Sawtooth Spire a silver whisper, take flight and steal into my mouth

Of course she was getting warmer. If Riley's tender-spots were the cubboard holding fresh-baked cookies within them, Tiercel's nose was the slavering hound -- and hounds always got their piece.

She didn't fight back. She didn't deny it, or tell him he was wrong. Instead, she airily -- and flippantly -- demured in such a way that had Riley's temper flare, as if a gas stove turned on. He forced his seething frustrations in an exhale out through his nose.

Fine. As you insist. With no riposte to fire back upon, Riley fell to silence while Esme meandered forward. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, refusing to give her the satisfaction of his full attention.

A better man might have accepted this loss gracefully, but Riley was in many ways still an adolescent. He felt his ineptitude had hung him by the tail, meanwhile Esme seemed to have a field day with his every sensitive and tender spot.. She was the rook, and he the pigeon -- fat, hamfisted, and unprepared for the harshness of the world.

He was mad, too. Why couldn't she try? Why was she so against it, why was she self-sabotaging her and himself in the process? He honestly believed the two of them had a chance to climb out of the tigertrap of their past together, and here she was cutting the rope of their ladder before their ascent ever even began.

Riley wanted to leave right then. Make a point - say fuck it, I'm audi and jet -- but his stubborn infatuation with Esme got in the way of his common sense. Also, he might be a glutton for punishment. So, Riley came quietly alongside Esme and sat along the precipice, inspecting the misty clouds as they rolled on below. Even though Esme threw barb after barb at him, Riley didn't want to go. He didn't want to prove to her that she was right. He still hung onto the dream, even if it was slowly withering away under Esme's ruthless tongue.

After a while of this communal silence, Riley stirred. He would leave soon -- he felt it -- but at least he hadn't said anything he regretted.