Noctisardor Bypass i fell into my fear, and took a lie for a truth

mahler watched the feathered pair until they decided to take their courtship elsewhere. there was a tremulous quality to laurel's tones that kept his eyes from her, lest the weight of them force her into a higher anxiety. he wondered what had happened to her, what had befallen her life that had placed such a seed of fear in her. and yet there was a greater strength here. it had bid her come to rivenwood; it had kept her here even when it did not seem that xan would return.
"it seems as though i should eat something," mahler mused dryly, at last shifting a glance meant to humour. "you are invited, laurel," and the graf made to stand.
thoughts of how wylla had looked during that — the stumble of a thousand moments, the expression in her stare
— i'll do whatever you want and how the words sickened him even now to recall. he had become, then, monstrous.
perhaps that was what laurel sensed in him.
shifting away, meaning to descend the stones slowly as the woman made her choice.