Sunbeam Lair singulus

the roman did not expect what she offered: knowingness and conversation. 

he thought of how he had gone to towhee and shared with her a bare glimpse into himself. and he remembered how it had been to speak aloud at all. there was an inclination inside the man to veil more of himself.

he traced it. meadow was bound to epoch which was bound to arsenio. and if this weakness reached the greek, well. but the eagle did not feel as if he wished to live in such a way.

he considered. he wanted very much not to speak. and yet he did.

"you are observant, lady meadow." his voice was modulated this time, turned to a path of frost in his throat. "i am a man who has lost his wife. not to death, but to injury. she lived with great pain for many years and never recovered after she became mother to our children." the birth had been hard. he remembered the blood and how she had begged that they keep the children alive, towhee and himself.

"she left just this month, to a land of more healers than these. two of our children chose to accompany her." but that was not the sum of it. "i suppose in the end it was not only her departure. she divorced me that day in affection and regard for my future."

here his voice might have broken if he were a younger man. the imperator only turned his face forward so that his profile fell to shadow once more.