Incredibly the jaws of Artemis would open and free the dark jowls of Devya. Relief could be seen across his features as his body relaxed into a more presentable state. It seemed it would not become as heated as he had theorized. Artemis would follow his instruction and Devya would slowly find her way to her feet. He would resist giving her any sign of affection, but would stand neutrally as he prepared for the question that was to reach his pale ears. ?She deserves our spite; does she not?? How could he explain to her what it was that caused his action when he could hardly understand himself. Devya had come to hold such a place in his heart, he was unsure how to explain everything that had happened. She had shown him kindness when no other had. He was sure Artemis had not experienced the same. Their mother was the last wolf to show her children empathy or compassion. He had learned all of it from their father, who had been banned from seeing his children shortly after. How could he make Artemis see? Artemis.. Ares would heave a sigh as he tried to find the right words to explain, She has earned my respect. obviously it was not through battle, though both of the young wolves before Artemis had been bested by her. Speech,

A smirk contorted her blood-caked countenance as strings of her own saliva dripped from her velveteen lips, failing to hit the center of her adversary's face in favor of the side of the sable brat's face courtesy of her own sideways motion. Her defeated opponent would not take kindly to the viper's act of contempt, allowing her hind limbs to shoot up with the intentions of impacting her stomach but missing their target as the babe removed herself from atop the brat, hind paws barely grazing the interior of her left thigh, extracting a wry snicker from the babe rather than a growl as she registered the attempted assault. "Perhaps you should show more appreciation towards the one who spared you," the wench hissed as she lingered by the side of her opponent, skull lowered to bring her muzzle nearer to the brat's own. Mismatched gaze would narrow slightly before her lids draped over a single lens, throwing a wink towards her fallen adversary before whispers meant only for the sable bitch vacated her unhinged jaws: "Had he not shown, the tale you'd bring home to my father would be much different -- understand?" Once she had maneuvered a safe distance away from the sable brat and her infuriated sibling out of confusion rather than intimidation, the babe allowed her skull to lower over her breast and her tail to unfurl near her ankles, the very tip flicking minutely with impatience as she awaited an answer to her voiced question. The sable brat would dare navigate to her brother's side as if to instigate further conflict, and the phantom child would react immediately, skull ascending from its position lowered over her chest in protest, irritation evident in her stance as her pupils attempted to interlock with her sibling's own, gaze tacitly speaking against Devya's choice and demanding her brother remove himself from his close proximity to the brat. Ears would careen forward as her brother spoke her given moniker with conflicting tones, an exasperated sigh following suit before he granted her with undesirable information. The rage that had previously wracked her countenance faded then as her mismatched gaze bore into the lavender of her brother's, succumbing to silence for a long moment as negative emotions seared through her diseased mind. Pain was the only thing that the viper could register, but it was not only the physical pain of her injuries that affected her; the mere fact that again another of her family members had stepped to the aide of the sable brat rather than their own flesh and blood anguished her, and she couldn't quite understand it. "Had you been here five minutes sooner, I wonder if you'd feel the same," the babe spoke, speech emotionless as it typically was. She would not diverge on the topic of Devya's disrespect to both she and their mother, but would instead leave it up to her brother's imagination, hoping that he would see the brat for who she was: foolish and weak. After all, her sibling ought to have known she would not have attacked so ruthlessly without good reasoning; but then again, he had abandoned her in favor of the sable brat, so there was not much he could possibly know about her.

The girl would not stop talking. Her rebuttal had missed miserably. Irritation flooded her, enhanced by the pain in her side. Her mind barely registered the words that were spat at her. "You mean our father." She knew of the girls pride, and the way she despise her. Lips curled back, barely noticeable. The pale bitch wanted no association with herself, and the fact that they shared a father, biological or not, should be just enough to get under a skin, whether or not she chose to show it. As she stood besides Ares, the immediate irritation on Artemis's face was nearly priceless. The girl was outraged by their proximity and the fact that Ares had no moved away from her. She let a neutral mask slip over her face as the girl spoke again, attempting to have her sibling second guess the intentions of the sable girl. It never crossed her mind how both Ares and Seraphim had chosen her of Artemis, when Seraphim adopted her, and now when Ares chose to defend her. Her focus was on the pallid wench, waiting for Ares to speak. She did not expect this to go over well. She remained silent, simply watching and waiting. Waiting for an explosion from her adversary. Pain still clouded the edges of her vision, her side throbbing. Her breathing had slowed, but every breath she took was setting fire to her ribs. Speech,