Broken Boulder she's got silver bullets on her tongue

---

of course he'd say he deserved it, the things he'd said had been dripping with poison. but something about his voice, something about her own morbid curiosity, had her press.  "why, Alarian?" the question was vague, but the words were pointed even through their softness. "why did you let him?"  she knew her mate would not force himself upon anyone, the thought itself was nauseating. she knew, now, how it felt to be on the receiving end of such advances, how it felt to give in. 

his quiet words were received only with a nod of understanding; it was what she wanted to hear. but as her mind moved down a new avenue of thought, as she probed where she'd not dared before, she wondered if their reasons would be similar.