Hideaway Strath the loving nest

Making a conscious decision to betray the Family was easier for Lotte than it ought to have been. Arturo was her husband and her king, and she was happy to believe in and abide by his laws — but this was about the Family. This was about protecting Hemlock and Sirius. Lotte never once questioned that Sirius had killed Ran — even if he hadn't killed her, he was still angry enough to do it, and that was another thing that needed to be addressed before Hemlock was permitted to conceive. "Sometimes I fear I am too broken," she remembered the wise woman saying, and her heart hardened along with the line of her mouth.

A secret fear she'd harbored since Dagfinn's departure was loss of self. There was no sprawling tundra to sprint across out here — no need for subterfuge — no need for masks. There was no point in speaking the language of the tundra since nobody was around to understand. Her children understood their mother's garbled tongue well enough, but without any reason for them to use it, they would lose it someday, too. Lotte was fluent enough in the common tongue to get her point across even if her syntax didn't always seem completely natural, but she was losing bits and pieces of the wolf she'd been — and maybe that was part of her desire to latch onto this plan, too. She was not by nature an altruistic beast.

"Everything will be all right, Sirius," she said solemnly. "I will make it all right."

Hemlock's happiness was contingent upon keeping Sirius safe — Lotte could do nothing for Ran, but she could save this child. "Breathe deeply," she told the boy, her practiced voice regaining a warm, velvety quality. "Today you become a sot — a soldier of Teaghlaigh. Go to the stream and wash your face and mouth. Return here to me. Do not stop to talk to anyone. Do not look for anyone. If anybody stops you, tell them this: Lotte asked to speak with me alone." Her eyes bored into the child, muzzle reaching forward unflinchingly to try to meet the Svartell's eyes. "Do you understand me, Sirius?"