and if there's life after that, i'll love you then

As though he faced the same inner demons that she did, Shadow leaned in to touch her downy white cheek with his blood-smeared nose. He spoke softly to her, words that did not ease her pain or her guilt, but at last brought tears to her dim copper eyes. Paarthurnax blinked then, her breath catching as she kept herself from inhaling sharply in the form of a sob, then dipped her crown - breaking the physical contact between them - to hide away her welling emotion. Despite all his flaws, Shadow had been good to her. He'd appreciated her for her, not just for her beauty. When she regained control of her overwhelming need to cry, she straightened herself and lifted her head once more to seek her former lover's steel gaze.

It was then that he brought forth Scimitar's name into the conversation, and Paar's expression contorted into one of confusion. Did he think that she'd left him for Swiftcurrent's leader? That somehow she favoured him as a father figure for her brood? She twitched her nose, offended that Shadow might think her one to turn her tail on their mateship to seek a new one elsewhere. "I have no interest in taking Scimitar as a partner," she emitted immediately in her own defense, "he will not be playing happy families with me, if that's what you are suggesting."

He dismissed her concern for his open wound and, since he didn't care for it, wondered inwardly if she should too.