Dawnlark Plains Where the heart is

his face cracked into a grin at sunny's admission regarding fire, though he quickly tempered it into something gentler as the boy's eyes cast downward in shame. before he could soothe him, he had moved on, mentioning undersea and--oh. his stomach twisted violently, sudden tears blurring his eyes.

"seelie had pups?" aditya asked, voice hoarse. "how--how many? are they all okay? is she okay?" he blinked the moisture from his gaze, looking away. he hadn't even known she was pregnant. it was one thing for the black seawolf to be bound to stockholm through promise; now, their children indelibly tied them together, and nothing he could do or say would change that. the improbable was now impossible.

in comparison, the situation with dawn seemed almost trivial. he cleared his throat, giving sunny a long look before continuing. "we both made mistakes," he answered, choosing not to malign the young man's sister, though part of him desperately wanted to. after all, he had slipped, too. "she was selfish, and i acted out of anger. it was better for us to. . .separate." that was all he wanted to say on the matter; any more information he wanted could be gleaned from dawn.