She stalked the beach at a furious pace, her fur, had never once been matted and tangled but it was now, her posture had never revealed anything but something aloof, calm, collected, but such was not today. Her paws sunk into the thick sand, sinking into the grains with purpose, with fury, her tail would flicker left and then right in her anger. Her mate slumbered, had spent most of the night trying to curb off the pain of the wound inflicted by the bastard, and so she so named him. Kill him! Look what he has done to us! He's made us bleed! Made us hurt! Her lip would curl above her teeth. Tear out his trachea, watch him as he suffocates. Her muscles would spasm, twitch. Better yet take a piece of his wife, make him feel what we feel. The voices continued, a thousand and one possibilities. Her liter would not be tainted by the filth that plagued Seracia.

She was leaving. Segar could come with her if he so chose. her eyes flickered to the mouth of his den, saturated in worry and in sorrow. His beautiful body did not deserve such horrible marks and as long as she drew breath she would not forgive the Seracian fool. He had not even the gall to deliver the punishment to she who rightfully deserved it. he enjoyed hurting his subjects what a pathetic king he was. He had hurt Segar out of want to inflict pain, nothing more and nothing less. Segar was her heart and her pups were a piece of their love. They would not grow being seen as illegitimate, who did he think he was? To tell her who she could and could not breed too. To tell her that the product of love was illegitimate, she wanted to tear him apart. He was no longer worth her loyalty and she would be gone come nightfall.

Speech!

The King had been unsettled ever since his attack on Segar. It had not been outrageous, or even severe on any account other than shedding a few drops of blood. He'd removed a remarkably useless piece of flesh, instead of one that controlled the provision of children. Gerhardt knew he'd behaved a bit more brash than he should have, but at the same time he did not regret punishing the count, and sparing the dame. However, he intended to seek them out on this day, and to be sure that no hard feelings were held. Ghost had been quite perturbed with the events of that day, and Gerhardt was sure she would still be festering even now. Paws would carry him to their den, the last place he'd seen them since that day. The King dipped his head respectfully as Lady Ghost came into view, her ivory frame glistening in the daylight. The monarch kept his head level, and his tail as well, not bothering to show dominance. "We need to talk," it was the first thing his mind came to. The air around them needed to be cleared, he needed to see how angry she still might be. Remaining standing due to his business here, Gerhardt watched her - not a single emotion on his face. "speeeeech"

She could not stay in Seracia if not for the sake of her pups, for her own sanity, the voices with her mind had tied the king to her past demons and they demanded retribution, revenge, she had not slept at all the night before and would not sleep so long as these demons plagued her. It was tearing apart what little remained of her psyche, her mind, and it already dangled on a loosening thread. She ceased her restless pacing, it was getting her nowhere, was calming her none. She pulled away to the crashing waves of the ocean, just shy of the glistening waves, pulling her bodice into a seated position and let her silver eyes drift shut, this stress was no good for her pups.

A familiar scent drifted to her nose and it was difficult to keep from doing something rash, the other sides to her demanded something, anything, but Ghost herself was a touch more intelligent than that, she wasn't a seasoned warrior and no matter how much blood she was inflict, she would shed more. She wished he leave her be, but no wish of hers would be granted this day. Her tail moved incessantly, curling around her haunches, flickering to the left, curling around her other leg and then back again. She remained a stone, expressionless as smooth glass. She did not snarl, she did not glare, she did not so much as even cast a glance in his direction, her eyes remained upon the crashing . "There is nothing I need say which has not already been spoken." Aloof, distant, empty, her tones would fall from ivory lips, no hint of her mental deterioration present within her speech or her posture.

Speech!

She would not even look his way. The woman was pissed, he could tell. Even though her exterior remained emotionless - as always - her incessantly moving tail and biting words let him know that she was indeed boiling inside. The King remained where he stood, not advancing nor retreating, but remaining steadfast. This would not be a happy encounter, but it was a necessary one. Why oh why had his life turned to necessity only? "I disagree," He took one step forward, but it was one that barely brought him any closer to her. Eyes of amethyst gazed to the shoreline where the waves lazily lapped at the sand. "I never wished to cause you strife. I never wished to put unnecessary stress on your new relationship, I only meant to ensure that the weight of our laws was adequately displayed. Perhaps I acted rashly, or did not take the proper amount of time to put my feelings aside, but I wish you could see things from my angle, if only for a moment." He paused. "But perhaps I'm selfish in saying that. How would you have had me react, if you could control it?" It was a curious question, one that he would listen to with every fiber of his being. If she thought he'd been too harsh, he would want to hear her criticism, to hear her alternative ideas of how he could have handled the situation. A pensive expression would cast over his face as he continued to stare out into the surf, watching the white capped waves roll in, only to be sucked back out into the belly of the ocean. He understood her pain, shared in it - even - but he could not take back what he had done, and some part of him knew that even if he could, he wouldn't. Justice had to be served, that was an absolute truth. "speeeeech"

