Heavy Lies the Crown

While he spoke his troubles to her, Resin was silent and attentive. That all abruptly changed when Artorias asked for her opinion on what he should do, and the answer he received from his spectral mother was not what he had been expecting. Let her fall. The shock on Artorias' face looked like he'd been slapped by her words. He gazed in stunned silence at the ashen fae, her hardened expression betraying no emotions—or perhaps revealing an entire lack of them—and giving away nothing. She repeated those words that Bowen had said to him before, words that she had said as well when he had been an adolescent. He hated those words with an intensity. Resin explained her stance and perspective, and while she held some kernels of wisdom, he didn't know if he could fundamentally agree with everything she said. Resin was a much harder character than he was. Perhaps his love for Bowen had softened him some, but he couldn't just throw up his walls and keep her at bay while he watched her struggle and suffer. It didn't sit right with him... but then what else could he do? He'd tried comforting her, tried reassuring her, tried to help guide her to a solution. None of it had been of any help and he was starting to get to the end of his rope. Constant failure frustrated him. Maybe Bowen really was beyond saving...

Amidst his depressing thoughts, Artorias felt his mother's strong foreleg catch him around the back and pull him into an embrace. The sullen scowl slipped from his face and he gasped in surprise, feeling no warmth coming from her, yet feeling the texture of her gray coat as if she had never left him. Artorias' heart ached, and he reached a large azure paw up to wrap around Resin's shoulders to embrace her back. Even in death, a mother's love held a special sort of magic to it. Resin imparted one last bit of advice to him: follow his heart when deciding the best course of action. Right now, Art didn't trust his heart very much to make sound decisions. "I might have to do that," he muttered to himself, dejected eyes turning downward. "I don't know what else to do..." The Carpathian brute could think of one wolf he could turn to for help rehabilitating a broken soul and start building Bowen's self-esteem back up, but it would mean doing the one thing he swore he wouldn't do: let her go.

There was only one more thing weighing on his mind, but it was also the most important one of all. Oxx Carpathius. Amber eyes narrowed into deadly, furious points. "I met Oxx," he said, deep voice hard and edged with venom. His gaze turned back up to Resin, not glaring at his mother per se, but far more aggressive and resolved. "He's attacked our family numerous times now, Mom. He assaulted Gwyn, he maimed Rudy, he tried to kill Bowen, he desecrated your grave, and he..." The words caught in Artorias' throat. He couldn't say what Oxx had done to him, how he had been violated by his own adoptive brother. It still made him feel like less of a man because of it. "...He brutalized me and almost drowned me." There was a hard conviction in the young alpha's voice as he relayed all the atrocities and crimes her son, his brother had levied against the Hallows and their family. It was all a set up for the next thing he said. "I'm going to kill him for what he's done, Mom. I don't know how yet, but I will. But I need to know about him. Anything you can tell me that might help me or give me an edge when I face him again. Because next time... one of us isn't going to be walking away."

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Argent"