Cornflower blue eyes noticed how awkward the other seemed in her shape, wrapping her arms around herself so much like she did. The other luperci in the clan had told her to stand stronger, and so she’d worked hard to present a concrete front like she did on four limbs, but she would never be as comfortable in her optime form as the one she had been born in. She still hated, and regretted, and dreamed.
“I was too,” Vesper said in the same tone, although sympathy softened the corners of her lips slightly. It was obvious from her low tail how she thought of that, and perhaps the number of knife scars dotting her back was evidence of how she’d been changed. It didn’t take much to remember the details of that fight.
Her expression hardened slightly as the other coywolf mentioned excuses—but she was just as angry at herself as she was at the weakest daughter of Winter. She’d been too pathetic to fight her way to safety, to resist a little more, but at least that was expected. Ves could easily have pursued her father once she’d woken, her blood clotted.
Sparrow looked like she was trying to hide within herself, but Vesper would not take the question away. She wanted to know what she had failed to prevent, even if she listened to her sibling’s soft words with dread in her heart. Her mouth slackened in horror, a step taken toward the young woman before she stopped herself. “No,” she whispered, but she could only imagine from the glimpses of her father, of his arrogant grin and entitled swagger, the ease with which he swatted her away. He had done the unthinkable to their mother, had instilled a terror in the small fighter that influenced her sexuality as much as the wiring of her brain did. She’d been spared, but…
Vesper made a silent vow in that moment, locked it away. She brought the broken pieces of herself back together and listened expressionlessly, standing strong for herself and for her baby sister.
“This is Inferni, and I am here as its subleader,” the scarred coywolf said, pride creeping into her voice. Pride had always been her sin; doubtless shy Sparrow would recognize the familiar way it changed her posture and her tone. “And you’ll do more than say hello. There are wolves in these parts—and while I don’t share the same belief as my clan that every wolf is evil, these are. You aren’t safe.”
There was a flash of uncertainty, but she stepped a little bit closer and flicked her dark-tipped tail. “You should stay. For as long as the fighting continues, at least, and forever if you manage to find loyalty here. I won’t have you—” Her voice faltered, and humbly she lowered her eyes.
“I won’t have you hurt because of me again…sister.”
Word Count → 483
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