Shadow Mountain and i need you now

As though the cuts along his muzzle and face didn't hurt enough, Desna's anger was like a whip lash in the face. If whatever Sheogorath had planned would have worked, maybe it would have been worth it. Maybe he could have come to terms with what he had done. Cicero felt the urge to flee and leave her be, for she obviously did not want to come with anyway.

Even though the last thing he wanted was for Desna to know of his secret, his emotions made him reply to correct a wrongdoing. "Cicero did not lie to you. Sheogorath did." Cicero felt a burning anger -- one rare to Cicero -- as he thought of the beast, but he also knew that his anger only fed Sheogorath. He was not angry at Desna, though. Only at Sheogorath, and moreover, at himself, because he knew deep down that he was Sheogorath, and he had dug this grave.

"I'm sorry." It frightened Cicero that he wasn't even sure who was speaking there. There was an earnest frown on his face as he fell in step with Desna and said: "The forest is a bit more southbound. If that is really what Desna wants, Cicero will leave her be. But if Desna is as kind hearted and forgiving as the Scarlett Cicero knew, or wants to accept help extended, then she can follow Cicero to the forest, accompanied by conversation or at a distance. No tricks." He had never intended any tricks, anyway. Cicero looked away then, with an unusually emotional squint of his eyes, and he ushered a soft sigh as he turned into a path across the mountain ridge, turning further south from where Desna was headed to show the way. His gait remained slow, giving her ample time to catch up if she wished to.

He hoped that she would take up on his offer, whether she would follow him from a distance or decide to give him a second chance. Not so much for his own sake, for Cicero put little value in himself or, more specifically, his relations to strangers outside of the pack, but for her own, so that she could find what she was looking for... And have at least one well willing wolf standing guard when she would reach the Dark Brotherhood.