Cera
_{I'm an angel with a shotgun, fighting till the war's won, and I don't care if heaven won't take me back}

Tension swept along Cera's spine as Megaera and Hector came into the fold. He did not dare look at either of them for fear of anger consuming him entirely. He'd had enough of that unfamiliar feeling of rage, and he had asked Sohalia to help him after their battle for that exact reason. But as Megaera's voice rose, naming him as a candidate, the Prince could not help but turn his one working eye in shock towards her countenance. A touch of warmth wormed into his heart, but he did not focus upon it. Instead he sighed softly and listened to the others speaking, not feeling upset by Ampere still voting for Sohalia instead of for him - he hadn't expected it in the first place. But as Maren, his friend, spoke up, Cera could not help but do the same, his back teeth grinding in frustration.

"And if Volterra was nominated, we would lose a Gladiator. And we lost our Physician when Sikeax was made Sultana. What is the difference there?" he asked Maren, unable to help the small thread of bitterness in his voice after his conversation with Sohalia on this exact same fucking topic. Ilaria jerked violently on his ear, hissing through their bond to be more respectful lest he lost yet another friend in the wake of his ascension into a bitter, hateful person. Not that any friendships would last long with that development anyways he shot back at her. Ilaria went silent at that. 

"Sohalia has experience as a diplomatic lead, this is true. But she also left the Throat multiple times. She has my vote if the rest of the herd is willing to look beyond her shortcomings, for any potential lead - even myself - has them. We cannot go into this decision emotionally, and while I have my own reservations against Sohalia, she is a fit candidate. May the herd decide its future as a whole," he spoke solemnly and then turned and walked to the back of the group, purposefully ignoring the looks Megaera was sending him, prickled by Maren's words. She meant them innocently, and Cera knew that, but she had said them when he was already wounded regarding that particular topic. She could never understand how he felt regarding his loyal stay in the rank he'd been practically born and bred into. Nobody could. Because the denizens of the Throat had always left, always changed positions, always followed their own whimsical evanescent desires instead of thinking of the herd. Cera had forfeit a family, his father, his own happiness for the sake of the Throat. And nobody had ever asked him how it made him feel, to give and give and give for so many years. 

And he was tired of asking them to.


- - -

TLDR; Cera votes for Sohalia if she achieves majority vote.