The Broken Crown

Tárvotur

Keva had thought when Zion got his deceased wife back he would try and retake his title of Alpha King, thought when he remained silent, she waited for what would happen next. Laraxis was a dying flame Keva had hoped would die off and she could come in with an army. Yet when Lily came in, Keva watched from afar to see the madness unfold. Had Keva hoped Zion and Sybil would survive that war? She had questioned that, but with the way it ended up working out, it gave Keva a platform to not just create a palace, but to also bring together elves for this moment now.

"Penelope is smart, Asger, she will not attack. Yusuf and Penelope knew what they were doing when they made a pact to support Leala."

"Yet Penelope broke that pact."

"Penelope is an impatient woman – though wise. Yusuf will follow his allegiance to see Leala to that throne." Asger seemed to not understand what his aunt was starting to point to. "No one wants that little she-wolf on the throne, Asger. They have no choice but to see that bitch onto the throne."

"They have a choice, all those alphas. Pick someone else or kill her."

Keva shook her head, crossing her legs as she leaned back on her throne.

"Yes, those are all possible, Asger, but think of the name Leala carries. Leala Maxwell, someone whose name stands for something. She is foolish and very new to the position she is in. Every alpha who fights for her knows she will not make a wise queen."

"Then why appoint her."

"She is a symbol. Appoint someone like Yusuf and you have a bland name with no real pride, spirit, and whatever huzzah those half-human inbreds like to fight for." Keva stood up from her throne, lavender eyes scanning the empty hall of her palace. "Besides, most of her time as queen will be riddled with sandal to attend to rather than actual business. When a new government is set up and a ruler is that young and new, her advisors will do all the work." Keva took a step down from her throne, walking down to meet her nephew. "When she eventually marries some bland wolf and pops out a child, that is really the ruler all of these alphas are fighting for." 

"Because those alphas can mold that ruler from the start."

"Easier to mold from birth to be great and to bend to your will." Keva walked past her nephew, moving to the windows of the palace as she clasped her hands behind her back. "Do you really think that someone like Alpha Yusuf would pledge himself to someone like Leala? No, he is pledging himself to her offspring. He is placing all his cards, betting that her offspring will be better rulers than her."

"If she wins," Asger felt the need to pipe in, feeling like all the talk of Leala possibly being queen of the kingdom Keva was fighting for was creating a drag over the conversation.

"If she wins, yes." Keva agreed, for it was hypothetical talk after all. "And if word does not reach everyone who fights for her about the fact she has spread her legs wide open for River."

Keva had planned that to be the case before things were ever in motion. The moment Leala had visited the palace, Keva understood the connection between River and Leala and the dynamics she could play from it. Having urged River to seek a relationship with Leala while giving Leala advice on how to run her own pack, Keva only had to sit and wait for the rumors and drama. The magnetism between the two of them was undeniable, only fueling Keva's plans as she pressed the two of them further before they set sail. River and Leala made their own decisions from the whispers Keva had planted, Leala soon going off and fighting her own war while River stood his ground, the two still holding feelings for one another. Those feelings allowed for Keva to drive River from the pack.

She could have killed the boy, but perhaps it was a piece of her which felt bad for the boy. She had raised River after all, acting like a mother to him only to deceive and betray him in the end. She let him chase after Leala like a puppy while she slaughtered his true pack members. If River had stayed within Eternal Shadows and Keva led an attacked against the wolves, River would have been able to fight back - yes - but no doubt Keva would have been able to overthrow his troops. Yet now River was outside of Eternal Shadows, safe from the hands of Keva for the moment. For River to find solitude within Crimson Lock, at the mercy of Leala Maxwell, it would not only stir up controversy, but also whispers about the relationship between River and Leala - something Keva was curious just how it would play out and affect Leala's running for the crown.

Perhaps it was Keva's own curiosity in the human-like wolves which made her keep certain secrets locked away, wondering how secrets would play out. Perhaps it was guilt Keva felt for what she had done to the boy she had raised.

"So we leave Penelope be?"

Keva looked over to her nephew, cocking an eyebrow as she thought for a short second. "Perhaps just not yet. Let us see how Leala reacts to the next wind we blow her way."

"Yet what of the witches?"

"They made their choices in that palace. In that baptism of fire," Keva hissed, glaring to Asger as he brought back the memories of that day decades ago when the witches who worked with Keva also worked against her. "They understood the terms of our agreement when it came to Lily and that child."

"Leala has not acted upon their offer just yet."

"Wise of her. Witches cannot be trusted. It is a common truth."

"The same witches which fought beside her mother died in that palace. The new witches of that coven are broken from their curse. Who is to say they will not come after us."

"They have worked with us since the fall of that kingdom, Asger," Keva reminded her nephew. "The day the werewolves slaughtered our ancestors and took our kingdom for their own, they also drove witches from their burrows." Keva thought for a short second, pushing her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she tried to come to a conclusion about what the witches had been planning. "They are a silent force, those little spellcasters. They are friend and foe - always oscillating between the two. If they sent Leala words of friendship, we cannot expect them to have pure intentions."

Asger knew to listen to his leader and aunt carefully, for she had lived a long life. Yet talked of the witches, he struggled to make sense of the information. Many struggled to make sense when it came to witches.

"You could say things are looking up for the young alpha."

Keva laughed, shaking her head as she could not believe the words which escaped her nephew's lips. "To an outsider it may appear many things are falling into her lap," Keva commented, turning around as she faced the throne she had helped build from the ground up, hoping it would not just seat her as a queen, but Empress one day. "Think of those she surrounds herself with. All of those advisors come with a list of terms of their own she must agree to. As the list of advisors increase, so does the list of promises. With River in the mix, it is only a matter of time before people not only know that she was involved romantically with the boy before he was her ally, but also will come to know his true identity."

"Penelope and Yusuf know."

"Yusuf knows shit. Penelope and Leala know who River really is. Yusuf has no idea River is the son of Zion and Sybil. No one else as a clue. When word breaks out, so will hell. It is not natural for someone to be brought back from the dead, much less to give birth. The controversy will swarm Crimson Lock and distract Leala - who already is under enough pressure."

"She has a large army. Her advisors will be there when she is under the pressure."

"You doubt me, Asger?"

"I do not," Asger promised Keva, bowing his head. "I just need to be sure that we are certain about that. That we are not able to go head-to-head with someone we are unmatched with."

A smile spread across Keva's face and with the flick of her wrist, a white flame burst from her fingertips and caught the flags of Eternal Shadows on fire. Yet in the white flame, the flags remained unburnt.

"We have magic, Asger...and like flowers, the bodies of Crimson Lock will tumble. And when those flowers turn rotten, we shall build our eternal kingdom upon that battlefield."