The Broken Crown

R I V E R

Perhaps it was the way she had looked at him, the way her eyes glimmered with all the stars in the sky, that kept his mind circling back to the woman he had begun to fall for without control. He understood the consequences of that one night as they laid together, he understood the implications it could have, but he did not expect his feelings to only grow stronger for the woman worlds away. 

The day Leala had tried to convince him that his most trusted advisor and friend was the man who attacked her back,  River felt as if his mind was pulling in two different directions as he tried to come up with an answer for it all. Asger had been by his side for years, ever since they were both children. Keva's nephew and River's best friend. River had felt like the sky was falling on him since that day at the ruins of his father's palace, his world splitting apart as he needed to peel back the layers. 

River had come to hire eyes and ears within his pack, reporting anything his advisors were up to. Through his little crows, River learned of the head shipped to Asger containing the head of Leala's advisor Oliver. The thought of the kind woman he had known shipping the head of her advisor over to Asger, it made him wonder what kind of woman she was becoming. Ever since the day they met, he knew she was headstrong and was willing to push boundaries, but in her recent actions, he saw her like a leaf easy to be blown by the winds of winter. Leala was easy to influence and he saw that, he saw how she longed for advice to follow rather than paving her own path. It scared River to think how impressionable this strong woman was. 

"Why the long face?" 

"Thinking," River answered, turning his head back to the hazel eyes of the woman who should have raised him. The relationship with his mother was complicated, but the relationship with his father was a mess. The Alpha of Eternal Shadows was always beside himself, unsure if he could ever agree with what his father had done to get his wife back. River had never looked at his mother the way he looked at everyone else, for he felt like he was always talking with a ghost. 

Sybil was a woman who had aged well, graying hair framing her petite face as she still stayed in shape, in fear that hunters would come after her. The woman once known as the Queen of Rogues and the Queen of the People, she was still very much the same kind woman she had always been, but less naïve to the terrors of the world. Death and rebirth had changed her, the constant running only turning her barriers higher. "About the Maxwell daughter." Sybil did not have to guess why her son was so stuck within his own head tonight, for she recognized the stress of war and love. "You both made your decisions." 

"She does not know of the obstacles soon to present themselves. She does not know about the witches or Alpha Finch." 

"She is not your lover or friend, River, she is the enemy fighting for your rightful crown. Your father was only just beginning to craft a stronger kingdom for you before Lily burnt your future to the ground." 

"Why?" River asks, looking away from his mother. "Why does everyone say I am just fulfilling my father's will or I am completing my destiny. I am not blind to how much this role has been pushed upon me for decades, but you were not the one to raise me."

He could tell how annoyed Sybil was becoming. River knew bringing up who really raised him would forever upset her. The guilt his mother felt for never truly being there for her son would only continue to grow. "I know Keva was a great advisor and mentor to me. She has been looking out for me before I was born, yet what Leala says about Asger..."

"She is not trying to cause a rift between your pack." River was surprised by his mother's words. Keva had constantly mentioned how Leala was only claiming these things to make Eternal Shadows crumble from within. "She is trying to help you."