Livius tried their best to keep themselves under control as Reseda spoke, although their quills were already at full mast. Their skin tingled as though their blood was boiling. Their paws ached to dance, to break into a spinning, leaping blur of angry green fur. But no; through it all they fought to keep themselves still, to keep themselves composed.

And as Reseda spoke, their eyes hardened further. They could see it in their mind's eye, the thing she described, the thing that they hated so. They felt nausea rising in their belly at the thought, anger building until it spilled, and they felt as though they were fit to bursting. The weasel shut their eyes, folding their ears back, and taking in a deep breath.

It hurt. It hurt far too much to face.

The voices faded to a distant burble... When they opened their eyes, it was with a new sense of clarity. They felt everything numbing. All the emotions blurred into one; they were watching it go by like the carriages from a train platform. Their world couldn't crumble now. Their Kingdom meant everything to them.

They felt the world as though it had slowed down.

They opened their jaws to speak their answer, but then was cut off as Reseda began to choke. The awful noise brought them flooding back to their senses, feeling tingling pins and needles flowing back into their limbs, and their heart pounding as the large lizard vomited blood-- and Amazon-- onto the stony ground. The terrible sight stunned them from their stupor.

Feelings came flooding back, knocking them out of their stupor. A tangle of it. Too much of it. But Livius found themselves rising up.

And then... they laughed.

It was impossible to tell if the sound was relief, or a cackle at the komodo dragon's misfortunes. But to Livius, it was a terrible, terrible release, as though ripping hooks from their skin.

"The Kingdom are stronger than you think, Reseda. Even if I handed over my crown, they would never follow the likes of you. Better yet... Do you remember my request? An even simpler one, if I do say so myself."

They pattered down the wall, and onto the ground, trotting past Pride and sidling towards her. They placed themselves between Amazon and her. They took hold of Reseda, keeping her claws out of their back. Their magic couldn't fail now.

"Well, do you?"

They paused just long enough for her to formulate her answer before elaborating.

"...I said you'd grovel at my feet, or you'd die. I bet you never thought it'd end up being both, did you?"

And with that they forced Reseda's face into the dirt, with force that could have broken bones.

"Grovel to your King, Reseda."

They padded up to her, so that the two green beasts were nose to nose. They stood upright, and looking down upon her triumphantly.

After savouring the moment, King Livius finally glanced back at Pride.

"...And Pride? Put a spike through her head, if you please. Make it quick, and painless. Because I, Reseda, am a merciful King."

They couldn't hold this for much longer. Even now, they felt themselves draining. Their hold, slipping.

Livius folded their ears back at the sound of Reseda's magic giving out, backing up and away from the lizard as she burst into flames, and felt a back paw tread in something sticky. Twisting around, they found that they'd stepped in the pool of blood from amazon's assault. Their stomach turned over with momentary disgust, yet they turned back to watch Reseda's fall with a tightly controlled expression. Their heart hammered, yet they were determined to show not even a trace of fear.

The weasel was disappointed, as the komodo dragon had died without even a word of anger, leaving the feeling of victory to be quite hollow. They supposed that, in that sense, the lizard really had had the last laugh.

Pride's words resulted in little reaction other than a small twitch of their rounded ears. They looked towards him. Or rather, through him. "Yes. Yes, that could be... beneficial," they said drily. They tried, for a moment, not to think about what they had done, the broken remains lying in front of them. She had deserved it, wholly and truly. They'd done worse.

And... though they hated to admit it, this was getting easier. After this round, they were really just tired. The spell had exhausted them in a way that no magic had prior. And they supposed, with a hint of smugness, that taking control of someone's own body was no mean feat.

"Thank you, Pride," the weasel continued after a while. "And... Yes, I was. I took over her movements. Forced her to let Amazon go. Then to grovel."

Finally, Livius turned towards Amazon, hearing her whimpers, her sobs. They padded over to her, ignoring, for now, the blood staining their paws, gently pushing themselves upright onto their haunches. They sucked in their breath, although they felt their magic straining, And felt warm water seeping through their fur, soaking them head to toe.

They avoided her gaze, their quills lying flat against their back as, in a thoroughly unusual display for them, they used their paws as damp cloths to carefully clean her scales.

Their sticky pads drew up the fluid and their fur gradually darkened with gore, but it didn't matter. They were past caring, today.

Later, when Livius was alone, they could wash away their sins.

Livius' spines stiffened at the sound of the whistle, their bloodied paws paused in their feervent, yet gentle, cleaning of Amazon's scales. They shivered at the sound, the high-pitched shrillness grating right to their core. And as they looked up, towards the body of the komodo dragon, and saw the strange figure there, they froze outright, staring, blinking slowly.

”And just who the fuck are you?” they asked sharply, but not threateningly. They were unnerved, but unwilling to risk another fight.

A brief pang of jealousy tightened around their chest as the stranger slipped the strange golden chain from her neck- a chain that Livius had not noticed, but felt should rightly be theirs. They, after all, were the victor here.

But it wasn't worth another fight. So, when they were certain that the creeping stranger wasn't going to be threatening them, they wrenched their gaze away from them and towards Amazon, then Pride.

They listened to the brief exchange between the two Gembounds without much to add. Exhaustion was creeping into their limbs. Their heart felt strained, worn.

”I know,” they finally murmured after that, voice low so that the Collector wouldn't hear. It was unclear if the words were an effort to comfort her, or simply a fact. ”I have too... This one makes three. It... Gets easier.”

They let Pride handle the heavy lifting, even though his words felt crushing against their already worn out heart. ”She was a monster.”

After a long pause, they looked up when Pride spoke to them directly. His words, and the way he spoke them, brought a spark of warmth that they clung to.

His request, though, brought hesitation. The weasel's tailtip twitched, softly rasping against the cold stone beneath them.

They wanted, so badly, to get away from here. To go to somewhere quiet and be alone, to fold in on themselves and disassociate.

But now was not the time. Now was the time to be a king.

”Perhaps,” they answered hesitantly, looking up at him. Their expression was even, tired, and perhaps just a little bit grim. It was almost as though the thought of having this power sickened them, although that wasn't quite the case. It was... as Pride had said... 'useful'. ”But... not now.”