He was startled when his mother's expression finally changed. The top and bottom halves of her face didn't match. Tears dripped from her eyes, but her lips smiled with bright dimples. There was joy and yet there were tears. Clovis stood up and moved to his mother, hugging her, having to kneel to do so. She hugged him back, tightly.
"You are free. My son is free." She whispered softly the words filled with so much emotion. "My children never have to go back." He held her while she spoke, letting her cry it out. Soon his mother kissed his hair forehead and let go. Her hand gently holding his cheek.
"My son… a Prince by marriage free of the family you were born to, but I was sold to." She let go and he smiled letting her go.
"Mother, I love you and I am glad you are happy. If all else fails we three will be well taken care of." Clovis agreed, or at least he thought he did. The look on his mother's face made it clear he did not.
"If all else fails… Clovis it's over. Your safe you don't have to fight anymore." she tried to explain to him, make him see but her son smiled woefully. He knelt so he was eye level with his mother and took both her hands in his.
"I still have to compete in the games. I have to at least try, Mother. Someone has to stop Bastil." Clovis pointed out and the disbelief and utter refusal in her eyes dimmed to disappointment. "If we let him become Emperor the people will suffer, the shifters may well be extinct, and the pact made with most our sister countries will be in danger. That palace will become a cold blood bath, and to be honest, anything is better than that."
"I know, but why does it have to be you, Clovis? Why can't one of your brothers stand up and fight. Why do my children have to suffer for their father's mistakes?" She asked wiping her eyes as she looked at her son. Clovis smiled and chuckled softly.
"None of my brothers are strong enough to compete against my brother. All of them have been taught by their mother's to be quiet and fade into the background or pander for one of the main 4 heirs places. The few who would have fought were silenced with the accidental death of Roan." Clovis pointed out, recalling the brother who had sadly passed. Roan had been the third son, a few years older than Clovis but he was cold. He was smart though, strong, quick on his feet, and polite. In the long run he had been the best candidate for the crown, despite being third born, and the son of a concubine.
There was no love lost when the older boy died, but there was a sense of understanding. Though ruled an accident it was clearly a message to the children not to overstep or they will disappear.
"Yet you have the courage to face them, why don't they! Why should you have to go?" Eve demanded, honestly her motherly fear started to seep into her words. Clovis smiled and stood up, running a hand through his hair before looking back at his mother.
"Mother, that is exactly why. I am your son. You taught me to be brave. You taught me to love my people, and you opened my heart so that I could accept my wife. She in turn taught me to love the shifter people. Mother, I must go back because to run away isn't who I am. It isn't the son you raised, just as Vella married Mordrin unafraid. We are your children, we can face the world just as you faced the harem to protect us." Clovis explained love pouring from his eyes, gratitude in every word. "You made me a man, and gave me my name, now it's time I prove I am worthy of my name."