Deathless Death

Aranea being just outside of The Hallow's border and no longer in the castle had helped his nerves ever so slightly. It had at least allowed him the space to breathe and start attempting to work though what might come next and what had already happened. It was easier to just push all that pain to the side and ignore it, but soon enough he wouldn't be allowed to ignore it. There was a possibility that he could be a father again and even despite the slim odds with how Aranea had threatened the lives of their unborn children. That chance... That chance kept him up at night. There was such mixed emotions and he didn't want any of them. After how things had ended up with Azariah and his first litter he had wanted his next litter to come from a real love with a mate he fully trusted... not from this.

But he didn't get that choice now and all he could do was try to keep himself busy and force the thoughts out of his mind. He had already spent a large majority of his time with Eska as it was before all of this, but now it felt harder to leave her side. She kept him grounded and kept his emotion driven state from spiraling out of control. He hadn't felt like he deserved her patience and willingness to stand by him despite everything that was happening with him and around him, but she had stayed. He shifted his silver gaze to her for a moment as they walked side by side around the outside of the castle wall, just finishing up a brief patrol. A grateful smile pulled at his lips as he gazed at her for a moment before returning his attention to the path ahead of them.

As they neared the gates he spotted a sickeningly familiar form collapsed in the grasses outside of the castle walls. His demeanor immediately changed, his hackles bristling and jaw tensing. "Damn it..." he hissed under his breath as he picked up his pace into a trot, biting back the anger as he hurried to Aranea's side. He knew for a fact that food and supplies had been delivered to her like clockwork each day so when he saw how frail and thin she still was and how obviously weak she was it pulled that anger back to the surface.

"Why have I even bothered giving you everything you need if you're not even going to eat what I give you?" he muttered even though she was clearly out of it and his heated words spoken through gritted teeth would most certainly fall on deaf ears. He turned away from her and took a couple of steps away just to keep himself from being too rash or too rough, barely even able to lift his gaze to look at Eska. He didn't have to explain who this was, he was sure she would know.

Ulric Adravendi