Broken Antler Fen and armor beneath her skin

ingram's cheeks were wet with shameless tears; as he glanced upon praimfaya and saw how tentatively she was held together, he could not help another racking sob. his mate -- her mother -- was dead -- if they could not cry for blodreina's parting, had they ever truly loved her at all?

and then came the apology, stolen from the lips of a child who had done nothing wrong. ingram's face crumbled, and he rushed to his daughter, to hold and embrace her. "no, pri. were you the stone?" he looked upon praimfaya's features, his own face wet with tears but free of blame. "did you shake it from its spot, or push it down?" she had not, and he knew that. he had seen that. "that is life. we cannot control how it unfolds." he remarked with a bitterness to his voice, a knowing sadness that somehow lingered long after.

ingram glanced upward with a start as he heard a voice. he had been so intently focused on his daughter -- of ridding her of the guilt she had no business being saddled with -- that he had not noticed the approach of another. his gaze flickered from praimfaya to the stranger, registering it was someone his daughter knew. "blodreina is dead." ingram shared thickly, hardly able to say it himself. his voice was dull, and he felt far away from this wretched existence.. but he was here, and he could not escape it.

not until he was dead too.