This place always had mixed feelings stirring in Hanako’s chest. It was where her life here had began, that behind the willowed curtains shed been found, saved in a sense. Sometimes she was angry and prissy, quick to cast the blame at others but even then it didn’t make her feel much better. Sometimes late at night she would wonder, would question if why things never got better. It was so easy to see improvement in others, the strides they made to better themselves and yet here she remained, has reverted back to old habits and lines of thought. She would say she couldn’t improve perfection but it wasn’t as if that was really true. Or that she even believed that for a second.

There was so much what she considered rightfully hers and yet her paws were empty. Inaction was to blame mostly, was that why Azure had left too? But it wasn’t a matter of being good enough, she knew she was and they were so terribly perfect for one another in many ways. Was that why she missed him, even when she stomped her paws and pretended so ardently she did not?

Old wounds had long since healed, physically at least. But the marks remained, she was beautiful at a glance, a little older perhaps and not to dainty, but upon closer inspection her edges were jagged, not so feather soft. That and her tail was even shorter now, a sweet little nubbin, with a paint brush tuft at the end.

A long tendril of the willow tree coiled around her shoulder as she passed beneath, making her huff as she shrugged it off, her ears flicking slightly in disapproval.

Azure approached the Willows with a complex mix of emotions. This place, shrouded in its willowed curtains, had always held a deep significance for him. It was here that he first met Hanako. She must have felt equally reminiscent, as of all the lands in Boreas, it was here Basilisk had directed him to find her. As he made his way through the familiar landscape, memories, both sweet and painful, flickered in his mind like shadows cast by the dancing willow leaves.

He spotted her beneath the trees, her presence stirring something in him that he couldn't quite name. She seemed lost in thought, her gaze distant. Despite the changes time had wrought - the marks of life's trials etched in her fur, the shortened tail - to Azure, she remained as captivating as the day he had found her.

"I found a lone wolf here, once upon a time." Azure said, his voice low but carrying enough to reach her. His approach was cautious, respectful of the space between them that time and circumstance had created. He paused a few steps away, taking her in. "She called me 'Your Highness', and I offered her a home." There was a hint of the old warmth in his voice, a softness reserved for her alone.

It had been so long since he last looked at her. His gaze was unflinching, seeing past the physical scars to the Hanako he knew - strong, resilient, yet vulnerable all at the same time. "I was so pleased with myself for earning her favor, contented that I could manipulate another to such an extreme as to make them mine." And his she had been. She had assured him of it again and again and again, and foolishly, Azure had chosen not to believe it.  

He took another step, moving with an excess of caution, the past coming to life in his words. "But as I played the puppeteer, I didn't realize how the threads were tangling around my own four paws. I thought I was drawing her into my world, but in truth, she was leading me into hers." A faint smile touched his lips, a rare display of fondness. "She had a way of turning the tables without even trying. Of infuriating me with a single word... and of calming me with a single touch. I was so focused on winning her, I didn’t notice how deeply she won me."

Azure shook his head slightly, a wry smile playing on his lips. "Funny, isn't it? How the hunter can so easily become the hunted and not even realize it."

Hanako probably ought to have had her wits about her. You'd think after what happened she'd be more alert, more aware of her surroundings and the risks that inherently came from being alone. The world had chewed her up and spat her out once before, she knew full well it could happen again and yet-maybe she did want history to repeat itself. Just once, just here.

And yet the moment she heard his voice she found herself flinching in surprise, a muted eeep passing the pale of her lips as her coat ruffled up. All startled cat with none of the claws.

She turned on him, ears flicking horizontally as if she was mad (and she was, duh), only for them to revert back when he kept on speaking. Recalling the past, painting it in such pretty colours, an edge of affection she knew deep down was reserved for her only. And it was unfair, how opposing and conflicting all of her feelings towards him were. Azure approached, heavy bear paws thudding against the earth, and she shifted, briefly contemplating if she ought to run. If she actually wanted him to chase her.

His words were true, but they landed like flattery. She felt a tug in her chest, an urge to forgive and forget, but she was as stubborn as they came, and he'd hurt her. Hanako couldn't let go of offences so easily, her pride couldn't take another hit like that when it was already tattered around the edges. Just barely remaining stitched together.

"I didn't think you wanted me any more." Her voice was stiff, head held high with defiance shining in the ice of her gaze. She moved closer, pale brows furrowed as she stared up at him. Honestly contemplating if she should try and slap his muzzle. He deserved it as far as she was concerned.

