Dang it, woman

Ulric stepped back at Gwyn's insistence, standing off to the side where he'd be out of the way, but he could still keep an eye on Aranea. He watched the young healer dart back and forth around the room while she started her treatments, uncertainty and pain churning in his gut. Were these his children? That question kept spinning in his mind, making him feel uneasy as he watched the rise and fall of her swollen side. Everything had been a mistake. All of it. He should never have given into her the first time. All of this could have been prevented if he hadn't given in to his idiotic, crushing mourning and desire. He especially shouldn't have let her have that last time with him before she left. None of this should have happened, but it had and now he had to suffer and reap the consequences.

He winced as Aranea began to throw up everything left in her stomach, glancing away from her and down toward the floor. He heard Gwyn's raven tell him he could leave if he needed to from where she was perched on the divider beside him and he just shook his head without looking up. No, he had to stay here. This was his punishment. He had to see this through. He might loathe the woman that was currently laying on that cot for what she might have done or at least tried to do to these pups, but if there was even a slim hint of a chance that they might be his then he had to stay. He couldn't quite force himself to look up, but he was present and that was about all he could manage as anger, disgust, and sorrow mixed in his gut in equal measure.

Ulric Adravendi