Ranjord seemed to be haunted by the presence of its singular Zodiac. Larentia, witch of the wood that she was, still hadn’t met any of her youngest grandchildren. She knew eventually she would have to. Raven’s three, Skadi’s two. Aegir had betrothed Skadi’s girls, Sienna and Amaretto, to two boys out of other packs; Larentia didn’t know the identity of Sienna’s betrothed, but she was pretty sure Amaretto would be tying Ranjord to Drekistone. Aegir was a bastard son of Beartooth. Half-brother to Larentia’s own dead children. He had blood, family, in Sienna and Amaretto. In Pierce, Esmeray, and Clouseau.
And now she had great-grandchildren as well. Larentia was no fool. She had seen the four pups Queen Marella had taken in, seen how they all had some variation of Esmeray’s striking green eyes and how one of the two girls looked like Esmeray, who looked like Raven, who had looked like Beartooth. And that explained the secrecy. Esmeray, who was destined to bind Ranjord and Tarben together, had gone and found herself an affair before her marriage . . . she was lucky only one of the four looked much like herself. The girl Isolde’s pelt was light enough that many who didn’t know Esmeray and hadn’t known Raven wouldn’t really be able to see a resemblance . . . though Larentia was sure some might wonder a thing or two. And green eyes weren’t too uncommon. But a mother always knew. Faces swam behind Larentia’s eyelids each night, each day. The Capricorn’s lost children.
She was curled in a patch of scant brush by the edge of the beach. Larentia’s hueless eyes tracked the waves, out and in. Life wasn’t meaningful. She had lost everyone and everything. How could she live this life a shell? She had half a mind to walk into the water and never resurface, like Raven.

"I guess I kinda liked the way you numbed all the pain."