Sequoia Coast [m] sun feathers

i am not a fool, cen, where had this spirit come from? red leaf stands against him like an iron wall, unflinching, unflappable. but even now as venom spills from the hot mouth, she looks at him with gentle eyes. perhaps that was where he saw weakness. that is not what this is about and you know it. do you think so little of me to assume that i am a cheater? that i am a slut?
she turns to face away from him before continuing, an ooze of scarlet from a bleeding heart placed upon her sleeve. he tells her to go — she will not. i do not want to leave you, it is almost a peace offering, a bargain. she pretends his words are not so sharp as to cut through her paper-thin skin. i married you. i am carrying your children. i only-- i only wish you were nicer to me.
what happened, cen? what happened to us? she knows the answer to this and yet she does not speak it aloud. sometimes, i just don't like what you have become. i am learning. so much has happened so fast, you have to understand that! is it a crime to want to raise our first children in a way that i know? a crime to want to make things easier for us as a family when we do not yet know how to be one?
she wets her lips with a pass of her tongue. the spark still rests in her throat, prepared to be lit, but she dissolves into a bleary-eyed shadow; fracturing beneath the weight of the stone cold husk of her lover, red leaf begins to cry. i want my husband back. i feel like i've lost him.