Sleepy Fox Hollow shadows that lift off the bloom and the velvet

Phaedra's hummed reply evoked memories of a small Wylla cowering in front of a stormy Lusca and making the exact same noise when both of them knew she was lying, but she felt a need to keep the charade up anyway. It failed to inspire any confidence in Wylla that Mahler was treating their daughter any better than he had before, which was disappointing considering Phaedra was the only one left who had stuck by him the entire time.

But even Wylla, so easily lured into poking the bee's nest of other wolves' emotions, knew better than to push this subject with her daughter. No matter how badly Mahler failed as a father for pretty much the entirety of her childhood, Phaedra adored her papa. Wylla was willing to turn the entire world against a wolf who wronged her, but could not bring herself to meddle in this one relationship.

That didn't mean she had to accept everything Phaedra said, though. Why is that? she wondered. Was Mahler really so busy still that his daughter found it difficult to carve time out with him? It warmed the cockles of her heart a little that Phaedra was glad they postponed their trip long enough to find her, but chilled her that he still wasn't present for his family.

She would take her secret wish that she had died to her grave.

Her heart wrenched at the mention of Stag, and Wylla sighed. I don't know. We got separated. I haven't seen him in a while. Stag must really have taken everything deeply to heart. He always managed to find her in her wandering before. It was highly unusual that he was still missing. I'm sure he's just fine, she lied with an encouraging twitch of her lips. Maybe he found a girl out there to settle down with or something. He's smart and strong enough to take care of himself.