If I Was A Flower

"Truly a shame," Azalea nodded too, though her face remained devoid of emotion. The death of a pack mate meant less to her than it should. From what she understood, he had been taken largely unaware by Isardis himself. It was a shame but it wasn't sad to Azalea.

"Azalea Adravendi, the heir to the Valhallan throne, trading herself for my sister's whore of a husband?" These next words quite startled Azalea with their ferocity, her eyes growing wide as her body tensed to push her away from the ground. She remained seated however, reminding herself that Epiphron was not a threat to her. Words and nothing more. "I never knew you to be so honorable." Her ears pulled back, the fur rising on her shoulders to show her unease.

"You are more valuable than he to Valhalla.." Her aunt's words left Azalea speechless. Gideon was a whore? Her head tipped slightly. Just who had her darling aunt Chrysanthe fallen in love with?

"It will be over soon," Epiphron's words calmed her some but still her toes dug into the ground below them, working continuously to alleviate the stress ball Pip had thrown down her throat. "Childbirth is awful -- and you'll probably wish you were dead. But it truly, surprisingly, is rewarding. Do not think of them as Isardis's; you will be the one that will bring them into the world." The first line was enough to make Azalea feel a deep rooted tingle in her spine, working from her tail up to her shoulders and making her roll them as her face contorted to show just how exactly Azalea felt about all of it. It hadn't occurred to her though to think of the puppies as hers. They were a curse, set upon her by the blackest of souls. A prescription to kill her. And maybe she would die while bringing them into the world. That wouldn't be so bad, especially if they went with her.

She had so much to live for, though.

"You should try to love them. The funny thing about children, Azalea, is how much influence you have over them. They are blank slates. They will develop on their own, but you have great influence over how they become." She snorted. "I hardly have the sense to be allowed to influence children." She was a fool, a big one. She always messed up, did the wrong thing. How could she be expected to raise puppies into fine young wolves? How had she so stupidly let her childhood be ripped away so swiftly?

"Oh, and its Epsilon. Gael is Heir now." Her tone was rather flat, on one hand happy her brother had been given the spot but on the other hand childishly bitter to have lost it in the first place.