I'll tear them limb from limb

Such an adorably sweet child. Her adorably sweet child. Nothing brought Camilla greater joy than seeing her baby girl smiling from ear to ear, or as was more often the case, wagging her excited little tail. “How cute, though not as adorable as my darling Velouria~” It didn’t matter how old her daughter got; the malig knight would never stop saying her name in a sing song fashion.

Though as lovely this sight was (despite her child dirtying herself up once more) it brought with it some painful memories. “Did I ever tell you that Mama had a pet bunny when she was younger? It wasn’t a baby like the ones you found, but I was also a fair bit older at the time.” Oh, these ones were so tiny. Velouria had done well to bring them home unharmed. Camilla was half-tempted to let her keep them, but...

“There was something else different as well. With it being a bigger bunny, there probably wasn’t a mama rabbit waiting for it to come home.  But these ones? Their mama probably went looking for food to bring back to them. They look quite healthy, so they probably ate recently. That means we know their mama is alright... I don’t mind you bringing a pet home, but you have to make sure there’s nobody that will miss them. You would be sad if you were taken away from your mama, wouldn’t you?” Velouria had certainly inherited her mother’s possessive streak, though thankfully more in the clingy sense than anything dangerous. But her sheer need to be with her parents would serve well to get the point across.

“I didn’t spare anything. You weren’t at my mercy, but I was at yours.” Maybe he’d be dead if she’d stuck with the plan. Maybe. Or maybe he’d have been forced to kill her too. Even if she’d laid there, bleeding, she wouldn’t have cursed him. Her mother’s death was a result of self-defence in the truest form, Xander’s only crime being that of having been born their father’s legitimate heir. Still, Camilla didn’t raise a hand to help him and instead stood and watched the carnage unfold. She left her mother to die, but did not attempt to protect her brother either.

“...I knew my mother wouldn’t win if she went after you alone. I didn’t tell her I would ignore her instructions, so it’s my fault she’s dead... You made sure that I was spared, but that means I could still be a threat to you.” Camilla remembered the childhood days where their greatest problems were working out how to best steal cookies before dinner. Days back when they were as thick as thieves. Long before Xander became a walking target, and Camilla a sharpened weapon. Too much time had passed for such lovely days to matter now.