The White King had sunk to great lengths in a short amount of time. Especially considering he had just eviserated his mother over her not thinking he ever had what it took to lead a court. He' fought with his wife, tried to order around threaten Ava, and now he was confiding in his crazy sister. The crazy thing about that was that she was being surprisingly supportive and uplifting. It was bittersweet. It never lasted with Erika which was why he kept himself at a distance, but he decided that instead of worrying about his future, he could focus on the present and enjoy the dialogue he was being given with her right now.
She said that it would be foolish to kill Alek, and she was probably right. But Cameron was a proud man, one who viciously defended his own honor at the drop of the hat. He was surrounded by women who's mothers were famous for taking down strong men. He had learned a thing or two about how things like this went. It would be HE who would suffer, not his Queen. And if she wasn't going to feel the least bit of remorse than he wasn't going to bother with trying to talk to her. Erika turned to leave.
Erika: "I love you, Cameron. We will make this better. We will make this better and then we will stand victorious. Nobody can destroy The Kings. Not some bastard child of The Red King, not even our mother. Don't forget that."
Cameron smirked for a moment, more relaxed. He hadn't spoken to anybody not associated with Hellfire in a traditional sense for a long time. It was refreshing to hear somebody say out loud the things he was thinking. And he enjoyed to know that his sister still felt a sense of pride at having the same last name. They understood that it meant something, and was worth protecting.
"What am I going to do?"
He felt a little bit better, but there was a deep pit in his stomach. This was a big deal for Cameron. It wasn't SOLELY a matter of pride. It went deeper than that. The decision of starting a family had not been one that they had made together. It had been one Haleigh made without him, though she had his blessing. Haleigh wasn't stupid - babies changed things. Announcing you had a baby changed things, but Cameron assumed there would be more time to talk about things, and what that meant. He had gleamed from the minds of the others just how obnoxious and at blame they felt he was. He had found out his wife could GET pregnant this MORNING, and she had conceived by the afternoon. There was no time for conversations, of what that meant for the two of them. It just happened..so quickly. Perhaps he should have spent the day informing his wife that bringing a baby into the world would require her being more careful than she normally would have been, but he felt since she had made the decision, she was ready, and prepared for what that meant. But Cameron couldn't help but feel like the entire thing had been taken from him. He should have been able to feel proud that his wife was carrying his baby, that she had done this for him, that her desire to have his child was greater than her need to sleep with Alek, but that wasn't the case, and it made Cameron feel like he didn't know who his wife was anymore or what she wanted, and what made it worse was that she was actually scared of what he might to do to her, the babies and Alek. It made him sick. He didn't have much more time to ponder when Ava came in on a war path.
Ava: "Get your ass up, King."
He grimaced.
"In a shocking turn of events, *I'm* not in the mood to talk, Ava."
Ava: "And stop acting like a barbaric asshole. Your wife is pregnant with YOUR child, that much is STILL true. And the more time you spend pushing her away because of the shitty situation you BOTH put yourselves into by fucking other people during your marriage? The more you push her directly into Alek's arms."
He understood what she was trying to do, but he just didn't have it in him to fight with her, and more than that, he knew that if he went to her right now, he would kill Alek right in front of her and watch the father of her daughter drop dead on the ground, and he would not care in the slightest.
"Then I'll rip off his arms."
Ava: "Stop plotting and start TALKING to her, Cameron. Before you not only lose your wife, but you destroy EVERYTHING we ALL built. This doesn't just effect y--"
Cameron cocked a concerned eyebrow as Ava's voice cracked in front of him. It was a rare moment of vulnerability for her. He couldn't tell if it was because she was hurt over their situation of hers, but whatever the case, he didn't like it.
Ava: "This doesn't just effect you and Haleigh. How you decide to approach this...[looking back at him] effects ALL of us."
"Ava.."
Ava: "It's unfair, for more than one reason. I'm sorry, Cameron, I am. But we need to figure this out with no blood spilled."
And she was gone, and The White King was left with his thoughts. He cared about Ava's pain, and he knew that the stakes were high, but he felt backed into a corner. Basically, Cameron was going to have swallow his pride, just accept the current circumstances, be okay with them, be okay with Alek being in his life FOREVER, and move on. He was just going to have to accept that his son would be the brother of the daughter of the Red King, and while it sounded cool on paper, it complicated things. Of course he would love his son, but before coming out of the womb, his son would now have competition - his sister, and Cameron was well versed in how that went. He decided the only thing to do was face the music and see where his wife's head was at, so he reached out with his mind's eye and subsequently got his heart broken into pieces.
Haleigh: "I love you. Alek...I'm not taking it back this time."
<< CRACK! >>
Alek: "I love you Haleigh. You and our child. More than anything. More than I ever have anything in my life. And I always will, no matter what."
<< CRACK! >>
Haleigh: "I'd rather stay with you...We created life."
<< BREAK. >>
But it wasn't that simple. Cameron had always felt a fire burning around his hot. He was a man full of passion and emotion. They were his guiding principles and they were what set him apart from his mother and older sister Alison. So when the chill came and the fire became frozen, crystalized around his heart, he felt surprisingly free. He had always wondered what had happened to his mother, why she was the way that she was. Why she thought emotions were foolish, why she acted only with reason and scientific process, and then he realized something. He thought of his father, of Finn Lewis, of Stavros Cassadine, of all the men that Kelly had loved and how all of them had ended in misery, disaster and death. At some point, this must have happened to her. Her heart must have loved something as much as he loved Haleigh and it froze, turning to MARBLE, in visceral response from feeling that love break.
A black tear ran down his face, which surprised him. Wiping it from his face, he walked in a daze, out of the conservatory and into The White Corridor, to his suite, choosing to remain in the dark as the moonlight cascaded agains the white furniture, creating a hypnotic glow. He looked at the moon, as if he was trying to tap into his strength, but he realized that he couldn't..because he felt nothing. In less than twenty four hours, Haleigh ran into Alek's arms, afraid of him, scared of what he would do. She couldn't even deign to face him. To speak to him. She went to Alek. She went to Alek and told him she loved him and all but asked for his protection against her own husband. Had he become that vile? Was he such a monster that she need protection against him? His sister and Ava had approached him, and while their words seemed genuine, their interests were of course were of themselves, and of Hellfire. Hellfire had become like some kind of God that required ritual sacrifice, and they all led idols to slaughter in it's name, but something dawned on Cameron in this moment. What if somebody said No? What if he looked at Hellfire and defied it? Refused to give it any more of himself? Ashley had AJ...Ava had John, and now Haleigh had Alek, and that left Cameron alone. As much as he wanted to fix things - there was no fixing them. He wanted a child, an heir - but not like this.
The White King slipped his wedding ring from his finger and placed it on the coffee table in front of him as he headed into the bedroom, grabbing a crystal from his nightstand, one that would prevent him from being tracked by magick. He knew how to avoid his wife's trail and he was a strong enough telepath that he could prevent them from finding him forever. Or at least until he decided what exactly it was that he wanted to do. Passing by the fireplace mantle, he took note of the many pictures of Haleigh and himself together. Of him and Ava and Ashley, of The Inner Circle he was proud of. In a flash of anger, he telekinetically HURLED them in multiple directions, shattering them before heading out of his suite, informing The White Guard that they would all be killed should any hint of his whereabouts be given. Creating a psychic diversion, Cameron walked out of Hellifre and into the cold streets of New York City. Where he was going, was anyone's guess.
He left as soon as he spotted Haleigh and left for a few moments before appearing seconds later.