your words in my memory

Indigo heaved a frustrated sigh, then asked incredulous if she didn't hear. Of course she had heard bits and pieces. She was pretty sure all of Boreas could have heard his sister's screaming. Quite impressive, the sound that came from such a small creature. "Pretend I didn't," she remarked, then let him continue on to explain. ”Duchess snuck off.” She nodded her head; yes, she had been aware of that. That had nothing to do with what she'd overheard, however. ”She’s pregnant.” That stopped Em in place, her paw frozen mid-stroke between his shoulders. Em felt like her heart had stopped beating for the moment, as if time had frozen in its entirety. Only the constantly flowing water assured her that nothing of the sort had occurred.

"Oh."

That was all Emersyn could say. That one word, so little that held so much in it. It was an acknowledgement of his situation and the band's situation, realization that Indigo had fucked up and that Duchess had betrayed him and betrayed them all, disgust at the trampy whore for doing such a slimy and loathsome thing, and hurt—hurt that she had been foolish enough to let herself believe that when Indigo had mentioned one day having children, he had meant with her. Of course he hadn't meant with her. It was always going to be Duchess. That flouncy little slut would throw herself at him and spread her legs for his cock seven days a week. She was small, petite, feminine, while Em was large, hardened, broken. To be so deluded to think that he'd ever really meant those things he'd said about her back in the castle... He was just trying to get under her tail. No, worse—he had gotten under her tail with those words! She'd had a vague suspicion that he was sleeping with the rest of the band, and that hadn't bothered her. Being made to believe she was beautiful, that he cared for her enough to one day consider a family with her, that was the lie that revolted her and made her want to run claws down his skin instead of a comforting paw.

But Emersyn was more composed than to let her hurt fester into anger. She had been made a fool of, but it was Indigo that had fucked his life up and was paying the price for it now. Thank the gods she'd convinced him that it was far too early to have pups, or it might have been her in this position! She gripped at the fur between his shoulder blades, trying to hold back the flurry of emotions stirring up inside her like a tornado making landfall. "Sounds like your sister loves you and wants you all to herself," Em surmised in as flat a voice as she could manage. "Knocking up Duchess definitely broke her heart. I don't know if that's something you can fix. Definitely not right now, maybe not ever." Em didn't give him more than a second to absorb what she said before she let the other shoe drop.

"So what are you going to do about Duchess? She betrayed you, put us all in jeopardy. Winter will be coming soon, and we haven't the resources nor manpower to care for a litter of pups and survive." She cast a frosty gaze down at Indy, raising a curious brow to hear what their fearless leader had in mind for punishing the trifling whore and making sure they all made it out alive. Because at this point, Em wouldn't hesitate to jump off this sinking ship; she would not die for Duchess' stupidity.

"Emersyn"