Chapter 3

Ethan came to collect us on the day Iris left the healing lodge. He behaved as though the night of her fever had already been settled, fastening her cloak himself before promising to take her to the moonlight portrait studio that afternoon.

Iris looked up at him. “Why do you suddenly want a portrait?”

“You said the family album had more pictures of Cora and me than of us,” Ethan replied. “I promised to make things right. Afterward, we can visit the northern market, and I will buy you a starglass as a recovery gift.”

Iris glanced at me, and I did not interfere. She had agreed to leave him, but she was still a child who wanted to believe her father when he made a promise.

At three that afternoon, Iris put on her favorite pale-blue dress, braided her hair, and waited outside Alpha House. At four, a messenger from the portrait studio came to ask whether we wished to cancel the appointment. By five, the moonstone lamps had been extinguished, and Ethan still had not returned.

Iris sat outside until dark. Then she removed the silver-blue ribbon from her hair and put it back in its box without asking where he had gone.

That evening, a maid who came to the kitchen for honey mentioned that Ethan had taken Cora to the pack’s young-wolf exhibition. Cora had been selected at the last moment for a wolf-control demonstration, and the Alpha had accompanied her onto the platform when she received a crescent badge.

Iris continued organizing her training notes, although she pressed one page hard enough to leave a deep crease.

Ethan finally returned at nine with Vivian and Cora. A silver badge shone on Cora’s chest, and she carried a new starglass. As soon as she entered, she ran toward the window and aimed it at the mountains.

Iris stood beside the stairs. “Papa, did you forget our portrait?”

Ethan stopped, remembering the appointment only then. “Cora was added to the exhibition without warning. I could not let her go onstage alone.”

“Vivian was there.”

“She recently lost her mate. Events like that can be overwhelming, so it was safer for me to stay with them.”

Iris watched him for several seconds. “Mom only has herself too. Why are you never worried that she cannot manage everything alone?”

Ethan’s expression hardened. “The studio will still be there next week. Stop speaking as though I abandoned you.”

Cora came over with the starglass in her arms. “Uncle Ethan took me to the northern market too. This can see all the way to the ridge.”

Iris recognized it immediately. Her initials had been carved into the silver casing. Ethan had ordered it as her recovery gift.

She did not try to take it.

When she asked about the moonberry pie and Grandmother’s bracelet, Ethan barely hesitated. He had let Cora eat the pie; the kitchen could make another tomorrow. The bracelet would have to wait until next month. Vivian needed to buy Cora’s academy equipment, and the private fund was low.

Iris looked back at the starglass in Cora’s arms.

“You ordered that for me. It still has my initials on it.”

The servants nearby fell silent. Ethan noticed their attention, and his voice rose.

“Why are you speaking as though I have neglected you? I am your father. You have always had food, clothing, and a safe home.”

Iris drew back. I stepped between them.

“She has learned that your promises are easy to forget,” I said.

“I missed one appointment, and she insists on humiliating me over it.”

Ethan pointed to the starglass. “Cora performed well today, so I gave her a reward. I bought it, and I decide who receives it.”

“Your cloak, gifts, moon coins, and carriage belong to you,” I replied. “You may give all of them to Vivian and Cora. You can give them your attention as well.”

His brow tightened. “Mara, what are you trying to start now?”

I took Iris upstairs without answering.

From the hall below, Vivian gently told him that I only behaved this way because I cared about him. She advised him to comfort us and wait for my anger to pass.

Ethan refused. “I cannot indulge them every time. If I keep giving in, they will become more unreasonable.”

Iris heard every word from behind the bedroom door.

She opened her bedside drawer and removed the half of the moon portrait she had kept after tearing away Ethan’s face. Only the newborn Iris and one of his arms remained. She had been unable to burn it before.

This time, she placed it in the fireplace. The flames consumed Ethan’s hand and curled around the edge of her swaddling blanket.

“You do not want to keep it?” I asked.

Iris shook her head. “He said he cannot keep indulging me, so I will stop indulging him too.”

Three days later, Northvale Pack’s formal appointment arrived. They agreed to renew my healer’s license and provide private quarters. An academy acceptance letter for Iris came with it. She would become a permanent student after passing a wolf-control assessment.

The documents gave us seven days to report.

I locked them inside my travel chest. We had seven days left in Blackridge Pack.