the devil is & always will

Sven could see the mixture of responses within the boy's eyes, not yet trained to adeptly hide what was occurring behind them. More and more the youth was inadvertently causing him to feel nostalgic. For his own youth, and for those days when Attica had been his everything. He decided, in that moment, that childhood, when not drowned with strife, was a precious thing. That unexpected urge he had felt in the Spring was reinforced into something more substantial and real as he spoke with Romanov, sharing their collective history. He had wanted to do all of the adult things, just to prove himself. Not to the pack, but to himself. He had an inkling now that come the snow's thaw, he would be fighting for the same right, but for a very different reasons.

Sven wanted very much to be a father.

"Angier Lyall. The son is Niles, and he's still out there somewhere I'm sure. Crawled away on his belly when faced with what he'd done, rather than owning up to it and being there for the rest of his family. You see, Lyall is a poisonous name. Ravenna, she might have Angier's blood in her, but she's all Archer. Niles, however, took far too much after his father's side. None of them can be trusted. This pack had to learn that lesson the hard way, several times."

It was, perhaps, dangerous to voice these things allowed. If it got back to @Ravenna, she would be rightly pissed with him. Yet Sven wholly believed the words he spoke, and felt that the warning would serve Roman well. Even Renier had proven the worthlessness of his name in the end, and that had sealed the other family's fate in the pale Archer's mind.

But that certainly wasn't all the young man had to say to his cousin. As much as Romanov wished to ask, Sven answered, until finally the youth grew tired and agreed to accompany the elder Archer back to the pack den.

/Fade

be a gentleman.