we all pay a price

Deathbelle was hesitant in accepting his comfort, and fleeting in allowing his touch. She pulled back, and he respected that, falling back a touch himself as he looked to his Empress. He knew he was hurting her, he knew this was his fault, but he still felt a flicker of sorrow in his heart as she put distance between them. He knew it was going to cause a rift between them, as much as he wished he could stop it.

He would watch quietly as she moved closer to Zee, his own attention turning to the small blue woman, and he would see the pain in her, too. He was such a fool. How did he get himself in this situation, how did it come to this. Honestly, at this point they might as well push him off a cliff and live happily ever after with themselves, Zee and Belle. Perhaps they would be happier.

With his self-hating thoughts in the back of his mind, he sat down and waited for Deathbelles words. A soft rumble in his chest that meant, he wasn’t sure what, as she said she loved them both.

He started as she gave her blessing, apparently he had convinced himself he would not receive it. His lips parted as through he would speak, but nothing came forth. A second blow followed quickly after the first, and his heart skipped a beat. his children? she spoke of it like a sure thing, like he would have young ones in his life. He barely had time to protest that, before he was forced to consider what it would mean for them. “They would not be my children alone, so I can not make the decision alone, but I would be inclined to agree… that they be raised with your children, as playmates and helpers, for one year, and then they may decide where to go in life.” was his input. He did not want them to stay in slavery for life. He had learnt a great deal in his time as Deathbelles Vessel, but he was thankful for his place now in her pack. His eyes moved steadily to Zee, wondering what was going through her mind right now.