As Justinian awoke to an empty bed, he couldn’t help but feel awful.
He should’ve been basking in the warm rays of a chilly Bay City morning with his wife in his arms, not with her sleeping in the guest room, ignoring him.
The conversation he’d had prior played over in his mind.
It started off well enough but before the patriarch knew it, they were fighting.
“I’m sick of you constantly putting work above our family!” Justinian yelled in frustration. It’s no wonder his daughters were so stubborn sometimes.
Adelpha slammed her hands down on the counter and glared at the angry man standing across from her. “We are on the brink of a cultural and civil exclusion that is going to set changelings back almost one hundred years! I’m a changeling!” She reminded him. “Your daughters are halflings! Do you not understand what that means for us as a people, let alone a family?!”
Justinian was in disbelief. “So you’re doing this for the girls? Is that it? You’re ignoring them so you can help them.”
“Stop it...” She groaned, massaging her temples. “Stop it...”
“I get it now! It makes so much more sense when you put it that way!”
“Just stop!” His wife yelled having lost all patience. “I have an obligation to my people, to my crown! I can’t just turn my back on them because of a difference in lifestyle!”
She hadn’t meant to hurt him with those words, but it was clear that she did. “Is that what we are to you, Adelpha? A lifestyle?”
She moved closer to him and cradled his face sweetly. “You are the equivalent of a prince. I don’t ask you to not fulfill your duties. I don’t berate you for doing your job- so why are you attacking me?” Justinian swatted her hands away and made to move as he was filled with annoyance. “Why can’t I be your wife, their mother and a princess to my people?” Adelpha continued. “Why is it that only two of these matter to you?”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m some attention starved husband!” He laughed jadedly. “I know all about ‘duty!’”
“I’m not an idiot- I know all about emotions. I won’t force Chrysalis to do anything she doesn’t want.” Adelpha may have been preoccupied but she wasn’t blind to her daughter’s plight. “If she has something going on she’s going to have to open her mouth like the rest of us and be a big girl.”
“She’s seventeen years old, Adelpha!” Justinian whirled around causing her to take a step back.
“And I was younger than that when I was expected to act like a Princess!”
“This isn’t the Collective- We’re not in the Badlands! Your mother was always a Queen first. You said you hated that!”
“Don’t drag my mother into this!” She closed her eyes as she breathed out the words. If they were back in the Collective this problem would’ve already been solved.
“Being a parent is about taking care of yours, even if it takes a while” Justinian insisted. “I know how you value time, but if it’s a necessary sacrifice for the wellbeing of our family, don’t you think you should make it?”
“Sacrifices?! You wanna talk sacrifices.”
“Adelpha...” The patriarch moaned preparing himself for her onslaught. Questioning her dedication was like spitting in her face.
“I left everything to be with you. My home, my mother- all of it!” Her chest heaved as she tore through the kitchen, incensed at his insinuation. “How dare you lecture me about sacrifice! What have you given up, Justinian? A title you hated?” She took a breath as she tried to calm down. “I love you. I love our girls. But duty is different for me. It’s bred into me. I thought you understood that.”
“You’re failing as a mother because you’re not here.” He stated flatly. “We need you! Right now- More than any of this other stuff...” Justinian sighed. “I understand, I do, but you aren’t just a sovereign to us.” This is not how he wanted this to go. “I’m not asking you to give up your crown for a domestic life. I’m asking you to think of your children.” He held up Chrysalis’ sketch book and tossed it on the counter. “Something is happening with Chyrsalis... I’m scared for her, Adelpha.”
He knew his words hit hard when he watched her face crumple from righteous indignation to something unsure and wounded. She turned away from him to compose herself. When she turned back around to face him, her expression was controlled and placid. “I really don’t have time for this, Justin.” She said after a while. This wasn’t how she wanted to spend her evening at all.
She stilled when he stepped closer to her and ran his hands longingly down her cheeks and throat.
He could feel her pulse quicken as his hands rested on her shoulders.
Justinian placed a soft kiss on her forehead and spoke in her ear. “You’d better find the time because if you can’t be here now when we really need you, don’t bother showing up later.”
He moved away from her and continued to leave the kitchen.
“You’re not serious.” She spoke releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
“You’re a changeling- you tell me.” He called back leaving her alone.
Even though he hated the way things had unfolded, Adelpha needed to know how serious he felt the matter was. Looking at the bedside clock, he frowned when he realized how late he’d slept in. He wanted to check in on her, but knew it was best to let her be for a bit.
