.
“I am not a thing for your pride to study,” she said.
Rauvan finally looked at her.
“No,” he said.
“You are something the forest has already smelled.”
Odette’s skin went cold.
“That hyena found you before sunrise,” he continued.
“Others will come.
If the pride stares, let them stare.
Staring does not kill.
Being unprepared does.”
Odette hated him for making sense.
When they stepped out of Maeruth’s shelter, everyone stared again.
Odette wanted to scream.
Do they always stare?
The words almost left her mouth.
Then a cub pointed at her hair and whispered something to his mother.
The mother quickly pulled his hand down and lowered her head when Rauvan looked over.
Odette walked faster and nearly bumped into Rauvan when he stopped suddenly.
Her face hit his back.
Again.
Really?
She took one step back immediately.
“Why did you stop?”
Rauvan looked over his shoulder at her.
His eyes moved over her face in that blunt, shameless way again.
“You walk like prey.”
Odette’s eyes widened.
“Excuse me?”
“You keep looking around like something will pounce.”
“Something probably will.”
“Then bare your teeth before it does.”
Odette stared at him.
Was that supposed to be advice?
Her face heated for no reason, which made her even more annoyed.
Rauvan turned and kept walking.
Odette followed, muttering under her breath, “Very helpful.
Wonderful.
Just bare my teeth and everything will be solved.”
His voice came from ahead.
“I can hear you.”
“I know.”
That was a lie.
She had forgotten.
Far from the inner shelter, Vasha had already heard the news.
Rauvan had taken Odette to Maeruth.
Not a healer female.
Not any elder.
Maeruth.
Sira and Myra stood near her beneath a tree with thick red leaves, both careful not to stand too close.
Vasha had blood on her hands from the small forest beast she killed earlier.
She had not even eaten it.
She had only torn it open because killing something made her breathe easier for a little while.
Sira tried first because she was always foolish enough to try first.
“Maybe Maeruth only checked her wounds.”
Vasha looked at her.
Sira’s mouth shut.
Myra spoke more carefully.
“Taking her to Maeruth means the pride will start whispering.”
“They already are,” Vasha said.
Myra lowered her voice.
“Some will think she is being prepared as future mate.”
Vasha’s claws slid out.
The bark beside her split under her hand.
Sira flinched.
Future mate.
Future female.
Future female beside Rauvan.
No.
Vasha would rather rip Odette’s throat out in front of the whole pride and die under Rauvan’s claws than watch that hollow bird take the place she had spent seasons bleeding toward.
Then she saw Pearl.
The little duiker female was pacing near Rauvan’s shelter, wringing her hands and looking around every few breaths.
Waiting for Odette.
Of course.
That soft little thing was only allowed near this place because Odette had dragged her into Rauvan’s attention too.
Vasha’s anger found a softer target.
“Come,” she said.
Sira and Myra followed at once.
Pearl did not see them until they were too close.
She turned and froze.
Vasha grabbed her arm hard enough to bruise.
Pearl’s eyes went wide.
“Listen to me, little duiker,” Vasha hissed, low and venomous.
“If you go near Rauvan’s shelter again without permission, I will break both your horns off and make you eat them.
Do you understand?”
Pearl’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Sira stepped to Pearl’s other side and gave her a sweet smile that did not reach her eyes.
“She asked you a question.”
Myra looked toward the shelter, checking if anyone had seen them.
“Answer quietly.
We do not want trouble, do we?”
Pearl shook her head quickly.
Vasha leaned in closer, voice dripping sweetness.
Her golden eyes were cold and sharp.
“And if your precious Odette wakes up and starts causing trouble… I won’t just let the road swallow her.
I’ll drag her out myself.
I’ll make it slow.
I’ll make sure she knows it was because of you before I’m done.”
Pearl’s eyes filled with tears.
Vasha’s smile widened, enjoying the sight.
She reached out and deliberately pressed her thumb hard into the fresh bruise forming on Pearl’s arm from earlier.
Pearl gasped quietly and whimpered from pain but she did not dare push Vasha away.
“Cry and I’ll give you something worth crying about,” Vasha whispered.
“Now wipe your face and smile like a good little goat before I decide to break one of those pretty little horns.”
Vasha shoved her hard.
It wasn’t just a shove — she put enough force behind it that Pearl’s back hit the root behind her with a painful thud.
Vasha stepped in close again, lowering her voice to something almost gentle.
“Next time I see you near Rauvan’s shelter, I won’t just threaten you.
I’ll make an example out of you in front of everyone.
Do you understand me, Pearl?”
Pearl nodded quickly, eyes wide with fear.
Vasha tilted her head, studying her like she was deciding whether to hurt her more.
“Good.
Now run along before I change my mind.”
Pearl forced a shaky smile because she understood the threat.
If she cried, if she screamed, if she made a scene, Vasha would make it worse.
So Pearl walked away.
Her legs were trembling.
Vasha watched her go, but she did not feel better.
That annoyed her.
She wanted Pearl to cry.
She wanted her to break.
She wanted Odette to come out and see fear already waiting for her.
Instead, Pearl disappeared between the roots.
A short while later, Karesh found Pearl near the side path.
She was pacing again, but not the way she usually did.
Usually Pearl paced because she had too many thoughts and no place to put them.
This time, her steps were small and tight, and she kept touching her arm where finger marks were already darkening.
Karesh stopped.
Karesh’s eyes immediately dropped to the way Pearl kept touching her arm.
When she noticed him and quickly hid it behind her back, his expression darkened.
That was foolish.
He had already seen it.
“What happened?” he asked.