Shadowwyn Moor moulin rouge

Later, when emotions weren't so high, and she'd had time to eat and rest and find some sort of equilibrium again, Bhreac would probably be able to understand why Eshe did what she did. But now she was weary and hungry and hurting, and the implication that Eshe had seen fit to bury her whole life behind her — a life which included Bhreac — made her blood boil. She shifted her weight, digging her feet into the ground a bit and dipping her head as she tried to collect herself, and her thoughts.

Bhreac could feel herself flying off the handle, but she wasn't in the mood to correct any of it. She'd been wanting to scream for weeks — maybe months — and so maybe it was equal parts frustration with her sister and the knowledge that they'd be able to work through this later that made her so eager to snap back.

"Good luck with your new pack," Bhreac said, looking at her sister once more. "I'm sure you'll be very loyal. Fat lot of good it'll do them, though." 

Loyalty to Bhreac was an action, a promise — it was something actively done to keep those you cared for safe and out of harm's way. None of them could've prevented what happened to their pack, and some of their relatives had fought back. Bhreac wasn't exactly a behemoth, but she was quick and she knew the area, and she'd done no small amount of damage before everyone had begun to scatter. She'd always been stubborn and hard-headed, so maybe she should've run, too, but she just couldn't. Not when there'd been an ongoing threat. Not when she didn't know who was left standing, who would come back looking for a familiar face. 

She'd stayed at great personal cost to protect her family, and it had benefited Eshe, because if Bhreac hadn't stayed, they never would've found one another again, and it was unfathomable to her in the moment that Eshe couldn't see how the shedding of her skin — of her name, of which their family was vainly, excessively proud — was belittling to the sacrifices she had made, and degrading to any sense of loyalty to their family altogether.