Emmaline nodded, her throat too tight to speak. She hadn’t wanted to kill Lady Allistair. That had never been her intention.
Lara’s whiskers twitched. Her tail lay motionless behind her, not even a flicker of movement betraying her thoughts.
“And you both—” Her deep brown eyes slid toward Cassidy. “No, all of you didn’t think it was safe to tell me.” Lara’s nose bumped into Cassidy’s chest—not a nudge of playfulness, but something heavier, something wounded. “Youdidn’t think it would be safe to tell me.” Her ears drooped. “You thought you needed to hide this from me, hurting our ability to help others in the process.”
Cassidy cupped Lara’s large, furry face between her hands, pressing her forehead gently against Lara’s.
“I’m sorry.” She closed her eyes. “Can you forgive me?”
Lara’s whiskers twitched again, and after a long, measured pause, she leaned back, studying Cassidy with steady, unwavering eyes.
“When I offered you my Rider Bond, and you accepted it,” she said, voice strong, certain, “that made you and your family my family, Cassidy Featherlight.”
“I know, but—”
“How could you think,” Lara interrupted, “that I would do anything other than everything in my power to protect my family?”
“I’m sorry, Lara,” Cassidy said, her voice quiet. “I thought you would be bound to the Law.”
Emmaline shifted uncomfortably. “We didn’t want to put you in that position.”
Lara’s attention locked onto her. “No, Emmaline,” she corrected, tone firm but not unkind. “You wanted to protect yourself. And you didn’t trust that I would support you.” With a dramatic huff, Lara lowered herself, her massive frame settling across the kitchen floor like a fallen boulder. “Which, I somewhat understand coming from a non-bonded. After all, Corgis are well known for our sense of justice.” Her tail wagged. “Our unwavering moral fortitude. Our exceptional dedication to what is right. Our strength of character. Our—”
“Stubbornness,” Cassidy cut in, grinning as she crouched beside Lara and ran a hand over her thick fur.
Lara’s ears flicked, but she merely huffed as if conceding the point.
“We are not easily swayed,” she admitted. Then, dipping her head, she softened. “But Cas, you should have known better. We are loyal above all else. And you are my family.” She leaned into Cassidy’s touch. “And so is Emmaline. And Margo. And even Ursula—though I hesitate to say it aloud, lest the power of my words summon her.”
Cassidy chuckled, scratching behind Lara’s ears. “I’m sorry. I’m an idiot.”
Lara’s tongue lolled out the side of her mouth, and she exhaled with great patience. “You’re very lucky that Corgis are also among the Goddess’s most forgiving creatures.”
“Yes, yes. Very lucky,” Cassidy agreed with a laugh.
Emmaline watched them, sinking into the chair she held for balance, blinking back the tears forming in her eyes. She could have had a bond like that, a love like that, with Deyric. Her breaths came faster. But she’d destroyed it.The Goddess’s greatest gift. She’d thrown it away before she’d even realized she had it.
A sharp ache pulsed in her chest, different from the pain that had nearly unmade her the morning before, but no less suffocating. She’d been so lost in her obsession with Caelith, convinced he was the one who would complete her… like her father had completed her mother.
She sensed Cassidy and Lara’s attention shift before she even looked up.
Lara rose from her place on the floor, settling down again, this time at Emmaline’s feet. Resting her massive head on Emmaline’s lap, she peered up at her with those deep brown eyes—steady, patient, understanding.
“Can I examine you, Emmaline?” Lara’s voice was gentler now, lacking the usual gruffness. “You don’t want to talk about it. That much is clear. But something clearly happened.” Her nose nudged against Emmaline’s wrist in quiet encouragement. “Let me help.”
Emmaline tried to shake her head, tried to push the wordsI’m finepast her lips. But instead, her fingers moved on their own, threading into Lara’s thick fur, clutching tight. And then she was pulling,wrapping her arms around the great furry head, and pressing her face into the warmth of her coat, holding on like she might fall apart if she let go.
Lara sniffed Emmaline again, her large nose pressing into the hollow of her throat, inhaling deep. A moment later, she licked her cheek, the unexpected coarseness of it making Emmaline jerk back with a startled noise. But Lara only pushed her head more firmly into Emmaline’s chest, releasing a great, weary sigh.
“Cerridwyn’s vow, Emmaline.” Her voice rumbled through her fur. “How can this possibly be true?”
Cassidy straightened, frowning. “What is it?”
“You’re going to have to be more specific, I think.” Emmaline let out a quiet chuckle, the sound hollow, laced with self-recrimination.
Lara huffed, nuzzling into Emmaline’s neck again, the fur tickling against her overly sensitive skin.
“If I didn’t know better,” Lara murmured, “I’d say that’s traces of Siren’s Song.” She hesitated, sniffing again, then drew back slightly, ears turning out. “Or… some derivative.”
