She shuffles awkwardly until he gives his word, at which point her cheeks begin to burn with ashamed anticipation. Heavens, what will he think to the news that his daughter is a foal-churning slattern? Her dam would be ashamed - from what she remembers of Querida, the woman was as uptight as she was vicious. She would not have bedded every man that looked at her twice....although Nyx did inherit her dam's desire to test her lovers in battle first.

But there is no use in putting off the inevitable. "Okay, so. A while back, I met a devilishly handsome stallion named Deodat. I won't horrify you with the details, but we had a gorgeous set of twins named Libertad and d'Arcy. d'Arcy's still in the Edge - she's a strong, stubborn young thing, I'm sure you'll love her. Libertad is missing, but that's a different story." Her stomach contracts with misery at her absent son. "That's all well and good, but....this is the shameful part. Before the twins were even a year old, I fell pregnant again, this time by a considerably less mentally stable - although equally as devilishly handsome - man. Now, you must see why I began to worry. I was General of the herd at this point, and what sort of useless General is pregnant so often she can't actually do her duties? In hindsight, it was a stupid thing to worry about, but I was hormonal and my mind wasn't in the right place...I feared the herd would place a stigma on me for having another child so soon. I feared they would shun me for my weakness."

She looks away, looks to her father in the hope he'll understand. She doesn't like to think about it, but surely he must know the call of nature, the allure of the opposite gender. "So....I lied. I told the king, who is a good friend of mine, that...that I'd got word of your existence. I explained how close I was to you, and I asked his permission to leave the herd for a few months whilst I hunted you down. I asked him to tell the rest of the Edge that he'd sent me on a mission outside Helovia." She cringes at the memory. To use her father as a tale to suit her ends..."He gave his permission, so I left. I didn't leave Helovia fully, I just lurked around the outskirts for the duration of the pregnancy. I gave birth to twin girls in the depths of winter - Oizys and Enyo. Their psychotic father attempted to kill them at birth, but his conscience must have got the better of him, thank the Gods. I returned to the Edge with them at heel, and told Tembovu - the king - that...." This, if anything, is the worst part.

"That I'd tracked you for weeks, then lost your trail. I said I stumbled upon a clearing that smelled like you, and discovered a massacre which I believed to be the remains of your herd. I said that I found the twins beside their dead mother, being pecked at by vultures, and adopted them as my own because I couldn't bear to see them die. To explain away any familial resemblance between me and the girls, I said I believed them to be your daughters or granddaughters. " She falls silent for a moment, to let this sink in. "I know the whole thing is awful, and if I could go back in time I wouldn't do it, but what's done is done. Please don't tell anyone, Father. If you're asked, can you just say that it was an old herd of yours, but you left long before the massacre?"

The ironheart, usually so proud, has never felt so small or worthless.