Besides, he had left the ball in her court for a reason.
After showering and getting dressed, Justinian went downstairs and busied himself with some weekend chores.
Cadence was already downstairs watching TV and playing around on her phone.
“I’m going out for a walk in a little bit,” the teen said.
“By yourself?” She shook her head. “With who?” He asked.
“Shining Armor,” Cadence answered flicking off the tv.
He wanted to say something but the sound of someone shuffling around in the room beyond them caught his attention. He heard his wife in the study and stared at her with guarded eyes when she emerged dressed for the day and on her cell phone.
“I’ll be back later,” Adelpha said absently in acknowledgement.
The frost in the room was enough to make Cadence look up from her phone and shrink into the pillows of their sectional.
When the front door closed she looked over at her father in obvious concern.
Justinian tried to shrug it off, but Cadence could tell he was upset by the snub.
Twenty minutes later, and the dancer got a text from Shining Armor telling her he was outside.
“He’s here! See ya!” She hopped up off the couch, kissed her Dad goodbye and put on her coat and shoes before going outside to meet her beau.
An hour later and the young girl came stomping back into the house and flopped down at the kitchen table.
“What’s wrong?” Justinian breathed as he continued preparing lunch.
“Everything,” she bemoaned.
“Like what?”
“You’ve been fighting, for one,” Cadence observed unhappily. “Is Mom leaving us again?” She may not be as in tune with her changeling heritage as her sister, but she wasn’t as tone deaf as the average pony person. The anger and hurt that buzzed between her parents was hard to miss. Besides, she really wanted to talk to her mom about this latest development in her life.
“Couples argue sometimes, Cadence.” Justinian sighed as he set plates for lunch. He knew his wife was still upset.
“They also breakup,” the dancer sounded so distraught.
“Your mother and I aren’t breaking up,” the patriarch tried to reassure. “Granted some things were said that probably shouldn’t have been said, but we are still very much dedicated to each other and our family. Help me setup before your cousins and sister get here.” The girls would be back from their overnight excursion in the next hour or so.
“You’re not even talking to each other.” Cadence pointed out glumly, as she hopped up to go check in the pantry for whatever he needed. If there was no hope for her parents, how could there be any for herself. “Is this because of Chryssie?” She asked after a while.
Her father’s silence was an answer in itself.
“It is, isn’t it?”
“Cadence...” Justin warned shutting the refrigerator.
“Everything is because of her!” She muttered angrily. “This family is falling apart and it’s all her fault! Aren’t you tired, Daddy? Even just a little?” Cadence knew she certainly was. “The sooner that bug leaves, the better. She’s ruining my life!”
“Cadenza!” Both heads snapped to the person who’d just entered the room.
Adelpha stood in the doorway glaring at her daughter.
“Mom!” She hadn’t realized her mother was standing there. Granted she was too angry to care about what she said to notice anything. She clutched tightly at the loaf of bread in her arms.
“Is that really what you think?” Adelpha stalked forward and flung her bag on the countertop.
“I’m sorry!” Cadence apologized as tears gathered in her eyes.
“If you think that you can sit in this house and disrespect this family, you are sadly and sorely mistaken.” Adelpha dropped her pony skin in a display of magic that made her daughter’s eyes widen. “Look at me, Cadenza Mi Amore. Look at me!’” Even Justinian shrank away. “I don’t spend my time working and staying away from you just to put up with hateful slurs in my own home and from my own daughter, no less.”
“Mom,” she begged, “I didn’t really mean it! It’s just she’s been so difficult- and everything seems to revolve around her! I’m sorry!“
“You’re only sorry because I’m standing here and not your sister.”
“My boyfriend broke up with me because of her!” Cadence admitted in a fit of tears. Justinian blinked at that, but otherwise stayed silent.
“That doesn’t give you the right to speak about her that way- boy or no boy!”
“How can you say that?!” Cadence argued.
“The fact that I have to explain this to you is ridiculous. I’m done with this discussion, Cadenza. Just go to your room!”
“I’m sorry! Please just-”
“Cadence!”
“But Mom-“
“Now- before I make you!”
The teen dropped the bread and fled to her bedroom with angry tears trailing down her face.
Adelpha stood shaking with ire at the callousness she’d walked in on.
She was aware of her husband moving to calm her down.
“Sweetheart-”
“Don’t.” She stopped him with a glare and hand, “you can gloat later.” She bit out tossing her keys down and disappearing deeper into the house.
Justinian winced when he heard the office door slam.