Azure's torn ears flicked back, a subtle sign of his readiness for the impending confrontation. His steely gaze, typically wielded as a weapon, held a different kind of intensity now; one that was attuned to her every reaction. He followed her startle and then her indignation, suppressing the twitch of his lip as her body shifted. Go ahead, run. He willed her silently. Azure had always been better at the chase.

But she stood her ground. Azure found himself caught between relief that she was willing to face him, and disappointment that she was unwilling to play their game of cat and mouse. The defiance in her eyes was familiar, yet in this context, it struck a different chord. He'd seen that look before in a hundred other wolves, but never on her. Was she truly wishing to strike him, his once docile and compliant mate?

Azure's gaze lingered on her, extending the silence, a rare moment of uncertainty flickering in his eyes. He grappled with what to say - of course he wanted her, but his only evidence of such was the drug he had been feeding her to keep her addicted to his presence, and that was not exactly a conversation he was itching to have at this moment.

Finally, he stepped closer, deliberately lowering his massive head and angling it slightly to the side, offering his muzzle. "You get one," he stated plainly, his voice a deep but steady rumble. This gesture, simple yet significant, was Az's way of acknowledging her anger. Of giving her a rare moment to express it. From the corner of his eye Azure watched her, readying himself for the potential impact, and contemplating how else he could earn her forgiveness if this gesture were to fail.

She could have sworn he'd gotten taller, that in her memories he was still massive and looming, just not quite to this extent. It hadn't occurred to her that she'd somehow shrunk, a few inches shaved off of her height. She blinked owlishly as he offered his muzzle, her thoughts were clearly not well concealed, and he'd read her like an open book, saw her for who she was when everyone else just came to their own barbed conclusions. Her expression softened briefly, a surge of- honestly, unhealthy-affection swelled in her chest before she shoved it down, she was angry damn it. And she wouldn't let his stupid handsome face get him out of this quite so easily.

She saw his offer for what it was, an olive branch of sorts. A little twisted, with crumbling bark and leaves that were starting to wilt. But it was more than most offered her, aside from judgemental or snide looks, thoughts that she'd best be somewhere else.

Raising her paw, she fully intended to give him a good and solid donking on the snoot. It was what he deserved and though Mortis had tried many times to teach her to fight the lessons had never sunk in, mostly out of lack of interest really, since she'd always assumed there would be someone else there to fight her battles for her. And for the most part there had been, till there wasn't. All it took was one time, a lesson hard learned. Her hesitation was obvious in the way she shifted her paws, she knew it was an offer he didn't make lightly, so it wasn't as if he'd maul her face off for trying. Nor did she think she could even really hurt him, he was all sorts of grizzled and rugged. Her words had always cut deeper than any bite she could inflict, and in the past she'd held little back.

Bap.

She socked him across the muzzle, on the side. More of a clumsy swipe than the catty slap she'd imagined.

And she could sort of see why Azure resorted to violence so much, it felt kind of good. Not cause she wanted to hurt him, not really, but it was a release of sorts. A way to vent tension that probably wouldn't end in them having yet another explosive argument. Though, all things considered, that option wasn't off the table knowing them. She placed her paw back on the ground, her rump finding a seat before him as she looked up at him, her nose wrinkling slightly as she dug around for the words. Why was this so hard? She'd imagined a dramatic reunion a time or two, just idle fantasies as she'd sulked on her lonesome and none of them had gone quite like this.

"I'm still mad." She said, not sounding quite as ornery as she would have liked.

Azure, absorbed the impact of her pitiful bonk without a word, giving a slow, almost imperceptible shake of his head as her paw recoiled as if to clear it from the sting of the slap. "Seems like we've got a lot of that going around." He remarked dryly. As it became clear that she was not going for a second, third, or fourth blow, he brought his head back level with his shoulders.

His gaze remained fixed on her as she took a seat before him, attentive, yet wary. "Basilisk was still mad, too." He admitted. Lifting his arm and rotating it to reveal the underside, Az presented to no one in particular his newest wound. In one long and jagged motion, their son's bone spur had tore him from wrist to elbow. Placing the paw back down gingerly, he moved to mirror her seated stance.

