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| - "Mudpaw! Cinderpaw! Mudpaw! Cinderpaw!" I smiled absently as my Clan cheered on my kits new names. I cheered with them, but mostly, my eyes were watching their father, Cinderfoot, for any unusual reactions. After all, he'd all but forgotten about his kits and me after he found Shimmerpelt. Now she was in the nursery, with his kits growing inside her. Thank StarClan I would move out today and back into the warriors' den. But Cinderfoot didn't look proud of his kits at all; he looked as if it was just another pair of kits, not his own. My tail drooped as the cheering died away and my son and daughter bounded out of camp with their new mentors. I sighed dejectedly and turned to make a new nest in the warriors den. "Quailsong?" I turned. Cinderfoot was standing there, looking at me, hesitating. "Are you talking to me, Cinderfoot? Save your breath. I've nothing to say to you." Proud of myself, I turned to go, but he stood in my way. "Move!" "Give me a second!" He begged, his blue eyes hurt. "Listen, you have every right to be mad at me..." He trailed off and inspected me, waiting for my reaction. I only twitched my tail, a sign for him to continue. "And I just want you to know that Shimmerpelt will never be what you are to me. You'll always be my one and only." The nerve of him! I had to dig my claws in the soil to keep from raking them across his face. "Oh, really? I'm your one and only? That's why you've ignored me for countless moons, never spoke a word to me, found Shimmerpelt, and turned around and mated with her?" I knew I was hurting him, but I didn't care. What was scaring me was that I had believed him for a heatbeat. I still loved him, and that would never change, but I would never love him like I once did again. "I...I don't know what to say. I guess...I'm sorry, Quailsong." "I don't accept." WIth that, I shoved past him and bounded out of camp. I always thought that when he came back to me, he'd have forgotten all about Shimmerpelt. That he'd say he'd never loved a cat as much as he loved me. That he'd ignore her kits when they were born and start playing and visiting Mudpaw and Cinderpaw with me. But now, I wasn't going to let him. He would say he was sorry now, but would that stop him from loving Shimmerpelt? I was eating a mouse when he stopped me again. "Look, I'm sorry, but I can't stop loving Shimmerpelt, so don't expect me to! I don't get why you're so upset!" My blood boiled and I leaped to my paws, sinking my claws into the mouse. "You forgot me! You forgot out kits! You probably forgot Our Tree! You never gave me the time of day! I made a mistake in loving you. Because you'll never understand true love. You'll treat is as you'd treat a piece of fresh-kill; it's good, you eat it, it's gone." Cinderfoot shook his head, his tail sweeping across my flank. "I never forgot you, Quailsong. I thought I loved Shimmerpelt, but - not nowhere as much as I love you. You'll always be the perfect she-cat for me. I only want to be with you." My eyes narrowed, and I turned, walking away. I flung my next words over my shoulder at him. "Then you're going to be alone for the rest of your life, Cinderfoot," I said calmly, fur pricking with fury. I was a dreamer before you went and let me down Now it's too late for you and your white horse One day, when all the apprentices were out doing work, I was asked to clean out the bedding in the nursery. I thought I had seen Shimmerpelt going out into the forest with Cinderfoot earlier, so I'd hoped it would be empty and I could work in peace without having to see the pregnant she-cat. But the second she squeezed into the nursery, weighed down with fresh moss, there Shimmerpelt was, stretched out across her nest and grooming the fur on her swollen belly. I stiffened, but the job needed to be done. "I'm here to freshen your nest," I said, monotone, setting the moss down. Shimmerpelt lifted her head, blinking. "Oh...oh, hello, Quailsong." She shifted to the side, out of her nest so I could get to the moss. I clawed the old stuff out, probably with more force than needed, and patted more in place. Shimmerpelt watched me curiously during the process. Never really had a chance To have the upper hand "What?" I asked, feeling Shimmerpelt's eyes on me again. I looked up and her tail twitched. "Cinderfoot still loves you," She said quietly, lifting her eyes to mine. My nose twitched. "He loves you, and you turned him away. It hurt him. He told me." Anger rose in me again and I tore my claws so fiercely down a strip of moss it shattered into nothing. "Yes, that's right. He told you, the second she-cat he infested with kits, the second she-cat he loved. I'm just the first she-cat he got tired of and cast away to find someone younger and prettier." Shimmerpelt flinched, but shook her head. "That's not it at all. I think he just wanted to help the Clan repopulate. Give your kits kin, and fill the apprentice's den. He wanted me for kits; he still wants you for love." I sighed and shoved more moss into her nest. "What's the difference, these days?" Happy endings, now I know
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