Arrow Lake abbatia

‘And no wonder she left,’ she wanted to bite—the words dying on her lips at the stricken look on his face. He lay himself bare—the very same on the first moment she had met him, and she looked at him—truly looked at him—a man hurting. Was this from Ruenna still?

He continued to strip the remaining of his soul to her—she could recognize that, in this moment, even if she questioned who he was. He had placed so very much doubt in her heart of himself—she sidestepped, a shiver at his words, her eyes straying down to the previously forgotten pile of herbs, her tongue numb—did he know what these were? Her breath hitched— “These are…” A deep pause, her own muzzle then jutting up as she caught herself in the moment, his scent weaving around her still, despite the distance of them. A very much needed distance. “…I have decisions to make.” She shouldn’t have said anything. A raw opening to her own vulnerability that she should avoid at all costs, if only to protect Reyson.

She paused—muzzle tilting up, her eyes grazing the warming sky, gathering her thoughts. ‘Do you tire of tending others over yourself?’ Those words he had spoken to her on their first meeting—he had seen her. She had foolishly thought it had been a man, noticing a woman when really it had been a tactician studying those he conversed with, and nothing more. And it had struck her to her core.

Yet here she was, once more. Finding herself a great deal to worry over the hollow stare he offered now.

“You’re most precious memory was holding your children in the quiet hours after their birth,” she whispered then, not looking to him, seeking only the sky, for she feared if she looked to him, she would find nothing but misery. “When I was visiting Akashingo… The Pharaoh boasted of his beautiful palace. Lavish things—paintings on his wall of great battles, fermented drink and spiced meats. Yet sitting there, I had never been in a more empty place in my life… Maybe, with wherever you find yourself next… you try to find something that brings back that happiness.” Even if it took him from the mountains and away.