There was a tension in the air, a delicate balance he was careful not to tip. He leaned away from her and instead into the bark of a nearby tree, resting his neck and head so that his snout was directed up into the willlows rather than at the mate he had lost. He was being exceedingly careful, treading the line between expressing his own turmoil and not exacerbating hers. This sort of passive response did not come naturally to the prince-turned-warlord-turned-rogue. Damnit, why did it all have to be so complicated?

"I heard about the flood." He offered, a stepping stone into conversation. It was a topic she could take wherever she might need, from hatred that he was not there, to the suffering he had failed to shield her from.

Hanako glanced over at him, brows furrowing slightly at the mention of her sweet boy. She struggled to imagine her son with a temper, he'd always been a gentle giant in her eyes, treated her as though she was made of porcelain. That she might shatter into pieces if he held her too tightly, or spoke too harshly. But looking at the damage he'd inflicted on Azure she had no choice but to believe it. In hindsight, it seemed inevitable really, little wonder he hadn't already lashed out in others way.

"He's a good boy, you better not have hurt him." Or else she'd what?

Watching him settle, Azure kept his distance. Perhaps wisely, though at the same time it almost felt like a rejection of sorts. If he knew what was good for him, he would have moved closer, lathered her with praise and affection and apologies. It was what she'd been expecting, in all honesty and she found the sting of offence prickling beneath her skin. Naturally, she was expecting far too much too soon, or at all when it came to Azure. Time had the potential to change some things, but a koi could never swap its spots.

At the mention of the flood, she exhaled, ears flicking again. "I never liked the Col. We should have stayed in the Plains." That was her take on the situation, not that it was terribly sad people had died. If anything, the fact that a lot of her own personal effects had either been ruined or outright lost bothered her too. All those little things Azure had gotten her, gone like she'd never had them to begin with."I'm a decent swimmer, but I think if I'd been in the Col I would have drowned too." A thought she hadn't lingered on much at all, and the way her expression creased said as much.

"Everything got worse after the move." Was her conclusion, her pretty rose-tinted glasses made life seem that way to her.

Azure absorbed her words, a palpable yet unspoken tension in the air. She expressed concern for their son, but her sharp warning left him unmoved. He understood the limits of her words; they were more a reflex of concern than a true threat. Hana knew where the lines were drawn, the unspoken rules that governed their interactions. Her challenges to his methods had always been simply a part of their dynamic. "He's fine. The smallest of scratches." He promised. Hana was free to moan and disagree, but the final authority had always been his. Az was confident that Hana trusted his judgement, even where the harshest of parenting decisions was concerned.

He sunk back into silence, leaning forward as she spoke of the flood. Her disdain for the Col was evident and she had always made her preference for the plains clear. Her casual admission of the danger she'd dodged, however, drew a flicker of concern into his gaze. "You're stronger than you give yourself credit for." he remarked quietly. It occurred to him fleetingly that out of the pair of them, it was Azure who was the poorest of swimmers. How would he have faired in the flood?

Hana continued, the weight of her words resonating within him. "Everything did change." Az agreed, his voice low. "But not all changes are for the worse." He glanced at her, his expression hard to read. "We're both still here, aren't we?" It was a statement, but also a question, a probe into the unknown future they now faced.

Hanako had a healthy ego, but she wasn't sure she'd describe herself as strong, or any other related synonym. But still, she supposed she had survived and there was merit in that, it was worth a pat on the shoulder if nothing else. It would have honestly been an embarrassing way to die, no offence to those who had passed during the flood and all.

She would have agreed with his sentiment, but really she struggled to think of anything that had improved since the move. And it was easy for him to declare that they were both still here, when for the longest time he hadn't been. That he'd been gone and left her behind and- she exhaled, slightly stroppy with pouted lips and narrowed eyes.

"I suppose so." Though that clearly wasn't much compensation in her mind, it wasn't enough, and it would never be.  "Did you think about me?" Was her first pushy, if not needy question. She'd been trying to hold them back, and it was easy to be disgruntled and frustrated, but some parts of herself she just couldn't hide.  "Probably not. I imagine there were lots of pretty little loners who kept you warm at night." And oh how bitter she sounded, it was coming out now, ears flicking sideways as she stood up to pace.

Azure's patience frayed at Hanako's insinuations, a flare of anger igniting in his eyes. His restrained demeanor slipped, his attempt at a respectful distance abandoned as he pushed hard off the tree trunk and returned to four paws. Reaching forward, he moved to intercept her pacing with one swift, assertive movement - his large paw firmly guiding her to face him. "Unacceptable." He growled, his voice cold. "Don't start. You damn well know where my loyalties lie. They've been with you since the day we met, they're with you now, and they'll be with you long after you're gone." Azure was many things, but unfaithful had never been one of them.  

