Two Eyes Cenote reina

these wolves and their words! were it not for how tenderly soto viewed safiya, he would be impatient -- but safiya is to him a gentle, kindling flame -- her innocence and purity to be protected at all costs.

he studies her a long time, working through the heavy ropes that barricade any attempt at communication. how could he reconcile the ugliness inside of him when something so dazzling like her existed? and how could he explain the ugliness he channeled into its waiting chambers like a bullet. how could he explain the care in which he'd taken aim, holding tiye in his malicious view?

they'd fought, this much he could tell. had tiye also felt the lash of her father? soto didn't realize the true intention of safiya's question, and instead, misunderstood it as the girl asking if he'd seen khusobek beat tiye himself.

he scuttles forward rapidly, to press himself against the cave's barricade. saff-eeya, the python urges as his eyes search her earnestly -- where else had her father abused her? mi dulce lluvia de verana. yo mismo mataré a tu padre. a dark promise that took its first gestational heartbeat within soto's convoluted soul.