The cardinal sin

The time that Manea had spent with her husband as of recent had been fairly short. Between her usual duties, the fall out that had taken place after her attempted arrangement of their children, the trip that Alastor had taken with Avacyn to Fenmye, and Alastor’s own self interests in his begrudgingly accepted lover she had hardly had a day to spend with him, her limited time with him relegated to the evenings when he would come home to their den.

However, she had set aside the anniversary of their marriage ceremony as she always did to spend with him. Despite all of the jealousy and misgivings she had been feeling as of late while she drowned her feelings in the arms of her recently acquired lover, Manea still held this day with a very special place in her heart and they had always spent it absolutely ravaging one another just as they had when they bound their souls together and she brought him into the Mendacium family. It was exactly what she needed with how she had been feeling recently so she was very much looking forward to it.

However, as she came back to the den early after cutting her usual duties for the day short, she realized that Alastor was nowhere to be found. She frowned a bit, but gave him the benefit of the doubt and settled in on the furs in the main chamber of their cave to wait on him to return. Hours ticked by and she watched the sun as it moved across the sky, slowly beginning to dip toward the horizon as she continued to lay here alone, her confusion turning into irritation and eventually into anger. Her tail flicked and twitched, her claws picking at the fur she was laying on while the sun sank toward the horizon. She eventually ate the dinner she had planned for them alone and saw herself to bed, seething and pondering where the hell her husband was on their anniversary even though she already knew the answer. She simply didn’t want to believe Alastor could be so callous or dense to be with his whore on their anniversary.

She forced herself into fitful sleep while she tried to decide how she was going to retaliate against him when he did eventually show his face. Of course there was nothing she wanted more than to sink her claws into him, but as she had discovered in their first fight over Relm, attacking him in her anger was hardly satisfying as he took his punishment and hardly taught him a lesson. It wasn’t until she was laying awake in the wee hours of the morning and she caught his tainted scent drifting though their den that she fully knew what she wanted to do to get under Alastor’s skin.

Manea rose to her paws, tired but fueled by blinding fury, and stepped down the curved path that brought her out of their bed chamber and into the main cave. She stopped him as he was seemingly attempting to sneak into their room, coming face to face with him and being confronted by the damning evidence that permeated into his thick fur. Though she had rightly guessed that he had been out with Relm yet again, she hadn’t realized just how deep his treachery had gone. The distinct and recognizable scent of the bitch’s heat was all over him and inescapable, telling her that he had not only spent their anniversary fucking the pink whore, but had shown his blatant disregard for the single thing that she and their family held sacred.

Her anger grew to something else entirely and she looked at him with a cold disgust gritting her teeth for a moment to keep herself from flying into a murderous rage. “Well, how nice of you to finally show up,” she told him, her voice dripping in sarcasm. “I’m afraid you’ve already missed the dinner I had prepared for us and obviously you found your dessert elsewhere.” She slipped past him, pointedly avoiding even touching him as she added, ”Now if you’ll excuse me, I believe I have a date with a brute who actually cares to spend time with me.”

"Manea Mendacium"