His gaze bore into hers, intent on catching the most minute and telling of reactions to his words. "Or is this your way of deflecting? Perhaps you're the one who's strayed." With a sharp inhale he searched, his nostrils flaring as he scrutinized her scent for the touch of something unfamiliar. Leaning forward, Az brought his muzzle toward her ivory ear. "We both know if either of us were to run into the arms of another, Hanako, it would be you." The whisper was truth veiled in accusation, sparking memories in Azure that brought his fur to stand on end.

She bristled, ears flicking to the sides as she took in his words, they felt like insults, all barbed at the edges. He wouldn't let her pace, he'd cut her off but he couldn't stop her from huffing and puffing, squinting at him with all the malice of a cat who'd been inconvenienced. It wasn't that she didn't believe him, or assumed he'd lie right to her face, but she'd wanted to hear it. To have it confirmed as a fact, something as real as the grass beneath their paws. But he doubled down and tossed the assumption right back at her, somewhat reasonably so and somewhat not. Since when had anything ever been reason between them?

She was insulted, the way her eyes snapped wide said as much.

"I have not!" She declared with a dramatic stomp of her paw, thumping it down atop of Azure's. Not that it could have hurt very much, like a baby whacking you with a stray arm during a crying fit. She brought her head up in defiance, accidentally almost headbutting him in the process. "Don't be mean!"

Azure's expression remained stoic, a mask of controlled fury as Hana's reaction unfolded. Her dramatic stomp - landing firmly on his paw - was met with no more than a slight twitch of his ear. Her accidental headbutt, though lacking in force, was only enough to make him tilt his head away slightly, avoiding direct contact. From the corner of his eye he watched her with a cold detachment, restraining himself from moving to pin that defiant muzzle to the ground.

"You 'have not'? Really?" His tone was laced with skepticism, gaze unwavering as he scrutinized her. "Bas says you have been away from the Armada a while - what reason would you have to separate yourself from the pack, from your children, if not to hide yourself from prying eyes?" With a deliberate movement, Az withdrew his paw from beneath hers and replaced it quickly back on top; toes flexing to encase her delicate paw beneath curved ursine claws.


"Speech"

"Yes really." Hanako insisted, incensed she even had to do such a thing. She supposed in a way her absence looked bad, but it didn't mean she was guilty of anything, least of all what he was accusing her of. "I left because without you there it didn't feel like home. Everyone was just doing their own thing, and I was just- there." Ignored and neglected. Seeing Mortis' kids wander around also left a foul taste in her mouth.

She didn't feel like she had a place there any more and just existing made her bad moods even worse. And change was good, blah blah she knew that if packs didn't shift and adapt over time they'd go stale or crumble from within, but she wanted what she had. What she'd perceived to have lost.

"That was a mean thing to say." She doubled down on, glancing up at him, feeling the weight of his paw atop of hers. "I don't want someone else. You know I don't. I'm kinda mad but I'm still yours."

Well, that was easier then he'd anticipated.

I'm still yours.

The raw edge of his anger was mellowed by her words, replaced instead by a profound longing. Gods, how he'd missed her. Time had changed her, softening her once-pristine youth with the marks of motherhood and survival. The sight of her - changed yet so familiar - stirred a deep yearning within him. Az fought the urge to close the shrinking gap between them, to reacquaint himself with her body and to trace each new mark with his nose. His tail flicked, and he swallowed.

To accept Hanako's words meant drawing her into his uncertain future - a life devoid of the security and structure the Armada provided. Az wasn't just a loner; he was a target, a former alpha, one who had more enemies then he had scars. The danger he represented to her was not lost on him. Yet, the thought of pushing her away... of denying the bond that had always been his anchor... it was equally unbearable. Azure's eyes, usually so hard and unyielding, betrayed a flicker of vulnerability.

"Are you?" He murmured, looking down his muzzle at her. "Is that by choice, or because you've run out of other options?" Azure had heard about Sparrow, how the pirate King was King no longer. How she'd run off in search of a lover's murderer. Clearly she'd got over Hana easily enough.. or maybe Hana had gotten over her first, no longer interested when the woman no longer wore a crown. Would she abandon him with just as much ease, once she learned that Az had also been dethroned?

