The porch fell silent. Lady Cadelaria’s eyes widened, her pride shattering. She looked at her husband as if he was a stranger. "Apologize? Marius, is it me that you are telling to apologize?"

Sienna was pushed out of the door by grandma Byra. In her arms, Ali was hiccuping softly. The little girl had her hands wrapped tightly around Sienna’s neck.

Mrs. Miller put her hand on Sienna’s arm. "Yes. Apologize to my daughter. She has had to endure your tantrums, verbal abuse, snide remarks, ugly looks and who knows what else for over five years. As a mother with a daughter yourself, would you wish that on your own child?"

Lady Cadelaria rose, eyes burning fiercely. It was clear that she did not want her daughter Cyra to be hurt verbally or physically.

"Ah, so your child is a child but my mine is not." Mrs. Miller sneered, folding her arms. "Apologize, right now. Or I will make sure the whole world know what you did."

Lord Marius gripped his wife’s hand. "Laria, it is the right thing to do."

Everyone watcher, eager for the climax. Lady Cadelaria’s lips pressed tight, her pride battling against the weight of her husband’s command. Finally, with a strangled sound, she spat out the words: "I...apologize."

It was the most reluctant apology in the history of apologies, but it was enough. Mrs. Miller nodded, satisfied, and turned around, pulling Sienna along with her. She still looked back and said, "Good. I hope that from now on, you will keep your claws to yourself. Next time, it won’t be two lemons, it will be two knives."

Lady Cadelaria huffed.

Lord Marius raised his brows.

Everyone dispersed. A maid cleaned up the shattered porcelain on the porch while Shalin made a new cup of tea for the Lord who did not seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere. Lady Cadelaria retreated into her husband’s arms, sulking as tears dripped from her eyes.

"I have never been this humiliated." She cried.

Her husband sighed. He wanted to tell her that she had brought it all on herself, but instead, he patted her back, soothing her with soft words like the loyal husband he was.

Sienna put the children on bed and covered them. After taking a bath, her mother and grandma fussed over the claw marks, applying medicine to the wounds gently before patching them. When Sienna laid down for her afternoon nap, her heart was pounding but her spirit was lighter. In every way, she felt defended and protected. A mother’s fierce love was such a precious thing.

Ali rolled over and curled up on top of her. It made Sienna chuckled softly. But somewhere deep inside, she had a feeling that this was not over. Lady Cadelaria still didn’t like her. They would clash again, sooner or later.

***

The news of the death of the falcon elder was everywhere the next morning. Sienna had already heard about it last night. This morning, it was all the falcon’s could talk about. Grandpa Corven was fielding phone calls every other minute from elders of the tribe and old friends.

Sienna was not paying much attention to it. She had already decided that the unlucky accident was related to her missing husband who was at an environmental conference of all things!

For their family, this was great news. At least, the threat of Paris’s past looming over them like a sword was reduced.

She stood under the shade of a large tree, carefully harvesting honey from the hives. Beside her was Ali, sticky with sweetness from hair to hands, giggling as she tried to scrap wax into jars. Eli was doing the job more attentively, not one sticky trace on his body. Mira and Suri looked bored, tired of carrying buckets from one point to another.

Mrs. Miller presided over the task like a general, braking with the authority of a professional bee keeper who had also raised children through famine and war. "Do not drop the comb! Don’t lick the honey jars. Don’t swat the bees or I will swat you."

Meanwhile, Mrs. Abernathy lectured Sienna and the children on the don’t of the beast men. "Don’t ever owe a favor to an eagle, they are like loan sharks. They collect with blood."

"They are loan sharks." Soren mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"And they hate being called that to their face." Mrs. Abernathy said sternly. "Don’t eat from the same plate as anyone from the snake tribe."

Mija raised her head. "Hey..." She called out in an offended voice. She had assigned herself the job of final taster. No jar of honey was closed before her approval.

Mrs. Abernathy ignored Mija and continued her lesson. She was frankly unhappy about teaching while her students worked. But, she did not have much of an option. Sienna and Ali had long refused to sit and learn like normal students in a classroom.

Just as the rhythm of work settled, a shadow fell across the backyard. Lord Marius appeared, big smile on his face, fox ears twitching with joy. Behind him, like a storm cloud refusing to dissipate, followed his wife. Her frown was immediate, her eyes narrowing at the sight of her grandchildren hauling buckets and scraping wax.

"What is this?" She demanded, her voice sharp enough to cut through the hum of bees. "Why are my grandchildren working like servants? This is disgraceful."

Eli and Ali froze, hands halfway lifted, eyes darting nervously between their grandmother and mother. Mrs. Miller stiffened, her hands tightening around the honeycomb she held. Sienna herself sighed, already sensing her stress levels rising like a smoke before a fire.

Lord Marius cleared his throat, his tone measured. "What my wife means is that we have seen our grandchildren lifting a finger to do any kind of work back at the estate." He looked from Sienna to Mrs. Miller. "Good morning. Pardon us for the intrusion. We came to see the children and offer our condolences to the Rocland’s. The news of Lord Edris’s death reached us late last night. It is a pity."

Sienna almost snorted. A pity that he didn’t die before those letters were found, she thought. If her father-in-law knew that Lord Edris had tried to force a match between his son and Cyra. And blackmailed Elias whole endangering their whole family, the man would not be calling it a pity. He would be celebrating. "Yes, a pity." She said. Beneath her solemn words, her lips were curving upwards slightly.

Lord Marius wondered if Sienna could tell that she was smiling.

"Big, big, pity." Grandpa Corven said. His own smile was way too obvious.

Clearly, Lord Edris’s death was great news to the Rocland patriarch. Lord Marius hoped the man would be able to hide that joy when the investigators came by to ask questions about Edris’s last visit.