Sun Mote Copse I got a head full of sharp knives

Despite the darkness, Wildfire noticed the wounds on the back of Kiwi's neck in the instant before she swooned. "Kiwi!" she cried, immediately swooping down beside her and inserting her foreleg beneath the girl's head to cushion it. She twitched a few times, then seemed to come back to herself. The Sovereign's eyes were full of both tears and worry as she returned the Regent's gaze.

Wildfire loved her children unconditionally. But as she peered down at her yearling daughter, she felt a ripple of rage pass through her. She could've wrung Artaax's neck for what he'd done. But that savage fury passed quickly, subsumed by grief for her children and even for herself. Wildfire had severed all ties with Thuringwethil, yet she still mourned the woman's death. She also empathized for how badly the loss must've hurt her eldest children in particular, even though nothing excused Artaax's insistence on harming those he considered natrona.

Bending over Kiwi, Wildfire buried her head in her child's neck. "I'm so sorry, Kiwi," she said, voice thick with tears and muffled by the fur just a few shades browner than her own.