Hideaway Strath the loving nest

It was hard for Lotte to stay impartial and commanding when the sight of Sirius' bloodstained mouth turned her stomach. She knew, though, that this had to be dealt with — immediately. Her kneejerk response was to agree with the guiltridden boy: no, Ran, inferior creature that she was, had not belonged here. Not when Roarke was missing.

Still, "Hemlock bore her here and Arturo accepted her as part of Teaghlaigh. She was part of this Family as much as you or Mallaidh or Ceallach or..." She bit her tongue and ran the words together to stave off the hurt. "Roarkeneirlys." She stood over the broken, twisted body with a moue of distaste that she couldn't fully conceal. "You are not a soturi, Sirius. A true warrior would not kill for sport or emotion." She hesitated. "Losing Ran this way will make Hemlock very sad — " Lotte didn't know how sad. She didn't know how much the fireflower would be able to take. She didn't know whether Sirius would be permitted to stay after his admission of guilt, and she didn't know whether Hemlock would survive losing him, too. She considered her options with narrowed eyes —

— and maybe it was a destructive tendency that happened because she missed Dagfinn still and was half-crazy with grief at losing Roarke. Maybe it was bitterness that Arturo had made his offer to Hemlock without first consulting her. Whatever it was, she decided on the one thing that would cost her everything she had chosen to stay in the Teekons for.

"There is something we could do," she told the little boy very solemnly, her eyes glinting cold and hard, "but you must be absolutely obedient to me and trust me."