How did it come to this

Thing was, it turned out she was a hypocrite. She would clutch these babies so tight, would love them and protect them, and teach them love. She would kill anyone who got on the wrong side of these little unborn lives. Yet, here was, on the verge of asking Rhyme to give up some of this himself. She was a terrible person, but this was costing both of them, there was a price for both of them to pay for what they had done.

“Can you look at these little lives and let them call you Uncle? Can you be a part of their lives, without ever admitting that they are yours?” she asked of him, knowing, knowing that this would be a price to him. Perhaps that was why she added something she never would have otherwise. “Except to them, and only when they are older.” They would not go their whole lives not knowing who Rhyme was, and she would give him the chance and option to break that secret, only once, and only to the wolves in her belly.

Her eyes where soft when she looked at Rhyme, mouth on the verge of saying something more, but she swallowed it down. She didn’t want to consider how he looked in the snow, the heartbreak and determination warring in his eyes. She didn’t want to tell him how he looked like a king, regal despite the pain.