Jade Fern Grove chafa

His gaze bore into her—a gentlest shake of his muzzle at her exasperation—the haunting Germancius had put her through. “Of course I understand why you wanted to kill him more than anything. You didn’t have to do it alone. I would have—“ a growl let loose from his lips—were those tears on the cusp of brimming in her eyes?

It speared him, in that moment, and he quaked with the need to reach out and wipe them away before their salt could even taste the air.

And then Eshe was spoken—and his brow furrowed—but he did not step back. No, if anything, it drew him closer—his breath ruffling at the gracious curve of her features, his mouth idling closer to her ear. “What does Eshe have to do with anything, Silvertongue?”

Her words—a taunt to his heart because surely she didn’t mean in the way they had been before. Not with the soft and radiant curves of her pregnant form. Were they Crowfeather’s, once more? Jealousy was not a beast he dealt with often—but it surged in him now—did she not see?

“Do you even know why I was with her, Silver?” A hiss from his breath, his head bowing to hold her gaze with his own once more, needing her to see—how could she still not see?