Blacktail Deer Plateau Some infinitely gentle, infinitely suffering thing

That didn't sound like the curse. Grayday thought of Althaia, who'd been killed in their borders. His own mate, Amber. Kieran's mother. Hawthorn's. Sorrel's. Even Adeline had be orphaned when they met, and now Khoe and Heartha were gone almost at the same time. All had been mothers to young children.

"Eight," he replied, not knowing that Sorrel and Kieran shared a lost mother. "Maybe nine," he added, remembering the young girl that'd turned up around the same time as Sorrel.

He didn't want to talk to Twill anymore. He felt strange and slightly sick, and the thought of someone seeing him like that made his stomach churn all the more.

"I hope you find each other again," he said to the male. "Give her our greetings, if you do."

He would rather have turned and headed back toward his children, but he felt he needed to stand and watch the other male depart. Polite as he was, Twill was still a stranger.