The Broken Crown

Tárvotur

The scent of rotting flesh had come to pass with another break of dawn, fresh scents of lilac and rosemary bringing forth the elves from their sacred homes to breathe in the fresh air. Carcasses had been tossed over the pack walls; their rotting bodies having driven their executers within the dwellings of their homes and temples to gaze upon the stars as fires consumed raged in the streets. The white flames consumed what had been left of the false alpha, order reestablished within Eternal Shadows to the leader the elves had been pleased to follow many moons ago, willing to serve, protect, and die for before the boyish wolf stretched out his hand and spat orders left and right. The very leader those elves were glad to serve once more, she sat back on the throne she had helped to build with her bare hands decades ago.

While it may have appeared Keva had lost control over Eternal Shadows the moment River was given the throne to sit upon and help such an absurd title of alpha, Keva and those close to her knew she had never lost that power. Those within her tight inner circle knew the truth. Whispers which had filled the palace since the creation of Eternal Shadows, rumors which turned every corner, every decision made within those sacred walls – nothing left the palace without Keva catching wind of it.

Grey clouds circled around the sky, sunlight pushing through the cracks formed, rays of the sun hitting the stained glass windows of the palace as patterns of color were portrayed on the floor below. The palace itself was molded after the fallen palace Keva's own ancestors had once build when the elves rules an Empire, the very one River's own ancestors tore down and built their kingdom from. There were many who questioned Keva from the beginning, who saw what Keva had thought up when she watched the last tree of her great ancestor's garden torn down as they were pushed to a secluded forest. There were many who questioned her sanity – yet they were dead, all of those elves who questioned Keva. The moment Sybil's name was whispered among the trees and Keva's lavender eyes were laid upon the rogue, that was the moment Keva had begun her own little battle strategy. A strategy which remained secretive for a long time.

As the seasons passed, Keva's plans morphed with them. As events passed and history changed, so did Keva's plans. The day of Sybil's own death was a moment Keva felt as if she would abandon her plan, screaming out at the gods and cursing them, calling upon the nine hells to make the world make sense again. It was in her madness where Keva thought of a specific set of witches who would work with not just her, but Zion as well. After all, Keva had known Zion for his entire life...she knew just how desperate he had become to see his wife one last time. In the absence of the woman he loved, Zion hired the very set of witches Keva had befriended, bringing Sybil back to life with black magic...in return for what would drive Zion and Sybil only further away from the kingdom and their own son.

Zion had always thought himself to be a King – one of the last great kings – and thought he may have been one in title, Keva knew what Zion lacked in strategy. To Keva, everyone was able to be played like a puppet. She had expected for things to take years, perhaps even a decade or two, for a kingdom cannot be build in a day and be expected to last eons.

"Any word?"

"Penelope keeps her army close to our boards," Asger informed his aunt as he passed into the grand hall of the palace, bowing his head respectfully. The flags of Eternal Shadow had been taken down and burnt, the new symbol hung up and no longer bearing favor to the Moon Goddess. Containing the stars, the white flame, and colors of a steel blue Keva's own ancestors had once flown, a silver trim was added to the edges. "Should we be concerned."

"Penelope is playing her cards well. She is keeping them close." Keva knew attacking Penelope was worthless, for the real battle was not with a mad Alpha like Penelope, but with Lily Maxwell's own daughter. If there was one player Keva had never expected to enter into her game, it was the meek human Lily Maxwell. After the death of Nixon, Keva had expected Lily to take an absence, to perhaps turn Crimson Lock silence in the world or just return herself to the human world. Lily's sudden alliance with witches had caused Keva to reduce calculations of what could happen, though she was right that those witches would never side with Zion.