broken crown.

Epiphron had felt invincible once. Her ego had been fueled by the knowledge that she'd ruled the Kingdom of Seracia, with a husband whose loyalty and honor had once been unwavering -- but everything had changed. From the northern King's reign to her own husband's betrayal, to the loss of her father to her sister's maiming and her own cowardice that had led her to flee, away from family and those she held dear.


But she was not weak; she had never been weak. She would prove it to them, and take back what had been stolen from their family.


She was quiet for a moment, listening as Leo moved to speak to Caeto, her ears ringing with Arian's words. Her scent had told the story well enough, but her voice only confirmed it. She'd been in Azalea's pack. Her single tattered ear twitched as though in reminder for what she had tried to take from her niece -- and what Epiphron had lost in turn. "I don't know what Azalea has told you, if anything," she began softly, eying Arian and the child at her side cautiously. This was one of her family members, and she felt the air deflate from her lungs at the realization that she was of her own blood. "I challenged Azalea. I sought to blind her in one eye, but did not succeed." Would her children blame her? Admittedly it hadn't been the best decision, but it'd been fueled by rage and the possibility of her brother's death. The mere possibility of losing Syrinx had pushed her over the edge.



"I could not bear to see Azalea abandon her family to live and thrive among those that ruined her. The ones that took her from her family, forced children upon her, the ones who maimed my own sister." Beautiful Chrysanthe had been forever marred by the Glaciem Queen and she would never forgive her for it. "It killed me to see her sitting with them as though she had forgotten all the injustice that had been done to her. I fear as though she's been brainwashed, and I wanted her to remember who her real amily was." she said finally, her voice soft, defeated almost. It wasn't as though she was trying to convince Arian anything, but simply explaining, something she hadn't been able to do for quite some time.


But at the mention of Neo, briefly forgotten in her own hurried speech, she found her breath catching in her throat. Her estranged brother had dared even touch her daughter? The woman's lips quivered, vibrating as a growl threatened to leave her lips. "That bastard," she would breath, her tone harsh and hardly audible at all -- but her entire frame quivered with anger. "Did he explain anything to you?" Her worse fear was that he had tried to claim he was a member of the family, had tried to spread lies to Arian. "He is not my brother," she explained hastily before letting Arian answer her inquiry. "I've never told you about him, as I thought it best to forget him. He was taken in by my father as a child, alongside his brother, though he always acted as though he was not part of the family, as though Cairo preferred the others over him." It was a foolish notion, one she'd even laughed at in front of him. Even Collision had been as much of a son to Cairo as his blood son, Syrinx, and Neo had never been treated differently than the others. "I believe it to be a sickness of the mind. He left the family long ago and I haven't seen him since I was a yearling." Still her paws quivered, aching to instantly flee to search for him, to punish him. The need felt insatiable as she stood, studying Arian's kind face, now scarred and maimed. How dare anyone lay a paw on any of her children, especially Arian, who had always been kind of heart and willing to help those in need. It took her a long moment to calm herself, breathing evenly through her mouth as her mind whirled.