The Crown's Entrapment

Another morning came, and Gilas was upset at how his mother was determined to give him the silent treatment. Sure, a part of him knew he deserved it, but he was just doing his best to protect her. There was no reason for her to act like this to him, right? Surely, she understood that he was simply looking out for her.

[Or maybe you did go a bit overboard on trying to forbid her from visiting Pinra,] Ham condescendingly scoffed. [I'm sure you can see the parallels of you forbidding her from doing things she wants to do with a certain someone that once did that to her.]

[Don't you dare compare me to that man,] Gilas growled. [You know more than enough that I was just trying to not get her killed.]

Still, it wasn't like he was stopping her from doing what she loved. This was different. Pinra was dangerous, and there was no way that he'd ever drop his guard on someone that had a clear record of killing people just because she wanted it to happen. Even with her memories seemingly muddled beyond the point of barely recognizing him, there was still a chance that she was faking it all. He wouldn't even put it past her to try something like that.

And so, he remained steadfast in his decision, even if his own mother had promptly ignored him that morning during breakfast. There was no way he'd compromise her safety, even if she would hate him for it.

Although… it would be nice if he wasn't hated for what he had done.

"Gilas, you really should talk to Mother."

He was taken out of his thoughts as Clara spoke to him. They were in the hallways walking to their own respective destinations, and he couldn't help but frown as his mate seemingly took his mother's side.

"Are you going to tell me I took things too far as well?" he groaned.

"No. In fact, I agree with you," Clara rolled her eyes at him. "No, this is about you two making up after clearly having a disagreement. I don't want the people I care about fighting over somebody we really shouldn't even be caring about right now."

Gilas inwardly winced. "I guess you do have a point with that."

"What do you mean 'I guess'?" she scoffed. "I do have a point. And besides, didn't you already admit last night that Mother might just be the one to somehow rehabilitate Pinra?"

He let out a soft sigh. He did say precisely that after their… generous act of love-making. Still… "I really don't want it to happen. I still wish that Pinra would just show her old behavior and make things easier for us."

"But she isn't," Clara sighed with him. "It's looking more and more like her confusion about everything happening around her is genuine. If that's the case, then we really do have at least some responsibility to her."

Gilas shrugged as he nodded. "Alright. I'll go talk to Mother then."

Turning around, he promptly made his way to the gardens. There, he saw his mother tending to a few of the plants. She saw him approaching, and his heart almost squeezed when he saw her visibly stop herself from speaking to him.

"Mother?"

A full minute passed before his mother replied. "Yes, my son?"

He sighed. "I came here to talk… About yesterday, I mean."

"So you came to apologize," she coolly turned to him, her expression neutral.

"Yes…" Gilas admitted. "I'm sorry, Mother. I shouldn't have raised my voice at you like that…"

To his surprise, his mother's face quickly warmed up to him as she wrapped him in a comforting hug.

"Apology accepted," she weakly chuckled. "Still, I fully understand where you were coming from."

"So you'll stop trying to visit Pinra then?" he hopefully asked.

"Not quite," she quickly replied as she broke off from their hug. "In fact, I refuse to stop doing so."

Gilas frowned. And here he thought he finally got through to her. "Why?"

His mother narrowed her eyes at him. "Why? Because we're the only family she has left, Gilas," she explained. "Did you know what I saw when I first came there? Filth and despair. Pinra's practically rotting down there with nobody caring for her. Not even the guards assigned to her gave her the time of day, not even bothering to clean her cell from all of the filth that had built up there during her stay."

"But she could still be dangerous, Mother," he passionately defended.

"And that's just it. She 'could' be dangerous. I saw her myself, Son. She's completely lost," the older woman reasoned. "Her eyes are clouded. She doesn't even recognize me beyond the fact that I'm your mother... And that's after I told her that fact myself."

"And she didn't kill you because of it…"

Gilas trailed off, his thoughts churning as he tried to come up with a solution. Clearly, his mother refused to back down on anything other than being able to visit his murderous cousin. If so…

"Fine then," he sighed in defeat. "You can visit Pinra whenever you may so fancy…"

"Thank you for seeing reason, my son," she smiled.

"However, know that I'll punish any guard that will allow you to enter her cell again," he quickly added. "I won't have you needlessly endangering your life around her like that."

"A decent compromise provided that they actually do their job and care for her like a proper werewolf with rights," she hummed with a nod. "I don't want to see her wallowing in her own… filth ever again."

Gilas nodded. "I'll see that the guards do so then. Just… if you see the first sign of her faking this mental illness of hers, you get away from her as quickly as you can."

His mother cheekily smiled. "I'll keep that in mind, Son. Still, I'll prove that Pinra's more of a danger to herself than anyone else. She needs us, and I'm determined to bring her back to a genuine home and family that will value her for who she is rather than what she can provide."