Heartbroken, the red mare watches as the colt flinches from her as if expecting her to rain blows on his frail little body. As if she, despite the hundreds of hours they had spent together, wherein he'd been showered with dozens of kisses and cuddles and hugs, no longer mattered. The guilt that rushed in to fill the void where her happiness had been was powerful and her throat constricted with the weight of it. She might as well have been the one to strike him, she thought. She was the reason this had occurred. The only reason why Cullen's attention had returned to the Ridge.

If it weren't for her, Hades would still be whole.

Thankfully, Faolain is quick to join them and the red mare moves to allow the black matriarch the room to touch him. She may not have given birth to the fiery colt, but she may as well have. It was rare to find either Guardian without the other nearby, and even less likely to see them without their small sun in tow. The Ridge Queen turns to Siobhan, and they share a moment of silent, worried understanding. Sio did not need words to understand the grief and fear that Faolain was experiencing.

Her attention returns to the auburn colt as he perks up at the sound of the black mare. It gives her some small shred of hope to see Hades rouse when he realizes who is near, but her sigh of relief stops mid-exhale as his face turns toward them. Or rather, what was left of his face.

Silent tears rise and fall, bathing her cheeks in salty tracks as she stands frozen, her heart breaking. Siobhan can't move for fear of making some sound of dismay or anguish; she is terrified that if she does, it will be even worse for him. Like with a baby, she prays and prays and prays to the gods that she does not believe in that if she just doesn't acknowledge it, he won't either. That he won't know, like she does, that this wound will not go away. Not the mark on his face or the furrows on his precious heart.

She had done this.

Directly, indirectly, it didn't matter. Her selfishness had led them down this path, and now it was Hades that would be forever marked by her inability to simply accept her fate. Shakily she breathes in, her limbs suddenly weak. Siobhan shifts to stand against the black mare, hoping that they can provide each other support as they try to hold it together for Hades.

She gives the mother and son time to reconnect, and raises her head to the sky. Ostensibly, it is to clear the tears that still trail haphazardly across her cheeks, but as her gaze finds the rising sun, she swears to never allow anything like this to happen again. Even if it meant handing herself over and walking into the lion's den without negotiation, she would do it. She would never risk anything like this happening ever again. She couldn't.

Swallowing hard, she offers a strained smile to the two of them, and as he reaches for her again, his tiny mouth champing as if he were still terrified that they would injure them, she brushes her muzzle gently against him. "Alright wee lad," she says with as much calm as she can cobble together. The tremble in her body that has not ceased since she attempted to press her body against Faolain's belies her outward calm, but she does her best to hide it from him. "Why don't we get you cleaned up, hmm?"

She doesn't want to. She doesn't want to see the truth of the wound or the other marks that lay across his fragile little body. But she knows that if they do not clean him now, the wounds could fester and worsen. Still, the thought of Rivaini seeing him like this - bloody and broken and terrified - hurts her heart, and she wonders if they can at least do this much for the first time mother. If they can just take the worst of it off, perhaps it will not shatter Rivaini's heart… just break it. "Then maybe Fae can take you to go see your momma for a drink, hmm?"