She did not move, body poised almost regally, her tail never ceasing but her eyes never venturing from the crashing tide. She wished no more to speak, feared her mind would crack completely, feared a side of her many had not been privy to seeing would be unleashed for all eternity. She cared little for much of anything at the moment, save for silencing the white noise within the confines of her skull. Segar could not help her this time, he had been, but look where it had gotten him? Dishonored, stripped. She was a nightmare truly, causing grief that she meant not to cause wherever she ventured. She would have been better off had her brother merely killed her after the act. Still she did not look at her current king.

"Words hold no meaning, they are worthless. They cannot change or erase the past." Emotionless, empty, her tones would not change for fear of the sinister side of her coloring her words. They screamed even now demanding much of her. She closed her eyes, willing them away, her head pounded, aching. "I understand your side, you are King, thus your laws must be followed, if you grow complacent people will question." She answered him just as stoically, the water level rising, beginning to dust her paws. She cared little for this conversation, wished she would have left in the dead of night when no one would have been the wiser. "Kindness. Understanding. Fairness. Stripping us both of our rank until we have proven ourselves worthy once again. I am just as at fault as he if not more so." Her answer was calm, collected, silent, she did not finish the biting insult that threatened to come after the words. Things you obviously do not believe in.

Speech!

Tail swished across the sand for no other reason than the desire to move it. Placid eyes stared out at the surf, watching a group of dolphins swimming far out in the sea. He could barely see them, they were mere black dots on the horizon, but the man had spent so much time out here, he knew what they were. "That is true, the past can't be changed." Perhaps this wasn't going as badly as he'd expected. At least she saw part of why he had done it, because he had to assert his authority or he'd be walked all over. She began to recite how she felt he should have acted, starting with kindness and ending with demotion. He let a sigh slip. "Demoting you. Yes that would have been an alternative, but would have been forgotten as soon as you'd 'proven yourselves'. Not to mention that it is well known that punishments are often physical in Seracia." He paused. "I understand that you are equally at fault, but as you yourself said.. punishing your love was more than enough of a punishment on yourself. I wasn't seeking revenge by harming you and Segar, I was simply giving a punishment that seemed more than fair for the situation." He would not yet mention what had crossed his mind first, what his old pack leader would have done. But perhaps that is what she needed to hear. "Why do you think Segar stood down and allowed me to deal out whatever punishment I wished to give him?" The question was mostly rhetorical, but he would give a pause in case she felt the need to interject. "It was because he knew the laws and knew he had broken one. He trusted me to deal out a fair punishment, and then presented his entire body for me to choose from. I chose a non-vital part, a part that would virtually cause him no future harm other than a slightly marred countenance." Words were not argumentative, if anything.. they were gentle and kind. How could he make her see that even though he'd been forced to act upon the law, he'd done it in the least intrusive way he possibly could. Heck, he could have aborted her children if he'd have been a vicious warlord, but instead he let her keep them, and obliged Segar's wish to not harm her. "I didn't harm you because he asked me not to." "speeeeech"

Her posture never changed, her gaze never flickered. She had no desire to remain seated where she was and the mere thought of remaining made her flesh crawl. She remained silent, the phantom dame playing every part of her name as he spoke, long, drawn out, winded, she cared little for his words, what did they matter to her? She had heard them all before, apologies, explanations, understandings, she had been asked to believe in such ideals once and her naivety she had followed them blindly. He reminded her of cruelty, of pain. She did not speak once, muscles did not so much as twitch beneath the ivory pelt, save for the tail that gently battered back and forth. The voices screamed, screeching against her brain and finally Ghost had had enough.

"And I asked to receive whatever punishment was for the two of us, but you choose to exact your punishment upon Segar, denying and ignoring my words entirely. I asked you not to harm him." Stressing the same term he had used and for a moment she lapsed into silence. Hypocritical his words were. Finally though the stone shifted, muscles brought her still slender frame to stand, the breeze ruffling the long strands as the crashing waves slipped over her pads. Oculars as emotionless as ice, bore down at the sea for only a second more before finally flickering to gaze upon him.

"But your vengeance does not end there does it? You will proclaim the product of our union as an abomination, illegitimate before all of Seracia despite the punishment and the shame you have already dealt their father. You will damn pups who are not even born to a life of taunt, suffering and pain." Lips pulled up in a smile that held no humor, the lines on her face would crumple into agony and her eyes would glitter with despair that she let so few see, but even so her voice did not crack and waver, her eyes did not bud with tears. "I should thank you oh mighty king of Seracia, you have reminded me that family is only an incomplete thought, a fancy word, cracked and misshapen. A complex lie made of cruelties, deception and unrelinquished hatred. Kindness, caring, love, compassion... they have no place in this world of darkness and I am a fool to believe for even a moment that they exist." Her words were a great deal more soft, before her face hardened into impenetrable lines once more, her eyes turning back to stone.

