Neverwinter Forest kill the messenger

arktos' moss green gaze takes in her face, soft lines and pretty curves and hears her words, putting the pieces together that she doesn't say: that she doesn't have to because he was apart of that story, eventually. in a golden plain they'd wed as strangers. a man with no past and a woman looking for her future.

he draws nearer to press his nose to her cheek, pressing a soft kiss there; because he enjoys being close to her, because he can.

i'm surprised dutch didn't snag you up first, he murmurs into her ear, offering a soft nip. then again, arktos barely knew dutch. maybe he already had a wife, but if he did he hadn't spoken of a woman that ruled beside him so arktos assumes he does not have a wife. regardless, it's my boon.

a wiry grin tugs at the corners of his mouth, green gaze glinting coyly; but he draws back slightly, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out in a heavier exhale, sobering enough from the drunken buzz she makes him feel to finally answer her.

we have options, he begins; and best they figure this out now before she went into heat, before she became pregnant. once that happened, the countdown would start. i spoke to a man from hearthwood ... though i do not know if they'd welcome a coming family, he admits, sliding that across the table but letting it sit. the uncertainty of it made him hesitant to head that way. we could start our own pack, he has a particular fondness for the plains, after all. or, we could try to salvage morningsong. is dutch a strong leader? is that why it fades? she would know better than him. probably, if they'd already conceived, he might not've even offered it as an option. but perhaps he would've. usurping held so many risks but it presents itself in his mind, all the same.

they all held their own risks, one with the worst consequences if they pursued it and it ended badly. but, there wasn't anything arktos wouldn't do for his family. lines and boundaries meant nothing, then.