Sunspire Mountains all the butterflies have turned to vultures in my stomach

Lead the way.

That smile. Riley would do almost anything, to see that smile at him again. It was the way he wished his mother smiled at him, or his aunt. The way he wished Valette looked at him, or Derg -- just that little slip of emotion behind an otherwise unreadable face, that said you're doing okay, this is good.

He never got validation like that -- and maybe in the short of it, that was why he had fallen in step behind Donovan. Donovan, who hummed softly and smiled wickedly -- Donovan, the enormous, towering figure whose presence might just be big enough to fill that bastardized mother sized hole in his heart..

He jumped when he felt Esme's body come into contact with him. At first, he walked with a stilted limp, too overwhelmed in sensory overload, too afraid to do anything that might have her body pulled from his. He wanted the walk to last forever, as asinine as that was - because then, she would never leave him either.

The darkness of Esme's threat did not go unheard. Those words circled around Riley's head like smoke around a fire. A thick nod was given in response, but Riley could not bring himself to speak. He braved a glance at Esme and saw her -- amazonian countenance, chin set with a firm jaw-line -- and it was then he understood why Colin worshipped a woman, and why when that woman left him all sunlight had been stolen from his life.