Ravensblood Forest she loves me and all you got was a bullet

i wrote you a novel, haha. no need to match the length! <3

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It is true that several times in his ire at Olive and Dakarai that he has thought that he does not give a fuck about their children — for Olive’s foolish actions had put them directly in danger from Blackfeather Woods and he cannot help the ‘well if they don’t care then why should I’ attitude that inspired within him — but was there true weight in that thought or was it simply borne of his annoyance and his desire to ensure The Family’s safety while others so carelessly did not give thought to it? As far as the Fearghal monarch could recall he’d never hurt a child in his life. Arturo is a father first and foremost. He had known he would be a father long before he knew his mother would promote him. The gangster is softer around children, perhaps on the belief that they are his only redemption ark. His own or others it does not matter: and that should be obvious enough with Chusi. She was his daughter in every way that counted to him despite that she was not from his own loins. “I am not disappointed in the fact that you and Olive had children, Dakarai.” Arturo corrects him before he could continue. “I am disappointed at how carelessly Olive disregarded their lives by trespassing in Blackfeather Woods and I am disappointed in the fact that it potentially put The Family at risk.” Arturo speaks truthfully, hiding the exasperation he feels at the whole ordeal. He does not understand why Olive and Dakarai think him the villain in this situation when they had started all this and Arturo is facing the looming sword that he will likely have to try to end it before it erupts into all out war with Blackfeather Woods. The worst part is, that this is Dakarai’s second offense of trespassing on their borders; why either of them thought it would be a good idea was beyond Arturo’s comprehension.

“I feel that you and Olive do not understand the weight of the privilege of being able to breed. Originally, my intention was not to let anyone breed until Teaghlaigh has survived it’s first year,” Somewhere his mind had changed from winter to a year until …it changed again. “And though you are still new in the eyes of The Family Olive isn’t. She has been beside me through thick and thin and I wanted to do that for her, wanted to show my faith, my trust, my gratitude if it is what she wanted, but there has to be some give and take. My condition was that you were both to help me recruit so that our litters would not suffer and our children would not die from lack of resources.” Arturo stands by it still; but if the children are the balance between life and death of Teaghlaigh …he likes to think that he can do what is necessary though deep down he knows he could never intentionally take a child’s life. He is too weak to do that but he does not expect Dakarai and Olive to know that. “As it stands Olive’s injuries might have affected your children more than she knows. Some or all might be born still. It was stupid.” Plain and simple. “I would have rather Olive didn’t make the foolish decision in the first place,” Arturo is honest as he speaks, his salmon pink tongue drawing across his jowls. His jaw clenches for a long moment as his bones work in tandem with one another as he thinks, as he listens. “Let me ask you, in turn, if you were in my position, if Lotte and I had trespassed into Blackfeather Wood’s pack and returned covered in wounds: what would you do? I understand why it was done, I would have ran into the flames that day for Lotte if it meant I could save her even if it meant burning alive myself,” He has never told anyone that: not even Lotte. He runs off the assumption that his nightingale knows that he would, that he loves her that much (but this is mostly because he is not overly poetic with his words). “but every one of us in Teaghlaigh is representative to this Family and sometimes our choices might bring The Family into danger. So, what would you do in my position? Would you feel that Lotte and I should deal with some sort of consequence for it?” He asks because he wants Dakarai to truly think about it: to think about what he would do if he were in Arturo’s position. Perhaps Dakarai would not think that if Blackfeather Woods showed up it would mean punishment but then again Arturo understands they are two very different people.

Arturo offers Dakarai a heavy sigh but does not respond right away. He thinks about how Olive doesn’t like to be confined but children were confining — they needed stability in their lives. Arturo had thought that the two of them were ready to be parents and now he is not so sure. “I will not harm your children, Dakarai. I spoke that they could come into the world and if nothing else I am a man of my word.” Besides the fact that he adored children and that by allowing other couples to breed this broadens the pool that he can choose from as his Heirs as opposed to just choosing his own children time after time but Arturo does not feel so inclined as to show that much of himself. “I do not despise you Dakarai,” Arturo begins, returning to Dakarai’s first comments. “If I did I would have never let you in Teaghlaigh in the first place,” He comments, the smoky timbre of his voice simple. “I am not yet sure what to make of you, admittedly. You must stop trespassing in other pack territories, for your own sake and for Teaghlaigh’s,” Besides Teaghlaigh had no real medic and there was a heightened liability for infection and potential death. “I am hard on you. I am hard on you because Olive has become like a little sister to me and she is heavily influenced by you and what you do.” He can’t help but be protective over Olive and he is protective over her in the same way an older brother is protective when his baby sister brings home a bad boy. This is not easy for Arturo to admit but he knows that if he wants any hope of him and Dakarai being able to understand one another then he was going to have to be transparent about himself.

“We do not have to be opposing forces Dakarai. I want our children to grow up surrounded by a tight knitted Family, not a Family at war with itself.”

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