"Take your leave of me. I have no more desire to speak. I will be the obedient bitch that Seracia demands of me." Much colder, her tones returned to neutrality, whether she spoke truth or lies could not be interpreted, and all the while her gaze did not stray from the ocean.

Speech!

She would remain stock still, clearly displeased by his continuation of this dialogue. The King did not care, he would talk until he was blue in the face. She was deadly close to denying her home, her family, he could feel it in his very bones. She spoke up, stating that she had asked for punishment instead of Segar. Indeed she had. But he too had asked her to be spared, how could she expect him to choose to punish her over Segar? "And what kind of man would I be if I attacked a pregnant woman? Only the fiercest of vagabonds would do a thing like that. He asked that the mother of his children not be harmed and I obliged him." The two would fall silent, the King still staring out at the waves, occasionally glancing to her seething frame. "Whatever the illegitimacy of their conception, the children that you bear would never be harmed or tortured while a part of Seracia. Not while I am King." It was true, while he would view them inwardly as illegitimate children, the cross would mostly be bared by their parents. The pups had no choice in the matter, and therefore were blameless in his eyes. Did she really think him to be such a heartless man as to physically harm innocent children? She would go on to explain how he had reminded her the darkness of family. The King's lip curled. "Whatever demon has given you these thoughts, I can assure you it was not me. I treasure family, and each of the virtues you just spoke of. I may have acted out on a broken rule, but do not presume to believe that I care nothing for a family." Words were biting, more stern than the others. She was twisting his words, his very thoughts! She was blaspheming the King in his very presence! She then ordered him to leave. A growl ripped from his throat. "Do what you wish, Seracia has never been about obedience. Our members obey because they have respect, something you clearly do not seem to put much effort in displaying." It would be his last remark. The King was pissed, no doubt, but he would spare her for the sake of Segar. The man was in love with her, it was clear, and because of his noble heart the King would resist driving the pregnant she-wolf from his lands this very second. Exit Gerhardt. "speeeeech"

Her eyes were shadowed, dark, she was remembering too much of her past, too much of the present, too many dreadful memories that bubbled at the surface, and it was all too much. This was the very reason why her psyche had shattered to begin with. She wasn't strong enough to handle so much pain all at once. Physical pain she could take, but emotional? It shattered her. It was why she grew so angry when he harmed Segar, it was not because he had acted as he saw fit or because they had broken a law, she understood why he had done what he did, but it wounded her emotionally, and she could not handle that. Already she was sealing her feelings for Segar within her mind, locking them away to never be felt again. She could not handle seeing that mark day in and day out and knowing he was flawed because of her.

"A wound inflicted upon my ear would have caused my pups no harm, and if still you did not wish to attack me, you could have waited until my pups were delivered, would it matter when I bore your scar?" Her eyes hardened at his next words. "It would matter little if you commanded they not be harmed. As soon as their backs would be turned the whispers would begin and they would feel outcasted. Can it not be enough that you have damaged Segar for the rest of his life?"

And finally her air of seemingly cold indifference cracked as he turned to leave, her mask crumpled and she spoke, whether she was speaking to him or the winds she knew not, her voice escaped her without her permission. "The virtues of family they are nothing but lies, petty illusions to help pups sleep better at night." Her eyes squeezed shut, crown dropping to her chest, teeth clenching against the sudden lump that had formed in her throat. Her frame shook, quaking with emotion. "If you knew anything of me at all you would have aborted my pups before you so much as touched a hair on Segar's head." Tears slipped down her maw, falling from her ivory fur.

"My so called family, they were good to me for a time. My brother fell ill with fever. He would scream in agony, his mind delusional, raving mad. I fell into my first heat and he saw not his sister, he was larger than me, stronger than me, by several pounds, he held me down, he raped me again and again and again. Bloody and in enough pain to fade in and out the rest of my family found me, they blamed me for what he had done. Damning me, cursing me and ultimately they banished me." She sucked in a large breath and still her frame shook. She hated these memories hated this feeling.

"My mind could not handle it, my psyche shattered, multiple personalities, voices, whispers. They never leave, I am never whole. My mind is never my own, I am always in pieces, always in fragments." A sob tore from her larynx and her tears came harder, she struggled to keep her voice steady. "Ghost is not my name but it tis what I am, it's the only way I learned to survive, detached, emotionless, distant.

