Herbalists' Cache When the levee breaks

morwenna’s gaze softened, if only for a moment. ridgeback was steady, a pillar among the shifting tides of war, and she needed that now. her breath came slow, measured, but the weight of what she was about to say pressed heavy on her chest.
it started... i think, with a male scavenging off carcasses. right before i was due. her voice was distant, recalling the moment with careful precision. blackfell and black hawk, territorial as ever, killed him.
it had been nothing more than a trespasser meeting his fate. it should have been forgotten. but it wasn’t.
sun eater thought that a wound to his pride. he did not forget it.
the words tasted bitter on her tongue. was it truly pride that had driven him to this? was it something deeper? something she had never seen before?
her ears twitched, and she leaned forward slightly, urgent now. i want you to stay here... with me. she exhaled, her gaze flickering toward the pups curled against her belly. their tiny bodies were warm, safe. for now. they won’t kill my pups. i know this. she would not believe otherwise. they would not. they could not.
but ridgeback— it might be you who has to end this. do you understand what i am saying?
she did not look away, did not falter. even she did not know the full consequences of what she was asking. but sun eater had gone too far. too far.
her breath hitched, a shudder running through her frame. he knows how much i love her—gjalla, and still... still! she shook her head, swallowing against the rising storm in her chest. not even days after the birth of his sons and daughters, he sought to kill.
a monster.
her voice dropped to a whisper, her lips barely moving. he is not the man i married.
and ridgeback, steady, trusted, was the only one who could do what she could not.