I was turned away from every interview. When I finally found a small private recording den willing to take me, she filed malicious complaints against them.
In the end, all my chronicle-keeping credentials were stripped away. I became a pariah that every wolf in the profession spat upon.
I had no desire to argue with her anymore. In just over half a moon's cycle, I would be completely free.
The Matriarch had promised me that when the time came, she would release the scent-records to prove my innocence. What they thought of me no longer mattered.
I stared at her with an empty expression, let out a long breath, and turned to lie down on the sleeping furs.
"Do as you please. Whatever you want."
She thought I was going to lunge at Dorian Frostclaw the way I used to, claws extended. Her muscles tensed with fear, and she planted herself firmly in front of him as a shield.
But when she saw me simply turn my back and settle onto the bed, all her defensive instincts ground to a halt.
After a long silence, she spoke in a voice thick with disbelief.
"You're... you're not angry?"
My voice came out flat and even.
"Isn't this what you've always wanted? For me to accept him peacefully?"
She relaxed and actually laughed.
"You've finally learned to behave. I knew you weren't truly cold-hearted. I'll make it up to you someday, I promise."
I didn't respond. Even as they left the chamber, I never once looked at her.
Much later, I pressed my hand against my chest where my heart beat steady and unmoved.
So this was what letting go felt like.
Over the following days, she seemed driven by guilt. Every few days she would send gifts to my quarters. When I refused them, she didn't grow frustrated—she simply kept telling me about the wonderful life we would share in the future.
It wasn't until she mentioned the pup's First Moon Feast that her tone turned hesitant.
"Dorian will never be able to publicly claim his own blood-born pup. So I thought... while the little one is still too young to understand, I could let him stand openly as the father during the feast."
"It would give him some closure for his regret. Don't you think?"
My hands didn't pause in their work. I didn't even lift my gaze.
"I told you to do as you please. This pup was never mine. Whatever you choose has nothing to do with me."