Brokering deals

Walk | Talk | Think

Kylar's words, spoken with enough volume to deliberately be heard, were taunting and overconfident. Obviously the wannabe dad felt that he had the boys already within his grasp, that they would choose him over the two wolves who had striven to take care of them and their ailing mother up until the end. Rune was naturally offended and stared at his deadbeat father through a hardened glare, feeling the wounds upon his neck protest faintly under the tension that knotted his frame. Alamea of course remained the voice of reason, speaking the words that Rune was not altogether sure he would have been able to say himself. He did not want the boys here with this man, with these wolves. But neither did he want to prevent them from making their own choices.

He still clung to the hope that the boys would choose to come home, to return to Secretua and the life they once had, but that fragile wish cracked when Colten, who had quietly sneaked up beside his brother, answered the question that had been lingering upon the air. He wanted to stay. And not only that, but Amarant did too. He might have cried out at first, might have tried to sway his brother into changing his mind, but he too wanted to remain in Arcanum. The tension in Rune's body slackened and suddenly he felt weak. How could he fight to bring them home when neither wished to be there? What had Kylar done?

Feeling at odds with himself, Rune did not immediately try to speak. He wanted more than anything to keep the boys safe, to protect the last remaining fragment of his sister that he had left, the two nephews that he had watched grow. But they chose danger, they chose a woman whose mind was twisted and a man who would likely break their hearts because he could not love them the way they deserved. He could not say anything regarding their choice to remain in Arcanum - anything he would have said would have been entirely against it and arguing was not going to get him anywhere in this situation.

But he had to make one thing clear. "Secretua is your home," Rune stated, "no matter what." His ice blue gaze shifted between Amarant and Colten, his words meant for them alone regardless of who listened. "You will always be welcomed there. Always." Just because they chose Arcanum, just because they had been twisted by whatever stories their grandfather fed them, did not mean he was going to turn his back on them. He was still their uncle, their protector, their guardian. His home would forever be theirs.