Broken Antler Fen baby you've got me sick, i don't know what i did

just realized my timeline is wonky. oh well. aria'll just travel down in the middle of her conversation with constantine. it happens.

"Do you think Rowan should be chased out?" she asks quietly. "Not even because they're not mine because... well, that's dumb I'm really not that territorial. But--" she pauses, taking in a breath. "I'm afraid. If I let the Mayfair blood rule Donnelaith over me-- even after Lasher's death-- that no one will truly see me as the alpha," she admits, glancing at Pearl. "I'll be a placeholder. For Constantine or Eilidh, if they ever decide they want to lead, or Deirdre, when she matures enough." Her ears fall backwards.

"Donnelaith belongs to the Mayfairs, but I don't want to be a removable piece of their claim. If I let these pups stay for the sole reasoning that they are Lashers, does that not just enforce the idea that he is still in power? that I am just holding his place until one of his children can take my place?"