Dragoncrest Cliffs Buffany of House Bufflepuff

That Vercingetorix was having children was news to Ephraim. The separate parts of him began to war over this news. On one hand, he was happy for the Cheka, but on the other, he was frightened for him. He felt it was inevitable that Drageda would fight again, and although he knew who they were now and wanted to believe better of them, he had some doubts about their adversaries' moral compasses. Slaying the next generation? Probably a wise move in a war, however sickening the thought was.

There was another emotion to reared its head, too, at the notion that Verx would soon have less time for the members of the pack than for his new children. It wasn't quite jealousy, but it wasn't a positive feeling either. With Tux having become reclusive since Heda's death, his tie with Bobby having faded since returning from Trigeda, his general hesitance to get to know his pack after the fighting... Verx was really the only wolf Ephraim could trust to lean on, and he supposed children would complicate that.

He didn't know what made him say it. It was incredibly cruel. If it came to a fight then he trusted Vercingetorix to have his back and knew the words he said weren't true in the slightest. There was nothing the Cheka could have done and he knew that. And yet, as the edges of his vision swam with fatigue and he swayed a little on the spot, he pinned his brother-in-arms with a tired look and quietly said, like you kept Heda safe?