"Segar was fixing me, making me better. They were rare but I had moments of clarity, times when my mind was my own again, times when I could feel love but that wound..." She slipped from her seated position, lying upon the sand, the force of her shaking too much for her legs to hold any longer. "Every time I see it, I know it is my fault that it's there, I remember everything they blamed me for, the pain of what my own flesh and blood did to me, their hatred, their banishment. I remember too much and my broken mind...cannot take it. My disorder, it steals my feelings for him even now, locking them away until I become that hollow phantom once more."

"That mark will be there forever and I cannot... I can't..." She broke, finally, her body coiling into a tight ball, burying her maw beneath the length of her tail, she trembled, shaking with the force of her despair, her sadness, her regret. Tear poured from her eyes and her body was wracked in sobs, she wished in this moment she could vanish, be swallowed whole by the earth and simply cease to exist. She did not want this life anymore.

Speech!

He had not been quite gone yet when she'd spoken up, mentioning that he could have harmed her ear and it would have done no damage to the pups. This was true, and the King had thought of that, but when Segar had asked him not to harm her, he had agreed. The King could never bring himself to harm a pregnant female, even if she admitted she was the reason for the problem in the first place. "I did not harm you out of respect for the children in your womb. I would never harm a pregnant female unless she threatened someone's life." He gave a sigh, listening to her next words. "Anyone treating your children like less than what they are will face justice themselves." He could say it till he was blue in the face, but he knew she'd never believe him. She was hard as stone, and didn't care for anything he had to say. Finally her voice would continue, telling a tale he had regrettably never heard before. The King turned to listen, remaining standing but listening all the same. It was a tale that broke his heart, hurt his very soul. When she had finished he took a tentative step forth. "Lady Ghost, I did not know.." He felt ashamed, but at the same time he knew it had not truly been his fault. He didn't know of her past, and couldn't go back and change it now - no matter how much he wanted to. "I am truly sorry for what I have done. I meant no malice in my actions." A sigh left him and he waited, wondering if she would speak any more. "speeeeech"

Her body shook, trembling with the force of her pain, it would be one of the last times she would hurt, by the time the whelps were born she would not be the emotional creature she was today. Hardened, aloof, distant, invisible. The phantom would return. She would turn invisible to her pack mates once more, would remain unseen, out of sight and out of mind. She would return to the broken creature she had always been. It was her minds way of ensuring her survival, trapping her within her own insanity. She let herself feel pain, let it fester and spread throughout her body, she no longer cared if he stayed or if he fled, he could not help her, no one could. That wound upon his flesh, the reason it was there... it would haunt her like an unspoken demon.

She was not sure how long she cried, or how long her body quivered, she did not truly care, the pain she felt now was surely better than the nothing she would surely grow accustomed too in a short few weeks. Her heart shattered, her pups would know of no love, she would be incapable of such thing, her broken mind unable to process such things, they would be better off aborted. They were damned now. Her eyes dried and slowly her frame stopped shaking, the ball of ivory fur lying still and silent, before slowly she unfurled herself forcing her legs beneath her to rise. She could not stay here, she needed to move.

"Do not call me a lady, I am no such thing. I am a broken mess of a creature who never deserved a second chance at life. I am used, broken down, and an utter mess. I would do both Segar and Octavian a favor by vanishing. I bring naught but chaos, destruction. I have the best of intentions but everything always goes wrong. I can do nothing right, and whether that is a product of just my own misfortune or the illness that plagues my mind it matters little. Tears still drained from her eyes, but she no longer quivered or shook, and her voice was remarkably even, exhausted and drained. "Do not waste your time on me. I cannot be fixed and I was foolish to think I could be. I won't be here come the morn, its not fair that I do this to Segar, not when hes trying so hard to be better, to change. If it tis the last act of kindness I can do, let it be that." Her eyes lingered on the sea. Acceptance had settled over her a few weeks perhaps before her mind would lock her away again, she could, at least do one thing right.

Speech!

He was tired of this, tired of her games and her disagreeable nature. Her story was sad, tragic even, and made him rethink what he had done to her mate. But at the same time he still stood behind his actions, he would never harm a pregnant female, even if she asked for it. It was true, a nick on the ear would not have harmed her children, or even her all that much, but it was the principle behind the whole thing. Gerhardt would listen as she went against him again, chastising him for calling her a Lady. He choked back a growl as she told him she was leaving for Segar's sake. "Do what you will, but I can hardly see your leaving as a positive thing in his life." She should really think this through. Leaving would break his heart, or worse. Still, the King could take little more of this banter, and quickly pivoted to leave. Exit Gerhardt unless stopped. "speeeeech"

Ghost listened to him leave, unmoving, unbending. Her tail still slickering from side to side. She alone again, but not truly, the voices had returned to her, eating away at her psyche, slowly, but surely.

-exit Ghost-

Speech!