Memories of a Materfamilias

Awakening in the cell she had been put in, Rowena supposed it was better than Acinonyx's bedchamber. True, the Crown Prince of Hyperion had never touched her, but still, she did not like sleeping in his room. Once more thinking of home, memories of her mother ran through the Last Queen of Aether's head.

A decade had passed since the death of her mother... An illness, but Rowena wondered if Taurus had anything to do with it. He had been around often during her final months. While her mother's health had declined, Rowena had consistently stayed by her side as much as possible and always in the shadows Taurus had been there, looming over them like some sort of monster.

Her mother had been insane, saying that Rowena's father was in truth the Storm Falcon. On the subject of Taurus, she said that his father was in truth a bull. That was common with her, always saying an individual's parentage was something it was not and fully believing it, relatively harmless. During her time in Hyperion, Rowena had spoke with Ascanius of her mother and in return, Ascanius had told the Last Queen of Aether of his. She had thought herself the Goddess of Love and had died when she had attempted to fly by leaping from the walls of the city. Ascanius had been there, a small child, with Leo and Pardus being present as well. Leo and Pardus had been unsympathetic to what had happened, Ascanius' mother had hit the ground and then they just walked off without in disinterest. After hearing about Rowena's mother, Ascanius had expressed a wish that his own materfamilias had been like that. If she had been, he would not have had nightmares of that day.

As the door to her cell opened, Rowena saw Taurus standing there with a guard by his side. His father may not have been a bull as her mother had said, but Rowena could well believe Taurus Minor was only half human.