Riven's POV
His Beta found him standing alone at the edge of the burned clearing long after the Mooncrest delegation had ridden back south, the ash beneath his boots still faintly warm from fires two decades cold.
"You're actually considering it," the Beta said. Not quite an accusation. Not quite not one, either.
"I'm considering many things."
"The warriors are restless. Some of them lost family to the packs your sister protects. They didn't follow you this far to watch you make peace with the people who let you freeze in the snow as a child."
Riven's jaw tightened. "They followed me because I promised them restitution. Not because I promised them a war that never actually served any of us."
"And if restitution looks like laying down arms instead of taking what's owed?"
Riven turned
