Ouroboros Spine xlvvi. ringing in my head, when you broke my chest

Her heart stopped.

Lótë had readied herself for the inevitable but somehow it still came as a shock. She actually flinched where she had lowered herself over the children. It was in that moment that the dove realized she would not, could not accept such a fate for her baby. 

The mouse's temper, so rarely seen and by none in their village thus far, reared its head in the form of bared fangs and hackles spiking from betwixt harshly pinned ears down the length of her spine. The acrid scent of her terror filled the ulaq and a rumble began to pick up in her throat like distant thunder -- in the event she should need to call for Shikoba's help. 

The dove dared not look away from him but moved to tuck the puppies closer against her, away from the spiritbear's reach. 

"They will not be prodded and poked like some cursiosity. Not 'it' -- Ink is a child of the spirits, your child nonetheless," she admonished him without shame, voice low and gravelly with barely contained venom. "If that is how you feel, then bite your tongue and go back where you came from."

She cursed silently as her pale emeralds welled up with tears. Even so, she did not soften -- remaining perched protectively over the lot of them, not trusting herself to let go of even one of the nestlings in such a vulnerable position. 

"If that's how you feel upon returning home and meeting your children then I was wrong to speak for you. You are not Adrastus -- not the one I knew."