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It was just one thing after another wasn’t it? First I walk all the way out to Diveen to find out my daughter has been declared Queen, only to find out she had achieved it in a vastly unsatisfactory way- so I had stormed all the way back to Taviora and it’s tree infested lands- only to find out Heyel had died and the world as we know it may well have been ending, only Celeste seeming to react appropriately to this news- only then to find out Achilles, the rightful and named heir had returned and I was now forced to march all the way back again. I may very well have carved a path out and named it after myself with all this walking about and yet my mind had been turned to other things of late. The death of Heyel…bothered me, more then it should perhaps. He was old and I had known deep down it was coming yet, maybe, some tiny part of myself had never truly expected him to die, some tiny part had always believed he would be there as he had and while I am hardly the emotional type I suppose…well….I suppose I regretted something. I should have made it right. I know. I should have sought him out in his later years and fixed what was wrong between us. He loved me, he did, in his own way and I know it’s true yet I never said it back, not once and not really. I still held it against him that I never was the son he wanted, that I never could be him and yet who could live up to standards like that? I am many things but Heyel is not one of them. I tried to be what he wanted, I tried to be what he needed and it was never good enough. I hated him, I think a part of my still does and yet for ever harsh comment and judging stare and wit-filled criticism I knew he cared- but did he know I did.

I had been, irritable, I suppose- since the death of Heyel. An irritability made all the worse by Ambrosia’s actions. She is my child and while I would never turn from her completely, while I would never banish her form my side- she had disappointed me and terribly so. I loved, adored and respected each of my children, I remember the birth of each one and holding each close in the night and the dark. When you love something so much it is….easy, to easy, to get hurt. Why she would agree to birth the children of some long lost relative of Covet who surely held his name level of hip dysplasia (or so I thought) I have no idea. Why she would seek to…demoralize herself in that fashion I cannot say. If she had truly desired to birth children why did she not seek a mate? A true mate of her choosing. Angels do not bow, not even to fate- our bloodline long having been noted for its ability to reject even imprints we did not favour and as such I cannot fathom what words must have been said to her, what things whispered to her mind to assure her that baring an heir of some wolf no one has ever heard off would assure her throne. For all that Heyel was, foolish was not one of them, our laws of succession absolute. Surely Ambrosia had known? Surely she knew it would not be with love and compassion that her family returned to her for her actions? I would never allow another to harm her, never, no daughter of mine will ever be injured by blood her own and yet even I cannot support her- not in this.

Perhaps Achilles, today, had been something of a blessing. For had he not challenged for the throne of Diveen then the challenge would have come from myself. I no longer held a desire to rule as I once did. I would have been a far superior King yet I know when age is against me as it is now. I simply would have acted to remove my own child from the throne- if only to spare her this…deal she had made, one that is surely made moot now. The things we do for love are not always clear but for she, my Ambrosia, I would at least have attempted to offer her sense. If it was so, that even now she choose still to bare the children of the male Covet had chosen then in that I would accept (begrudgingly) for the choice would be her own and by her own making- not force. What sort of a King demands the innocence of a girl be taken to secure a throne? Guardian had told me Covet was mad. Clearly I should have believed him. Maybe I did. I was fairly easy to convince of things once in the mood. I paused now, upon the order of Diveen, waiting for Andromeda to join me, finding a smile for her all the same. She was not so…vocal about the wrongs of the world as I was and yet I have known my mate long enough to see the hurt in her at Ambrosia’s decision, to see the pain it brought to her. If Ambrosia had desire a crown why had she simply not fought to take it? Why had she ever believed the words Covet offered? Truly I hoped to find him alone one day, maybe he can defeat Kane, not all that hard really- but he has never truly experienced a pure-blooded Angel in battle- one entirely content to tear him apart for his ‘deal’ with my daughter.

My muzzle reached from Andromeda then, pressed to her own, shifting back to walk beside her as we made our way back into Diveen and the crowd already beginning to gather. Life was coming back, life was going on- even without Heyel. How that would have annoyed him. Isola was easily seen amongst them, my head nodded in greeting to those who trailed in behind her from Spirane. I was…pleased she was allowing Achilles to rule, she could use the break even if I have never liked Achilles all that much- if only because he usurped my rightful place by being born- a heinous crime. Isola had been a good Queen I suppose. I might be old but I am still her brother and siblings do not admit this sort of thing about one another. I paused a moment longer, waiting for Celeste to further tidy her hair before taking her place at my other side, my muzzle parting to lick softly at one ear and smooth a stray strand before leading my small family into the gathering.

There would be time to speak to Isola later, my head nodding in greeting now, though the sadness in her gaze said all that surely needed to be said as I seated myself to the side, head lifted slightly with pride at the sight of guardian in his place. Now there was a son a wolf could be proud of. The blue violet of my gaze inclined to Andromeda, meeting her own for a moment, for surely she was equally as proud of our son- even if everyone here might well be content to judge us for our daughter. Let them. She…..she made a mistake, she was young and nothing else. I choose to believe that- because I have too and because I have spent the past week raving all over Taviora about it.

”Achilles.”

I offer his name and a nod and no other. I still don’t like him all the much- but I can respect our ways and our traditions and I suppose he is attractive enough to be a King. Vega I hold some faith in at least. Words whispered to Andromeda and Celeste once more now that we had returned home, a certain since of….contentment finding me at last

”Do you think there is going to be free food? I have walked here rather a few times and some consideration for that effort would be nice. Typical.”


AZRAEL

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"14 years ~ Andromeda ~ Sire of Meryl/Starfall/Guardian/Celeste/Iophiel/Mithos/Ambrosia/Elara/Zaphkiel ~ Diveen "