Rowen was back, more drunk than a sailor. It wasn't Raven's first time seeing the town's guards in a drunken state, in fact, he could've sworn that he'd seen Tanya's husband in the maze. But none of it mattered at the moment as they were already struggling to put him in a chair.
"W-whwaaa awery d–heeere?" He asked, looking at Aura as the trio set him on the dining chair.
'Doesn't seem like he noticed I'm even here.' Almost as if he was a ghost Raven felt like the man was looking right through him, not even recognizing his presence, his attention seemed split between his own wife and sister-in-law.
"That doesn't matter right now, you just sit here okay?" Too embarrassed after how far she'd let Raven take things with her, Aura didn't wanna say much and even her plans to expose Tanya's infidelity were now thrown out the window.
"Drunk again…" Folding her hands, Tanya settled down in a chair beside Rowen. Her face contorted with anger, she was less pleased about the whole situation, especially because of his abhorrent timing. "Why did I even marry you? You drunk!"
"Tanya!" Yelling at her sister, Aura got her attention to shift to her. "Not the time for this drama, okay? We can talk to him tomorrow."
"W-why the faa-fucckkk do you CARE IF I DRINK?!" Rowen yelled out, his words still sluggish.
"Why?!" Getting off the chair, Tanya glared him down before growling an answer. "Because we have a kid together! And I may have dealt with your antics, you-your! Creepy friends! Your drinking and even the fact that people look at me like a criminal because of your actions at the gates!
I've dealt with it throughout my pregnancy but if you keep pushing me I'll fucking dig your grave and tell you son I fucked a rabid dog and that's how he was born instead!"
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?!" Jumping out of his chair, Rowen tried to slap Tanya, but as if Raven could let that happen to one of his girls right in front of his eyes. "AGHHH!!"
Shooting a glass-like shard of darkness through Rowen's hand, the mage sent the drunk into agonizing hysterics.
"AHHHHH! G-GETT IT OUTTT!"
"What the fuck did you do?!" Aura yelled as Rowen's body fell back into his chair shaking.
'Why the fuck does every guy with a decent girl I meet is a fucking douchebag?' Clenching his fist from taking things further, Raven held back on going ahead and slapping some sense into Rowen.
Surprisingly enough, only Aura was helping the drunk while the man's wife simply stared at him in disgust.
"W-WHO THE FU-FUCK ARE YOU TO CARE WHAT I DO IN MY HOUSE?!" Rowen screamed, finally recognizing Raven's presence. The mage simply stared at him, not uttering a word, nor trying to intimidate him into silence. Just the sight of a man using alcohol as his crutch made him realize what the problem was.
"Didn't find any visitors to abuse today? No pockets to empty gold out of?"
"Enough!" Aura yelled, her eyes red with rage.
"UGHHH!" As she turned her attention back to Rowen's hand, he screamed in pain while she finally pulled the shard out.
Throwing it to the side, her eyes quickly shifted to Tanya, but staring right back, the new mother made sure her sister knew that she wasn't having any of her nonsense.
"Mother would be so fucking proud of you for standing there and watching the man she chose be stabbed by a stranger you've been fucking behind his back…" She complained, and the drunk's pain was quickly accompanied by grand horror.
"WHAT?!" Wide-eyed like an owl, he glared at Tanya. "YOU FUCKING WHORE!"
Jumping back up on his feet, he looked around for a weapon. Spotting a knife he tried to swing it–his drunken mind too shortsighted to realize that he was repeating the same mistake.
"AND YOU HAD THE AUDACITY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ME TRYING TO FEED THIS FAMILY THROUGH GOL–" Halfway through his swing, Raven grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight enough to make Rowen drop the knife. "UGHH! SHHITTTT…"
Gritting his teeth in pain, he looked at Raven and banged his head into him. But not recognizing the difference in strength, the only thing he managed to do was give himself a concussion. Falling to the ground and howling in agony, Rowen kept cursing everyone around him, even Aura who was the only one trying to help him.
"You deserved that," Tanya whispered before turning around to go back to her bedroom and attend to the crying baby.
She'd lost all hope in her husband as a man, but she still was the mother of his offspring.
'I wish I wasn't…' She thought while making her way to the bedroom, but quickly brushed those thoughts off.
"Goddess, damn you all, this is just a fucking mess! I'm leaving!" After being insulted by Rowen's curses, Aura didn't hang around and headed right for the exit.
Left alone with the drunken man, Raven watched him flailing around until he soiled himself on the floor before drifting off to sleep. What carried next was silence with the gentle cooing of the baby in another room, all the while, Raven wondered what he was supposed to do next.
Being a Fae he wasn't too inclined to find hope for the man in some dark corner. And since he already knew Tanya and her husband's relationship was now essentially over, he wanted to know where exactly he fits in.
Raising another man's child wouldn't be his first choice, not just because he simply didn't want to, but due to the fact that his very core as a fae spelt murder for his partner's children.
'I should get going, staying here isn't a good move…' Feeling the fairy urge to choke the life out of another man's child–just so he could have his own, Raven didn't waste another moment to leave the house undetected by Tanya.
'I don't wanna make her choose.' Recognizing that either way someone would suffer, he didn't want to make a choice based on haste. He'd never felt such visceral hate towards another person, and yet his fae side was urging him to end another man's blood and sow his own in his woman.