Wapun Meadow the smell of home, like sour peaches and linen

Aventus waged a war within himself at his wife’s mention of termination. On the one hand, he wanted nothing more than to demand she do it. What good were children to them? Supposed they turned out like Asperas and Apophis, a pair of no-good deserters who left before they were scarcely old enough to hunt for themselves? Worse, suppose they turned out like Merrick, insane fanatics hell-bent on destroying themselves and everything around them?

On the other hand, he could not imagine putting her through that sort of pain and misery, and what of the innocent lives? Would he be any better than his father? It would be baptizing the infants in their own blood instead of some terrified captive’s.

For a long time, he said nothing. He had no words. He fixed his pale gaze to a single slim blade of grass and tried to dull out the rest of the world. He tried.

But then he launched to his feet and his nails dug into the turf and he laughed. The bear! He began turning tight, tormented circles around himself, muscles taut, eyes sharp. He brought them up to Arielle’s face at last. Do you know what the bear has given me for my life of devotion? A dead mother! A dead father! Siblings who all left, one by one. Packmates who turned traitor! A cold grin split his jaws. Evien, you never met Evien, he was good. He was good. He would have laid down his life for my parents. He saved mine!

The bear killed him, too. Aventus stopped his pacing and dug his toes into the grass, setting his jaw with angry determination. He had feared the day Arielle would learn his secret truth, but now the fear was for something else, and letting her in on it was no longer scary. Fuck the bear.