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“Don’t you ‘Cynthia’ me. It’s not my job to like him, you know!”

Riley set down his mug in a way that contradicted the calm in his voice. “Yes, but he is my father. I would appreciate it if you did not insult him. He’s quite fond of you...”

“Oh he’s fond of me is he? He doesn’t even know me! Does he know you? Has he found the time in his oh-so-busy schedule?” Cynthia coo’d mockingly. 

“Cyn...” Riley pleaded. 

“When was the last time he actually came home when he said he would, hm? Has he taught you the way of the Aura Guardian? Are you enlightened?” she couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Cynthia had no respect for a father who neglected his family.

“You don’t need to get angry...” He reached up to rub his fingers beneath the bandage around his temple. Tension had been brewing since Cynthia had escorted him home that morning, and the feeling that a storm was about to break make his head hurt. The last thing he wanted was an bicker right now.

“I can’t believe you’re not angry! I can’t believe I have to be angry for you!” Cynthia struggled to stay collected, her voice rising. Riley’s father was a subject that never failed to infuriate her, the cruel injustice that he was never around wasn’t helped by the fact that Riley couldn’t see it for himself. “When was the last time he picked you up when you hurt yourself? When was the last time he cared that you’re hurting yourself to reach his expectation for you?”

“My father has a duty...” Riley bowed his head, his lips in a thin line. He didn’t want to argue, but to Cynthia it sounded like he was merely repeating a line his mother had told him.

“A duty to do what, exactly? A duty to leave you and your mom alone while he wanders the world doing goodness knows what? A duty to pressure you into a life you don’t know you want? He’s supposed to be family for Arcues’ sake!” Her words were cutting but she was quickly losing her ability to hold them back, reason giving way to rage.

Riley got to his feet, his patience giving out, collecting his cup and headed to the sink. Turning his back to her to add finality to his comment. “Enough, I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

"You’re not even going to discuss it? What, are you going to cry now?" He wasn’t taking her words seriously, the way he thought he could dismiss her argument by turning away from her made her blood boil. But she had crossed a line and she knew it, her own words had invalidated any real points she had made.

Riley’s head snapped around, and she could tell that she’d hurt him. Even she in her rage, she knew that using the times he had cried in front of her as weakness was wrong. Guilt rose in the in her stomach, her anger had got the better of her and she had said something she had not meant. She retreated a few steps back.  

“I don’t understand it. You are such a child. How can you call yourself a Champion when you act so immaturely?” Riley turned to face her, his expression one Cynthia had rarely seen before, a startling bitterness in his tone. He gripped the edge of the counter-top to steady himself, if his head wasn’t hurting before it certainly was now. He was tired of this. “You don’t know anything. My father and I have a duty that you can never understand.”

Any remorse she had felt was swept away the moment Riley tried to use aura as a divide between them, replaced instead by white hot rage. Their argument had been in his best interest at first but now it had become very personal. Without realising it, Cynthia’s hands balled into fists. ”Do not call me that!”

”You never learn when to stop, you haven’t changed. You go too far.”“How dare you act like some power you were born into means that I have no right to comment on how your father treats you! What? You think I can’t see that you dislike shutting yourself away here like a declawed skitty? Perhaps you do have some great destiny but it is certainly not hiding in a crevice in Iron Island!” That’s enough Cynthia, stop talking. 

But his words had fuled her fury, restraint had never been a strength of hers and it deserted her now. “And don’t you dare mistake my familiarity with you for immaturity. I am not perfect but I have every right to hold my position. I may not have been born into it, but destiny had a different plan for me. There are frightful things in this world that I am blessed most will never have to see, don’t you dare invalidate the lengths I will go to keep you and everyone else in this whole fucking region safe. How dare you claim I do not understand duty!”

For a split second Riley’s eyes did not belong to him, they carried a frightening hue that made Cynthia recoil. They stared at each other for a long moment, too much had been said and their words hung in the air, cold and irrevocable.