Hanako huffed, raising her head in a haughty if not frustrated manner. Reasonably speaking he had a point, but she couldn't and wouldn't concede as much. It would wound her pride too much, to know that she'd fallen from grace and that she wasn't what she used to be. No one else seemed to want her, no one ever had in the same way that Azure seemed to. It was rude to point it out so plainly though, it felt like an insult, pointing out her flaws so plainly she couldn't look away or deny them.

She said nothing for a moment, stewing in her own annoyance, resenting that things were as they were, though she wouldn't entirely be able to spell out what she'd want instead. Something else, something better would be her vague response. Not this.

"Do you really think so low of me?" She asked in return, clearly offended not that he cared as much. "You're the one who left, not me. Why do you always blame me for things I haven't done."

Azure's body tensed as he faced Hanako's accusations, his claws enclosing her dainty paw tighter as it shifted in the dirt. "Low of you? You think this is about my opinion of you?" He snapped, a growl bubbling up from the depths of his chest. "I've spent years defending you, pushing you to be something more, something worthy of the Fatalis name I gave you. But every time, Hana, every damn time, you fail me."

"You have no idea, do you? The frustration of watching you... just drifting, letting the world make your choices for you." A brief grimace crossed his features and his eyes slid shut, concealing the flash of regret. Azure was no stranger to hard truths - he'd had to impart them time and time again during his time as a leader - but speaking to Hana this way hurt. He squared his shoulders, bracing himself against the tide of emotion, and carried on. "I told you once beneath these very canopies; your actions reflect on me. But you've forgotten that, haven't you?"

"I've bled for you - lost pieces of myself for you. I shouldn't have had to do that. Do you think Artorias spends his days fighting off wolves who take too much interest in Briar?" A hollow laugh escaped him, more bitter than amused. "Do you think Chimera's women keep emotional affairs going on behind his back, or in front of his face? Do you think my father ever worried..." His voice broke and he cut it off quickly, attempting to suffocate the pain that was beginning to underline his words.

Taking a deep breath, Az steadied himself. When he spoke again, his voice was flat.

"Do you know why my father claimed this pack?" He turned his head away, staring into the grass so he might not have to endure her expressive gaze. "For my mother. To give a once-slave a home, a title, confidence... security. He gave her a crown, and she was his Queen. They led together for years." His jaw twitched, betraying the effort it took to keep his composure.

Az's voice softened, his anger thoroughly exhausted. "I don't know why I thought our story could be anything like theirs." He rolled his wrist, lifting her paw and bringing his own beneath hers - pad to pad - in one smooth motion. Staring down at her colorful glove, he whispered. "I chose you."

"That's why I blame you, Hana. Because you could be so much more, but you choose not to be."

It felt like judgement, that he’d deemed her unworthy. A mistake. It wasn’t as if anyone else set out to be a failure, but in many ways it was a slow creep. Mediocrity seeped in through the gaps, filling the spaces her arrogance did not fill. She hadn’t been happy for a long time, hadn’t tried to make up for what she lacked and instead saw it as some sort of punishment of sorts. Thought the world was out to get her. If nothing else she felt under attack now and Azure had always known her best, knew where to hit to make it hurt.

She sniffled, her eyes stinging a little, as she stared at his chest, refusing to meet his gaze as he spoke. Hanako hadn’t worn her masks in so long, those sweet smiles that looked so real, even felt real in the moment. But she treasured the fact she didn’t have to play pretend around Azure, that he saw her for who she was and wanted her all the same. She could have lied and it would have felt like truth, for the longest time she hadn’t known herself only to realise somehow she’d gotten twisted up along the way. Made into someone once upon a time she wouldn’t have wanted to be. But was it even possible to just stop. A leopard couldn’t change its spots and neither could a koi. There were some currents no one could swim against, and to try would be the same as demanding the current drag her under.

She did not interrupt him as he spoke, her ears tilted forward to listen but were slightly flattened all the same, she did not like what she was hearing but that would surely not come as a surprise to the Fatalis.

“I know you drugged me.” She said, almost offhandedly as she finally allowed her gaze to drift down to his paw. How he’d moved in an oddly tender gesture, a stark contrast to his precious venting. “I thought- I wasn’t even mad about it, probably against my better judgement. It made me think, it showed how much you wanted me to be yours and I liked that.” They were bad together and she liked that too.

