Hideaway Strath too soon

I can’t leave now. For a second, Arturo ceases to be selfish and that second is all that is needed. It reminds him that Hemlock is his wife, too, that she has Lotte too; and that they are all they have left. Monster or not, he can’t leave her. He won’t; but he can’t stay here, either. He cannot stay in this false paradise as wrought with death as Ravensblood has been. Arturo has always known his business is a dirty, bloody one; but he’d never wanted the blood of those he cared about on his paws. Yet, his paws are saturated with blood. Furiosa’s, Palisander’s, Roarke’s …possible Mallaidh’s and now his nightingale’s. Blood that is not of enemy’s but of the wolves he has cared for the most in this world. Arturo Fearghal is not a good man and he has received what he has given the world; but instead of turning him to a path of virtue it only twists him further. Stealing away what little redemption he has left. Defining him further in the art of villainy. The torture, the grief, the pain it only makes him want to do worse. Because why bother being good when the world is so very far from virtuous?

“Hemlock,” The gangster’s smoky voice is thick, a choked croon; and he clings to her as if she is his last salvation. Because she is. “It is toxic here. I do not want our children born here.” Cursed. Perhaps it is Teaghlaigh that bears the curse …and if that is the case then Arturo is gladly ready to part with it. To let it vanish into the depths of hell where it belongs. Or perhaps it is Arturo himself that bears the curse …in which case he would be relieved to end it. To let the witch doctor back into his mind, into his bones and skin and seek the peace that which beckons him from the darkest corner of his mind. Arturo is certainly vulnerable to it now.

“We tell them, but first we bury her body. I don’t want them to see her like this.” Not like this. He wants them to remember their mother how she was in life. Beautiful, vibrant and fierce: a goddess among mortals. “It's a nightmare I would not subject them to.” A nightmare that he will see every time he closes his eye for the rest of his life as long as it will be.