Moonspear Undone

She stood there, motionless, waiting for the anticipated declaration of accompaniment and bracing herself to discourage it. But she found herself at a loss for words, especially when his warm shoulder brushed against hers. It was at once unsettling and comforting, which made no sense. Wildfire felt like she might tear in half or shatter, broken pieces scattering at her husband's feet.

"That sounds boring," she found herself mumbling. Slightly more loudly, she added, "You don't need to do that. Don't you have stuff to do?" She sounded sort of like a cold, cranky bitch, which was wildly out of character for her but possibly within the realm of someone who was exhausted and in pain. Right? "How about later?"

The unspoken implication was that she would retire to their spot, then he could come find her in a few hours or whenever he was done with his duties; by then, she would be awake. But Wildfire didn't have any intention of going to their little hideaway. She needed to go somewhere else, somewhere private, to be alone and think. If she was really going to do this, she couldn't just avoid him forever. She would have to come up with an explanation for why she was pushing him away, anything other than the real deal.

Wildfire glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, feeling a bitter lump rising in her throat and tears stinging the backs of her eyes. She loved Floki so much, just like she'd told Goober. But now that it had risen up in her mind like some sort of festering boil, she couldn't shake this idea that she had basically annulled their relationship by letting this happen to her. Whether or not she she had been a willing participant, another dude had been inside her. Between that and the fact that she didn't want him to know, it was practically a done deal: they were over, before they'd ever really gotten a chance to begin.