“I knew you and never wanted- I’d never once thought I wished you could be like someone else. But you’re right, I’m not Briar and I’m nothing like Zee ever was. I’m not some queen or someone worth founding a pack for.” A brief snippet of self reflection, honesty. She wanted things she never deserved, coveted too much.

She pulled away then, near shrinking with the action. Small and vulnerable, honestly of this level didn’t suit her, made her injuries feel all the more present. Like the weak link in the chain, the paint chipping and metal rusting. She felt ugly.

“I had a place in the Armada once, by your side. I liked being the diplomat and I thought I was good at it, the world has changed and neither of us belong there anymore and it’s-“ not her fault? Not fair?

“I’m sorry I ruined your story.” She turned, maybe to leave. Maybe because she didn’t want to be seen.

Her acknowledgment of what he had done - her acceptance of it as the twisted token of desire it had been - struck a chord in Az.  It was an admission of the warped dynamics of their relationship, one the two of them had skirted around for years but never before laid bare. A blend of relief and regret swirled in his chest.

"I never asked you to be Briar, Z-" He stumbled over his mother's name. "- Or anyone else. I asked you to be mine, and to carry yourself and my name with respect. To be faithful to me, and to defend our relationship as fiercely as I do. Anything less than that is betrayal. With Sparrow, you betrayed me." And he rewarded it with a betrayal of his own, in the form of regularly spiked tea. "I wanted you to rise. I gave away an empire... to tie myself forever to a diplomat."

He watched her shrink away then, her vulnerability raw and exposed. It triggered in him the reaction of a hunter, practiced and assertive. His paw shot out aiming to catch his mate in his claws on her front, to wrap his oversized paw at the base of her neck and overtop her jugular notch. With a flex of his arm he moved to draw her back into his chest, holding her tightly. "You're not leaving," he whispered into her ear, a command rather than a request. She could try to run, but the way he'd wrapped himself around her made clear that Azure would be in pursuit - if she could even worm her way out of his arms at all. Sliding his paw up higher up her throat, Az forced her muzzle up to where he towered above her. "You are mine, and I'm not done with you yet."

She had betrayed him, in a way. Even she couldn't deny that, Sparrow had been new and exciting and just the thrill of the chase- it was something she yearned for even now. It had been so easy to play the innocent act, all doe eyed like she was a victim. And in a way that's often all she amounted to, a victim, the damsel in distress. And maybe she'd been saved by a prince, but this was no fairytale nor had they even gotten close to reaching a happily ever after. She'd always seen herself as some sort of prize, but even material goods lost their value in time and Hanako wasn't quite what she used to be. He'd given away an empire for her and felt as though he'd been left empty-handed, made a poor trade and rewarded with a bitter taste upon his tongue. Were their children enough of a consolation prize?

He wouldn't let her leave, which wasn't entirely unexpected. She stiffened a little as he drew her into his chest, the bulk of his form dwarfing her figure so easily, as if the seasons passed had only made him all the more intimidating. Her breath caught in her chest and though she certainly liked the attention and the manhandling she almost felt like she shouldn't. His paw moved to raise her muzzle, forcing Hanako to look up at him, and her gaze was glassy, a little misty around the edges.

"I don't want you to be done with me." She admitted, voice mouse quiet as she hid her face against his chest.

Azure felt the resistance of her muzzle as she moved to hide her face into his chest and break the eye contact he had forced. He found himself torn; his desire itching to draw her into his embrace while the tyrant in him sung to tighten his grip and refuse to allow her to conceal herself. He settled for neither, pushing her aside with a deliberate motion in hopes of masking the slight tremble in his arm.

"I'm not going back." He declared, a heavy note of finality in his voice. His head hung, his shoulders sagging.. The proud Fatalis prince that Hana had once tied herself to was gone; slowly chipped away until he was in pieces. His entire identity - once so firmly anchored in his title and power - had evaporated.

"It seems I've ruined your story too." He didn't elaborate. The implications were clear; without his status, what was left for them? Once, he had relished providing for her, bending the rules to ease her way. Now, stripped of his crown, what could he offer her? Not a warm den in which to sleep, not even a consistent meal. He could not give to her a home.

His head lowered further and soon the rest of him followed. Az sunk into the grass, curling away from her, surrendering to the weight of his thoughts. In this moment of solitude and with nothing left to prove, the dethroned brute allowed himself a moment of open vulnerability.

"Speech"