ESKEL .ᐟ

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ i had been 𝐥͟𝐨͟𝐬͟𝐭 to you , @fangedtenacy .⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ( oh , your love is 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 . . . )

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

https://t.co/gbrbFsOuSc

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

< what they were both capable of , so he could start figuring an escape plan .

he had deliberately not told damian anything , even malavai didn’t know where he was going .

nobody was coming for them .

if they were going to make it , they had nobody to count on but each other .

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

while cassair is thinking of damian , eskel thinks of malavai ; of the agony and desperation in his friend’s eyes when he had found out what eskel had done . he seemed almost 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 by it , as though startled by the force of his own horror .

he won’t let him lose him . >

[* 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐑. @fangedmelodics]

~ placed in the path of danger.

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

< out of his battered face . it hurts to see what he has been through , far more than any injury of his own .

“ what have they done to you ? do you remember ?”

as little as he actually wanted to hear it , he needed to know what exactly cassair had suffered . he needed to know >

[‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎* 𝓒𝑬́𝑳𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑬 . @etoileducieI]

https://t.co/dAqiwUen79

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

< he knows he’d rather die than that .

“ we’ll get out of here ,” he promises instead . “ and we’ll make sure none of these men tell anybody shit .”

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

eskel falls quiet — not because he has nothing more to say , but because he respects cassair too much to not do as he asks .

he wants to believe him but he knows he never will . even in the state cassair is in , he is sacrificing himself to keep eskel comfortable . >

[* 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐑. @fangedmelodics]

~ holding the wolf up, and the fact that they could be listening in on their conversation.

this will not be easy to explain, and he knows this as his throat begins to constrict.

“they. . .wish to know the whereabouts of the other vipers, I assume under the orders of ehmyr.”

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

< and sweat that clings to their skin .

“ 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙞𝙡𝙛𝙜𝙖𝙖𝙧𝙙 ,” he snarls , his voice taking on the timbre of a landslide . the scar at his hip aches . could they truly never have one day of peace ?

he doesn’t need to ask if cassair had told them anything . >

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

< maybe he should’ve listened to the viper after all .

he dug his fingers into a bruise blooming over his thigh to stop himself passing out again .

“ what did they do to you ? what do they want ?”

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

eskel’s hands were clumsy and bloodstained but he grabbed at cassair nonetheless , trying to find any injured spot he could to hold him close .

guilt and pain threatened to overwhelm him at the sight of his brother , bloodied and beaten .

cassair had been through so much . >

[* 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐑. @fangedmelodics]

~ barely form a breath. continuing to clean away the red from eskel’s forehead.

“are you alright? how is your vision, can you see me?”

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

< “ cass , i’m so sorry . this is my fault . you shouldn’t be in here , they wouldn’t have caught you if i had just —“

he forced himself upright and his vision went white for a second . he shook his head to clear it and the momentum almost made him sick . >

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

< and as frustrating as it was he allowed his muscles to relax .

he didn’t know how to speak to her in return , so he simply 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 as loud and clear as he could .

‘ 𝙞 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 .’

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

the dimeritium cuffs shone in the dim lamplight of the herbalist’s shop .

it felt to eskel like the temperature in the room dropped by several degrees , as though the accursed metal was sapping the very life out of the room as it consumed the chaos of everything around it . >

[‍ ‍𝐘𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐑 . ࣪˖𖤐 @chaosornery]

( & ) ‘ 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴, 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳. ’

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

< before they had a chance to flee .

whatever her plan was , eskel had no choice but to go along with it . . . even as rage gripped him as he watched the cuffs snap tightly over her slender wrists .

he heard her voice in his mind confirming what he already suspected , >

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

< he tried to sit up but his left shoulder screamed . they had torn the bolt out , but it was likely that it had done some damage to the bone beneath .

eskel ignored it . all his attention was on cassair , blurry eyes scanning his brother’s form for signs of severe injury .

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

eskel drifted , for a while .

he felt cold and hot by turns , and was briefly sure he could hear someone speaking to him from time to time .

that didn’t seem right . eskel was dead . he had failed in his mission , and so he had been kiIIed . >

[* 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐑. @fangedmelodics]

~
this should never have happened.
it was all his fault.

“eskel. . .” he whispers, despite knowing the wolf is still unconscious. he cannot stop himself as he leans forward to gently rest his forehead on the other’s. “I’m so sorry.”

[ESKEL .ᐟ @lupuscicatrix]

< clarity returned to him in full .

poisoned , but not dead . cold ground beneath him . trapped in a room with dark walls and heavy , rotten beams .

he had failed , but they had not killed him for it . instead they had thrown him in alongside —

   “ cass ?”

>