He can hear Wolfe's words, feel the shuddering in the chest beneath his face that betrays his own grief, but he just can't stop. Each attempt to find calm and fold it all back down again is met with another tearing sob and shudder that wracks through him and fresh tears fall.

It takes a lot longer to get out than he'd like.

Eventually, the spasms of his breathing slow and his fingers uncurl from his shirt to bury in the sand under Hawke's shoulder instead. The sounds fade, the tears run out, and his uneven breathing has him shifting to better lay on top of his boyfriend to recover. He feels...hollowed. Scraped out. Whether it's a good thing or not was still uncertain, but the anger he'd felt since the Zoo had faded at long last, at least.

"Caleb's gone." He croaks out and clings to Wolfe. "I'm so tired, Wolfe...I want to be there for my people, for you, but I...I'm not very good at it, I guess." Not if he's going to break down on one of them like this. "Fairly certain a king's meant to do better."