The meeting had been the last straw for the young silver Lagina boy. Seeing that woman in the place that was rightfully his mother’s, seeing that she had been the one the pack had seemed worthy to stand there flabbergasted him. He found it blatantly disrespectful to her memory, yet he knew why she was there. She had tricked everyone into thinking she was good. Nobody saw behind that mask that Raela put on, didn’t see how she was faking it just for power. It had taken seeing Raela and Gent standing there, side by side and seemingly completely content despite the current situation for Kino to finally realize what had truly happened.

Gent and Raela had killed Minka.

In his mind there was no denying it, everything made sense. Seeing the two together out on his wanderings, close and speaking in hushed tones. They’d been planning, likely since before he’d been born, to overthrow their mother. Maybe they’d even killed Tokino. The wretched woman had weaseled her way up the ranks and lolled them all into a false sense of security, woven the thread so tight that no one suspected a thing. Nobody except for Kino. He saw through it, saw it as if they were waving a banner above their heads. It made him ill, physically made him want to vomit at the realization. The next revelation that he’d had had only made it worse. The realization that the only things holding them back from absolute power were he and his siblings. The heirs to the Crest by blood right, by lineage. Once they were disposed of Gent and Raela could rise up with their own demon brood and completely take over, and no doubt they would make the Lagina children’s death as an accident as well.

He refused to let this happen, refused to let it happen to his sister. Kova and Draven had taken their sides, had chosen their battle and they had chosen to be blind. @Marianna was smart, she would understand. Maybe she’d even seen it herself. All he knew was that they couldn’t stay there anymore, couldn’t stay and wait for their inevitable slaughter. They needed to leave, right then and there. So, he waited until everyone was sound asleep and well into the night to rouse his groggy sibling. He’d nudged her gently, uttering a quiet “shh” to tell her to be quiet before turning and nimbly making his way from the communal den. He stepped out and broke into a trot, heart pounding within his barreled chest in hopes that they wouldn’t be caught. In hopes that his sister would see reason and agree with him. He took them to the borders but didn’t cross them, instead stood just within them. His ghostly figure was illuminated in the bright light of the full moon that was above them, occasionally blotted out by passing clouds. It looked like it might rain soon, and it couldn’t be a more perfect situation.

His attention turned to Ari and he fell into seriousness. ”Ari, we need to leave,” he said bluntly. Even in their like-minded state he knew she would likely need convincing, but he would make her see the reason in his words when she did ask. Knew that, in the end it would go his way if he played his cards right. Those were not wrong to call Kino Lagina conniving, but even still he was not an evil soul.

Kino watched her reaction, cool topaz gaze calm and lacking of any joking. He meant it, had thought on it ever since the moment the breath had been knocked from his lungs as he was shoved to the ground by Gent. As he’d fallen, a word had echoed in his mind. Go. He’d forced himself to stay, made himself trek along the very borders of the territory and sometimes beyond longingly. Something out there called him, told him he had more of a purpose than to be trapped within these confines. Within this place where he was no longer cared for, where he was no longer thought of unless it was with spite, or where he was no longer needed. The crownless prince was willing to denounce everything, put everything he’d ever known behind him. In reality, what did he even know anymore? Suddenly, everyone had become a stranger and he was left to float along by himself with his only anchor being Marianna.

Her brows pulled together and his muscles tensed, her still sleepy gaze blinking rapidly under the swaying moonlight that pooled around them. He basked in it, basked in the gloomy glow that had become his home. He was more a creature of the night than a creature of the day. She didn’t seem to be able to comprehend what he had said, and he’d almost prepared himself to repeat it before she burst out. “…what? Leave? Why…? ‘cos Draven, and the women?” she said. He paused, his head tilting to the side as he thought. Draven and Raela…yes they were a part of the equation. But…they weren’t the entire picture. In his mind he saw demons with the faces of their packmates biting at their heels, snarls echoing in the shadows. It was he and Ari on an island, and perhaps that as for the best. “Yes…and no. Why should Draven be getting all the attention? We lost mom too, not just him. And Raela...she’s no good. You can see that, can’t you? She’s pretending, Ari. Her and Gent, they’ve been pretending this whole time. Why else would they replace mom so quick?” he said, his voice soft but with a cutting edge. His gaze was slightly narrowed, the conviction in his words evident. His gaze gentled as he looked at his age-mate, ears pulling back and tail dropping. “We don’t belong here anymore,”

Ari seemed to fall in on herself, and the boy couldn’t help but frown. This was no good, no good at all. “Not Gent,” she argued, and his brows rose appalled by the statement. Not Gent’s fault she’d said about the man who had practically thrown her own flesh and blood because he’d been right. It was a thought that offended his to the core, but he couldn’t be angry with her for it. Clearly Gent had brainwashed her as well. Next, she even went on to say that Raela hadn’t done anything. At this he full on blanched. “Didn’t do anything? Gent threw me, Ari, simply because he didn’t like what we had to say. I was trying to defend us, defend mom and he bashed us. Raela too, called us spoiled and horrible. Don’t you remember that?” he said with a frown. He thought, desperate to make her see his way. “You saw Gent and Raela out together before…it happened. I know you had to, I saw ‘em a lot. Always real close together, talking quietly. Didn’t it seem weird to you, when Gent should have been with mom? Made it seem like he liked her a lot, but now…now he’s with Raela. I don’t like it,” he said firmly, a scowl moving onto his face.

The girl asked where they would go, thinking that there was nowhere for them to go. This was a question he could answer easily, for he had thought over it for longer than just these past few horrible weeks. “Where would we go? We could go anywhere, we wouldn’t have to stay in one place. There more than the Timbers, I swear by it. There was more than the Crest, why couldn’t there be more than the Timbers? Don’t tell me you haven’t been curious about it, about what’s beyond this. You’re my sister, you’re like me,” he stated gently, a small wag waving his banner behind his frame. He moved forward and gently pressed his nose to her cheek, “We could do it, Ari. We could go everywhere,” he breathed, hope and confidence mixing toxically in his voice.

Conflict seemed to show on Ari’s face, and he felt a faint stirring of triumph within his chest. Slowly she was beginning to see his point of view, beginning to see that he was right in what he’d found. She was beginning to see the light, see the world in the way that he did and it was step in the right direction. “I don’t like Raela,” she murmured, and a small curve worked its way into the corners of his lips. “She isn’t mom…she will never be mom,” he said, pressing his nose into her shoulder.

“What about Kova? Then he’d be all alone. We shouldn’t be like them. Abandoning, and stuff. He came. He stayed with us.” Marianna said, and he paused. Pulling back it was his turn to look conflicted. Kova hadn’t necessarily done anything to them, though he hadn’t done anything for them either. Kova was compliant, perhaps a quiet defiant but never a strong enough personality to stand up for what was right. Still, faint memories of playing with the older boy when he was younger popped up in his head. He’d been perhaps the only real male presence in the boy’s price, and while he wasn’t overly attached to him anymore he still thought that perhaps…perhaps Kova could, in fact, join them. “Why don’t we ask him, then?” he said with a grin. Tilting his head back her called for @Kova , asked for him to join his siblings and change their fate for the better.