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“it’s up to you nathaniel, you can either sign, or well, dr. proust can make sure that andrew minyard never is fit for leaving easthaven”
every single bone, every single muscle hurt beyond anything neil had ever lived through before, but rage was a good enough motivator to stay aware of his surroundings, to stay aware of the predators lurking in the nest, to stay aware of the psychopath threatening his family
“i told you not to touch him”
“oh but i’m not doing anything nathaniel, as i’ve been told, he has a history with self inflicted harm, sure would be a shame if he tried to hurt himself again and something bad happened to him”
nathaniel lunged forward, ready to hit to cut to kill this fucking bastard
but arms held him back, hands wrapped tightly over his arms, already filled with bruises
he was too weak to fight back, running on basically no sleep and no food for days
he couldn’t fight riko and his ravens
and worst of all was that he couldn’t stop him from hurting andrew if he was stuck inside the nest
he wasn’t dumb enough to think riko was above planning andrew’s death, he had no issues with killing seth and ordering drake’s attack, so what was stopping him from killing andrew? seth he didn’t even have personal conflict with, but andrew was already on his bad side
neil knew not to doubt monsters were capable of everything
he hoped he could be able to explain to the foxes someday, that no, he didn’t mean to leave them
this wasn’t his choice
he hoped he could explain andrew someday, that he could apologize
but no
he had to do this for them
better him than them
they didn’t deserve to be hurt because of him, andrew didn’t deserve to be hurt because of him any more than he already had been
he slumped in the raven’s hold and stared at riko with murder in his eyes when the raven king smirked
“if i ever find out you hurt him again, nothing and no one will stop me from killing you”
“i’d love to see you try, wesninski”
good, let him underestimate him, let him think he was bluffing
nathaniel looked away before riko could see his rage, his pain, his grief
“ready to sign now, nathaniel?”
he took several deep breaths
this was for the foxes, for andrew, he had no choice but to do as he was told
“where’s the fucking pen then?”