Weth's tears, so very rare, made Loki's heart crumble. "Oh, Weth," he breathed, curving his neck around to tuck his muzzle against neck. He tried to steady his breathing, but each wracking sob cracked his heart to pieces. He wanted nothing more to curl around her and block out the world, stop her from ever being hurt...
Weth had begun to speak again. Loki's ears flicked forward intently to catch her words through what was left of her tears. Even so, for a moment he thought he hadn't heard. His mind went completely blank, and he just stared silently at the ground as he processed it. When he was gone, Hroovitnir would...
It hit him suddenly as a sharp, painful gasp of air rushed into his lungs. Oh gods. Oh dear gods, he'd... but...
Loki's forelegs trembled. If he hadn't been sitting, his legs likely would have given out completely. A shaky, queasy feeling rose in his chest, a sick feeling that quickly turned to a blinding rage. The urge to taste blood, to rend and tear and destroy Hroovitnir for what he had done... and just as quickly the rage dropped with sickening intensity into guilt. His fault. How could he have missed it? If he'd been paying attention, if he'd taken care of his little sister the way he should have, none of this would have...
His body would have been shaking with the intensity of the emotion rushing through him had he not had his jaw clenched tightly against it, trying to shield Weth from his emotions the way he should have shielded her from Hroovitnir years ago. Failed, he'd failed her, and...
If Hroovitnir had still been alive, Loki would have made the long trek back to the old bastard's territory at a sprint and ripped him apart, slowly and tortuously. But Hati had already killed him, a disappointingly clean death in a petty fight over control of a pack Hati didn't even want, had in fact immediately abandoned...
A sudden suspicion wormed it's way into his tortured heart. Hati had killed Hroovitnir. He'd obviously not wanted the leadership that had been the source of the disagreement, so why?
"Did Hati know?" His voice was rough with barely suppressed emotion, a far cry from the smooth, debonair young man he usually was. He didn't know why it was so important for him to know if Hati knew; his mind latched on to that one thought, sank its teeth in and wouldn't let go. His mind desperately trying to shield itself from the cycle of hurt and self-loathing passing through him at whirlwind speeds. "Oh gods, Weth, I..." he shook his head, jaw working but the words wouldn't come free. "Weth, I'm so sorry, I.. I.." Failed. That was the word that stuck so painfully in his chest. Failed his sister, failed to protect her from their monster of a father, failed to even notice that anything was wrong.
"Speech"
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