#bless you anon for kindly tw angst on the dia-agonies angst/whump blog

[llondonfog]

I haven't put much thought into it and Maybe TW angst

but you do think Lilia will feel any guilt setting Silver up to have a life that parallels his bio dads? In essence forced to be a knight for the rest of his live and forced to live for other people? Forcing his son to live as a side character in someone else's story? Idk.. Lilia loves Silver but this feels like a subcousious revenge.

RUBS MY NASTY LITTLE HANDS TOGETHER EVILLY BECAUSE I THINK ABOUT THIS EVERY SINGLE DAY

On the side of my angst-loving heart, I genuinely go insane every time I think about the fact that Lilia took a true baby prince and turned him into an obedient little soldier.

HOWEVER; I do genuinely believe that in the context of the canon story, Lilia set up Silver's life to be Malleus' knight as a way to assure the boy's future. I can't remember if it's canon that Lilia is aware of his decreasing magic before he finds Silver, but I like to think that he knew how limited his reserves would be from the moment he split them to hatch Malleus. So with that mindset, I think he equally knew that he wouldn't be around for the majority of Silver's lifespan, only long enough to potentially raise him to be an adult. So how could he set the boy up for success, what is the highest honor he could think of for Silver to achieve, based on Lilia's own background? Who could assuredly protect the human he's come to love as his own son when he's gone? Who else, but Malleus?

Lilia knows that Silver has no living relative, and if he were to go looking for them after Lilia returns his ring, he wouldn't find a trace of their existence. The only family he's ever known exists in Briar Valley, regardless of the irony of that fact. It has become his home, and perhaps selfishly, Lilia would want to leave the future of the very country he sacrificed his own blood to defend in the hands of the two individuals best suited to preserve its harmony— the royal heir to the Briar Valley throne, and the son of the man who nearly destroyed their kingdom. I think he would believe that Silver, calm, collected, and always looking for the good in others, would serve as Malleus' better angel, and keep his temper at bay.

And perhaps, it is revenge, but not the kind that we're thinking of. Perhaps it is revenge against the memory of Henrik and against the Senate— Lilia, going to his grave still in their eyes the disgraced and lowly bat fae general, getting the last laugh in the end when the ruling force of Briar Valley is two-fold; the powerful, foreboding prince, and the knight who keeps that burning, dragon heart as human as it could possibly be.