Kudha's eyes widened. This couldn't be happening. He had just found his sisters, and now one was being ripped away. Fila couldn't stay here on her own. The Ligi would kill her, rip her to shreds while she slept. She was so vulnerable when she was alone, even if she was the strongest lioness he knew. Pulling her close, he shook as he whispered his goodbyes. "I'll look after the cubs, I swear it. And Fila? Be careful," he whispered before he pulled away. His sister nodded silently, her eyes as hard as diamonds, her teeth gritted together in a determined grimace. Kudha would remember that piercing gaze forever, the way her emerald eyes stared at him, reminding him that if he broke his vow, all their futures were at stake.
Amira sniffed back her tears as she went up to her sister. Amira saw Fila's ears tremble as she buried her nose in Kudha's shaggy mane, the only evidence of Fila's great distress. When he pulled away, Amira rushed forward, rubbing her face along Fila's neck and mournfully choking out a whispered goodbye.
Fila let Amira nuzzle her for a while, the sorrow she felt at leaving her family locked tightly away. After a fashion, Fila sighed and pulled back. She knew why Kudha and Amira had to stay. With that fiend pouring poison in their ears, someone had to try to make things right here. Even if she couldn't anymore. In that instant, Fila's mixed emotions about Sahen snapped into place. Yes, he was her father. But only in blood. He had done nothing for her, and he had sent the Ligi to murder her mother--the lioness he had mated with. So Fila would continue to hate him for what he had done. The fact that he was her father did not change the fact that he needed to be unseated from power.
But there were other things she needed to worry about. Her eyes soft, she walked up to the cubs, murmuring a silent goodbye to each of them in turn. "Kafele..." she said, pain in her voice and in her eyes that Kafele refused to see, "Blood does not change anything..even though I wish now, more than ever, that things were different. I will miss you, my greatest pupil. May you put your skills to good use...in my stead." Kafele was her favorite nephew, the only one to really bond with her. His rejection cut her more than the other cub's thoughtless goodbyes.
As she turned to leave, she shot one last murderous glance at Sahen. "Though you gave me life, you are no father of mine. Perhaps...in another time, if things had been different...but they were not." She paused, drawing in a shaky breath. "You sent your Ligi to slaughter my mother and destroy her cubs. Thank the skies they failed to murder your children. I cannot forgive you for what you have done to Elanira, my mother...and your mate. Because of that, I will never acknowledge you as my father."
Fila made her way out, her heart as heavy as a stone. This wasn't a good turn of events at all.
