Remorseless

It came as no surprise to Irilyth that she wouldn't be left alone for long. She knew that once Alastor had gotten back to Manea and the Matriarch had received word of what he'd done to punish her, she would come running to check up on her. She had just hoped to have been fully cleaned up and bandaged by then. Maybe if she appeared a little less worse for wear, her lover and alpha wouldn't feel as guilty about what her husband had done. But when Irilyth heard the sound of paws splashing into water and wading out to her, she knew. With ears folding back to her head again, Iri just stared down at her own reflection in the rippling water's surface, listening while those steps brought Manea right behind her. Neither fae said anything, the quiet of the wooded island surrounding them for a time. Then the sound of water being scooped, and a cool rush of the liquid ran down her back, helping to wipe away the sweat and dirt and dried blood from her gold and ivory fur. Iri hated feeling like she was a point of contention between Manea and Alastor, but the larger woman's gentle caring only confirmed her suspicions that Alastor had acted of his own volition without Manea's blessing when he had done what he'd done.

Manea apologized after several minutes of silence between the two and Irilyth still couldn't bring her raspberry eyes up from her reflection on the water. "You were not the cause of this," she remarked, her voice quiet and slightly hoarse from Alastor having choked her during their forced coupling. Her throat and trachea would be bruised for a while, but the damage dealt would not be irreparable. "The damage isn't fatal. I will heal." Of course, there was still the greater concern of the aftermath of her rape, especially considering she was in heat, but she would tend to those matters soon enough. Irilyth was the pack's most experienced healer, after all. She was well versed in all manners of medicine, but especially around procreation. A shiver shook Iri's body when Manea began to comb her claws through her fur, her eyes closing as she reminded herself that these claws would not hurt her. The trauma was still fresh though, and the feeling of Alastor's claws ripping into her flesh was still throbbing in her brain.

Irilyth sat there in the lake, letting Manea groom her while she tried to gather herself back up and compose herself in front of her alpha. Breathing a shaky sigh, the golden fae opened her ruby eyes once more and swallowed hard. "I don't regret what I did," she told Manea after some more time in quiet together. "I was protecting my patient. If I had to do it again, knowing what would happen... I would." Iri knew that this claim would likely not earn her any favor with Manea or Alastor, but she had to stick to her ethics and morals. Her duty had been to Relm, and she deigned Alastor a detriment to her patient's welfare at the time. Had she been insubordinate to an alpha-ranked wolf? Yes, she would not deny this. But she had peace of mind knowing she had done what she believed was right for the wolf in her charge at the time.

"Manea" & "Irilyth"