The elders gasped, some clutching their chests and pockets as though this was the most abominable thing they had ever heard. But they were not alone in the shock, so was everyone. Mija’s mouth was so wide open that she could have swallowed a fly at any moment.

Timothy’s hands were trembling.

Linera was looking at her fingers.

Winona was trembling, more afraid of Sienna than she was of her husband as of that moment. And her mother, was hiding behind her back!

As for Cuthbert, he was still resisting, snarling, but the weight of Sienna’s authority and the threat of losing his fingers was heavier than his pride. With a trembling hand, he scrawled his name across the divorce papers. The sound of the pen scratched against parchment was louder than any shock.

When it was finished, the elders exhaled in relief.

"Thank the gods, thank the gods," Elder Tomlin said, running his hand over the top of his beard.

All the elders had quickly forgotten that only moments ago, they had been against the idea of the divorce. But somehow, Sienna’s wild ideas had overwhelmed their principles and resistance.

Still, Lady Cadelaria recovered faster than the rest, her tail lashing furiously. "Sienna, this is unthinkable! You are tearing apart a family. You are destroying Cuthbert’s honor."

Sienna’s eyes flicked toward her, cold and unyielding. "Honor? If honor means protecting abusers, then your honor is worth less than dirt."

Cuthbert shoved the papers away, his voice dripping venom. "You think this will destroy me? You think this will separate us? Just wait and see, she will come crawling back to me. She knows she cannot survive without me."

"Then I will have her fingers cut off as soon as she is done signing the divorce papers. This way, she can never sign another marriage certificate again." Sienna replied.

Everyone went back to looking at Sienna in horror.

Unbothered, Sienna continued, "I will have her tongue sliced in two, so that she can’t say ’I do’ and I will have her toes cut off so that she can never walk to you again." She hissed. "No, you said crawl, so I will have to break her legs. No legs--no crawling, no violent marriage. If you try to marry another woman from this tribe again, I will have the same thing done to her.

If you go outside tribe, I will just have you killed off. Happily ever after for everyone you have ever hurt in your pathetic life. My advise to you is that you go for counseling. Try anger therapy and work on yourself. When you are not so volatile anymore, I will happily keep my fat ass out of your business."

Suddenly, Winona reached out and grabbed the pen. Her hands shook, but her eyes burned with newfound defiance. She signed her name with deliberate strokes, each letter a rebellion against years of silence.

Then, with a voice that carried through the room she declared, "I want full custody of the children."

The room erupted. Gasps, whispers. outrage. Some of the elders looked ready to collapse in shock.

Lady Cadelaria’s voice rose. "Impossible, custody has to go to the father. Those children are the Cuthbert legacy. In any family with a legacy to pass on, if children are involved, custody belongs to the father and the mother can visit when she wishes."

Sienna stood, sneering at the elders. So the laws of the fox clan allowed rich men like Cuthbert to thrive while women suffered. Was that why Winona had not divorced easily? That law needed to be changed. "Full custody will go to the mother temporarily. Even if Cuthbert takes this to court, the judges will take one look at the medical history of Winoma and the kids and deny him visitation.

I will personally be there in that courtroom to testify about his cowardice and brutality. I am sure those children will testify the same.

If we handle this within the tribe, I will allow supervised visits, but only after a psychological evaluation proving he is not a danger to the cubs. And this is after anger therapy has been completed."

Cuthbert lunged forward, his face twisted in rage, but the guards held him back. His threats spilled out like poison. "You will regret this, Sienna. You will regret crossing me. My family will crush you. My allies will destroy you."

Timothy scoffed. "Have you forgotten whose wife this is?"

Linera laughed. "Or what happened to the last assassin that came after Sienna and the people who sent her. One is dead and two are half dead. I hope you and your allies do try something because we didn’t get to show off enough with the last idiot."

Sienna’s smile was sharp, dangerous. "Let them. I will happily tie the brand of treason to the Cuthbert ship and send your whole family off to the underworld. Trust me, I am not the woman whose other side you want to see, because I am being nice right now. When I get angry, you won’t have a legacy left to pass on."

The ward was silent. every eye fixed on her, every mind wondering what she would do. Whatever it was, they didn’t want to know. Cuthbert’s resolve wavered quickly, and he whimpered like a dog.

Winona clutched the papers, her tears mingling with relief. The elders stood frozen, unable to reconcile their authority and tradition with Sienna’s defiance.

Sienna yawned, as if she was bored or too tired. "Timothy work on the custody papers. Let’s finish this nasty business today because I have no plans of revisiting it."

Winona handed Sienna the divorce papers and she stamped them. Rather than handing them back to Winona, she gave them to Linera. "Make copies aunt, three copies. Have the elders sign on my copy as witnesses...voluntary witnesses. Just in case Cuthbert tries to bribe them to testify in his favor later." She flashed a smile at them. "In which case, they won’t have legacies to leave behind as well." In a slower voice, she said to them, "Elders, when a building is on fire, it is better to save yourself first instead of saving the one who set it on fire, because they will turn around and push you in just because they can." She paused, her gaze meeting each of their eyes, one at a time. "What I mean is that don’t try be heroes now when you failed to be heroes yesterday."